The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
On Faux News and the Opposite of Truth 03/11/2023 |
One of the useful lessons I learned from Professor Louis Cognet, the head of the spirituality department at the Institut Catholique de Paris when I was studying there from 1967-1970 was this:
“Sometimes it is best to go to the opposite of a spiritual concept first in order to get to the fuller meaning of that concept.” |
Try this some time. If you want to know what justice is, go to
its opposite first: Injustice. Listen to the stories of women in Texas today being denied health care who are in troubled pregnancies to learn what a blanket law | The opposite of safety and healthcare for women is interference in women's decisions about their own bodies. Photo by Don Barrett on Flickr. |
dismantling abortion rights really means. Go to the victims of wildfires and increased numbers and forces of hurricanes to know what eco-justice really
means. |
And consider engines of lies and falsehoods to know what truth means. Go to the opposite of truth first. Most all of us saw the violent insurrection of January 6 in our living rooms on our television sets. Now we have a big shot broadcaster making $35 million a year, with his hands on 45,000 hours of footage of the invasion of the capitol because of which five people lost their lives and hundreds of others were maimed in body and soul from the trauma of it all, telling us that things were just fine. Sightseeing was going on and that is what
counts. |
“Carlson’s con exposed: I ‘hate’ Trump and Fox News has been ‘pretending.'” MSNBC on YouTube | Notice how the power of ideology can trample truth. And how ambition from the head of congress, who gave him exclusive right to that footage, can distort truth. And kill truth. And maim and murder truth. |
What are the repercussions of such actions? Can a society endure sans truth? What pressures are put on society when truth is lost or distorted beyond recognition? What about a corporation that makes fat bucks on broadcasting such lies? Does money-making get any dirtier than that? Is capitalism not beaming its deepest ugliness and shadow when it beams big
lies to the general public? And its pooh-bahs admit in private emails behind the scenes that it knows it is selling lies? Is this the path to killing democracy altogether? |
It is not an easy meditation to meditate on
the opposite of truth (or good or beauty). But it is a necessary one at times. It can lead to a greater love and appreciation of truth perhaps. And change how corporations and media work. Perhaps. Truth matters. | |
| To view today's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view and post your Comments. In the sharing that follows, a kind of community is developing around the DM.
If you can't reach today's post on the website directly, click HERE.
If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
See Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 333-358. To read a transcript
of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE. Banner Image: TELL THE TRUTH. This photo was taken during a protest against global warming, but it applies in all situations, and especially with regard to the media. Photo by Joël de Vriend on
Unsplash |
Queries for Contemplation Do you believe a society or community can survive without a commitment to truth and truth-seeking? What about the profession of journalism? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh:
Transforming Evil in Soul and Society Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more
enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. “A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and
depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the new Physics | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox for a lecture and Q&A on “The Reinvention of Work – A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, March 16, 4:00-6:00 pm PT.
Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox and Isa Gucciardi for a new Lecture & Q&A on “ Liberation and Salvation: Healing Teachings in Buddhism & Christianity” at Convergence Hosted by
Cameron Trimble, Tuesday, March 21, 4:00-6:00 pm PT Register HERE. Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Matthew Fox speaks on "Jung and Teilhard in Dialogue" to the Creation Spirituality Communities at their Global Kinship event in January 2023. | |
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