The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
Generosity and Extravagance in Nature and Society 06/20/2023 |
I wrote my book, Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth, following my one year of silence the Vatican bestowed on me.
During that year—the only “sabbatical” of my life--I visited base communities in Central and South America and returned with the question: What do North Americans most need to be liberated from? Maybe it is hoarding. In the book, I offer Wisdom lessons that nature or creation teach us. One such lesson is “Extravagance”-- which seems to be a lot like generosity. |
Annie Dillard writes about the Extravagance found in nature: “If the landscape
reveals one certainty, it is that the extravagant gesture is the very stuff of creation.” She continues: Nature is, above all, profligate. Don’t believe them | |
when they tell you how economical and thrifty nature is, whose leaves return to the soil. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to leave them on the tree in the first place? This deciduous business alone is a radical scheme, the brainchild of a deranged manic-depressive with limitless capital. Extravagance! Nature will try anything once…. This is a spendthrift economy; though nothing is lost, all is spent. |
An Alaskan Athabascan Native explains the practice of the Potlatch, or give-away. Video by Sea and Bill Peterson. | The Native American tradition celebrates the “give-away.” Nature gives
away things, a lot of them, extravagantly. As we considered yesterday, all the energy that the sun transmits to our planet represents only one billionth of the energy that the sun gives out. |
Yes, nature is extravagant—but are we? Extravagance is translated into ethics when humans are challenged to be openhanded, bighearted, and large souled. Do we, with souls as large as the universe, “spend all” the way the universe does? Or do we hoard our very souls themselves and die unspent, untapped, and disengaged? And resentful of those
different from ourselves? |
Webster’s defines “extravagance” as “exceeding the limits of reason or necessity; lacking in moderation, balance, and restraint; profuse.” And an extravaganza is “a lavish or spectacular show or
event.” | Volunteers assist a swarm of newborn sea turtles in their race to the ocean. Video by KyleGoesGlobal. |
Do nature and creation as they reveal themselves to us on this planet display very often a “lavish or spectacular show or event”? Regular
extravaganzas? A field of flowers such as Jesus encountered? A single flower up close? an animal? the northern lights? sunrise or sunset? Or???? Might we humans come around to sharing justice, decent housing and learning opportunities, health care as our best imitation of the beauty and extravagance of nature? Is this how we fit into nature—by mirroring its
generosity? |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Liberating Gifts For the Peoples of the Earth, pp. 44f. And Fox, Christian Mystics, pp. 334, 337f., 343f. Banner image: A wildflower meadow at Caldwell Farm in Hertfordshire, UK. Photo by Christine Matthews. Wikimedia Commons. |
Queries for Contemplation What is the role of extravagance in your life both as receiver and as giver? As a source of
contemplation and as a source of action? |
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Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American
Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice. | |
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
As Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas
Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us I wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take
what’s in this book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless Youth | |
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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