The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
Expansion and Immensity: The Universe and Us 06/22/2023 |
Ernesto Cardenal writes that “the greatest discovery of the twentieth century is the expanding universe.” But while the universe is expanding, are we? If not, we
are contracting.
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Where there is fear, writes Aquinas, contraction takes over. Fear “denotes avoidance in general,” he teaches. To allow fear to take over our ways of living or our hearts or our institutions is to void a cosmic law: the
need to expand through love and courage. The fundamentalism that rules so | Protestors outside the 2016 graduation ceremony at the University of Kansas. Photo by Westboro Baptist Church. Wikimedia Commons. |
much religious consciousness today represents a failure of love, a failure to enlarge the size of our hearts. So, too, do all
expressions of racism, sexism, classism, adultism, sectarianism. These are examples of the human species settling for contraction when the universe is urging us to expansion. Persons and institutions stuck in fear oppose the universe as they attempt to build bigger moats and thicker walls of defense or develop more orthodox litmus tests. It takes a lot of energy
to fight the universe itself—energy that could be used for more productive tasks. |
| To celebrate and enter into expansion is not to deny that contraction also occurs in the universe. Limits are important. For
example, a painter limits the size of her painting by a conscious decision about its form, and then she puts herself out |
into that form in as fully expansive a way as possible. Or consider our lungs. If they only expanded and never contracted, we
would explode. But the general message of the universe is: “When in doubt, expand.” As Jesus and other moral teachers have told us, “Love has no limits.” Love expands to the breaking point and beyond—in other words, to crucifixion and then on to resurrection. |
The breaking point, the end point that Jesus experienced in his crucifixion was not the end of the story. The belief in resurrection carries us beyond intimidation, which fear and contraction preach, to the world of divine surprises that, like the universe itself, are beyond our wildest imaginations. | “Gang nach Emmaus,” an 1877 painting by Robert Zünd (1827-1909), depicting the resurrected Christ accompanying two disciples on the road to
Emmaus. Wikimedia Commons. |
Joy by nature is expansive. One wants to share
one’s joy with others. Love is expansive, it goes out. Creativity is expansive. Meister Eckhart says what is creative “goes out but remains within.” We can expand both outwardly and inwardly at the same time therefore. We are built for expansion, as French philosopher Gaston Bachelard puts it, we are wired for intimacy, intensity and
immensity.
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Adapted from Matthew Fox, Liberating Gifts For the Peoples of the Earth, p. 45. And Fox, Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet, pp. 185-188. Banner image: A chiaroscuro depiction of the expanding Universe after the “Big Bang.” 2008 Painting by Cédric Sorel. Wikimedia Commons. |
Queries for Contemplation What does the expanding universe mean to you? Do you agree with Ernesto Cardinale that it is a
profound and immensely important discovery? Why so? |
| ERRATA: We regret that the incorrect video was posted in
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If you can't reach Matthew's video on the
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Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
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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. | |
Creativity: Where the Divine and Human
Meet Because creativity is the key to both our genius and beauty as a species but also to our capacity for evil, we need to teach creativity and to teach ways of steering this God-like power in directions that promote love of life
(biophilia) and not love of death (necrophilia). Pushing well beyond the bounds of conventional Christian doctrine, Fox’s focus on creativity attempts nothing less than to shape a new ethic. "Matt Fox is a pilgrim who seeks a path into the church of tomorrow. Countless numbers will be happy to follow his lead." --Bishop John Shelby
Spong, author, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, Living in Sin | |
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. Brentwood Inspired Living Center, APRIL 16, 2023. REV. MATTHEW FOX, PhD shares the message with Otto Rank and Père Chenu: Two 'Real, Raw and Radiant' Guides calling us to Deep Freedom. See the full worship service HERE. | |
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