The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
The Generosity of Nature and the Model it Sets for Humanity 06/19/2023 |
How generous Nature is!
This week we celebrate beginning of summer (Wednesday). Let us remember how generous the universe is. For example, the sun. The entire energy of the earth runs on one billionth (!) of the energy the sun emits every day. |
Sufi mystic Hafiz in the fourteenth century caught the deep meaning of this when he wrote: Even after all this time The sun never says to the earth, 'You owe me.' Look what happens With a love like that, It lights up the whole sky. Currently, climate change, so much a result of human narcissim and self-absorption, appears rendering the sun into an enemy. | |
But heat emergencies should wake us up to our own complicity as a species in our own demise amidst ever worsening draughts, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes. |
Latvian traditional dance in Riga, June 23, 2016. Video by chapo773. YouTube | And get us moving to, as Thomas Berry said, “reinvent the human.” Which means reinventing the way we do
work and energy, education and religion, politics, media and economics on this earth. And ready us for the "inner jihad" that can move us |
beyond wars against one another and provide the group response to the common calamity we face
from climate change. The bottom line is found in Hafiz’ poem. The sun is generous. Are we generous back? Are we generous forward--to future generations of children of all peoples and all the species inhabiting our amazing earth? Hafiz reminds us that we all have a spiritual warrior inside of us and generosity is a sign of authentic warriorhood. |
The warrior Wisely sits in a circle With other men and women Gathering the strength to unmask oneself. Then sits, giving, Like a great illumined planet on the Earth.* | |
We must recover the warrior within if we are to have the gumption to respond to the Earth crisis and climate crisis of our time. Inner strength is required. Circle consciousness is required. Moral outrage is required. A sense of community is required. (To hell with the exaggerated individualism of capitalism, consumerism and modern consciousness—“I think, therefore I
am.”) Wisdom is required. (To hell with so-called education and academia that teaches knowledge and ignores wisdom!) The divine feminine (Earth and Wisdom are both goddesses) is required. The intuitive brain is required (where Einstein says values are found). A renewed healthy masculine, the sacred masculine, is required. Humans imitating
the generosity of nature and the cosmos is required. |
*Daniel Ladinsky, The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master, Renderings by Daniel Ladinsky (NY: Arkana, 1999), pp. 34, 135. Adapted from Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths, pp. 416f. And Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine. Banner image: Sun, Sky, and Clouds, photo by Bodomi. Wikimedia Commons. |
Queries for Contemplation What does the Sun's generosity teach you? |
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One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of
theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my
respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit | |
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the
Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox and Others in a Panel Discussion – “The Sacred Marriage: Unifying the Divine Feminine and Masculine to Co-Create the New Earth” Part of a Free Virtual Plenary Event for World Unity Week: New Earth Rising. Friday, June 23, 4:00pm PT.
Learn more HERE. Join Matthew Fox and 35 speakers for “The 2023 Mystics Summit: Draw Inspiration From Ancient & Contemporary Mystics to Illuminate Your Unique Path of Love” where Matthew discusses "The Unio Mystica according to Otto Rank, Julian of Norwich,
Meister Eckhart, Mary Oliver & Others" Monday - Friday, June 26-30 Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for a Cosmic Mass and Panel Forum at the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions - A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom & Human Rights, August 14-18 in Chicago, IL Wed., 8/16, 7:00pm CT - The Cosmic Mass - Honoring Gaia, Solidarity for Our Earth Thurs., 8/17, 1:00pm CT – Panel and Response to The Cosmic Mass Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Tikkun Magazine releases a new Interview of Matthew Fox by Andrew Harvey regarding Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality (Orbis, 2022) edited by Charles Burack. Read the interview HERE. | |
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