The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
M. C. Richards on Art as Meditation
as Incarnational Meditation 07/15/2023 |
Our lives can easily be heady and not truthful since truth comes from all the chakras and our whole self and whole body–not just from the head. No matter what patriarchy in both
academia and religion try to tell us.
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A well-kept secret is that our hearts are in our bodies. And our passion for moral outrage also. M.C. Richards speaks to this when she
says: Incarnation: bodying forth. Is this not our whole concern? The bodying forth of our sense of life? Is this not a sense fully as actual as our sense of touch, which quickens not only in our skin but in our hearts, when we stay that we
are 'touched' by another’s kindness? Love is bodily. That is why proper | This is one of a series of works by artist Leslie Richards (no relation to MC.) This particular painting she paired with Rumi: “In your light I learn how
to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.” Used with permission. To find out more, click HERE. |
justice means proper food and clothing and shelter and a living and healthy earth which bears healthy food and incorporates healthy air and water and sunshine. So many political issues and
justice issues are bodily issues. Body and body politic go together. The desire to control other peoples’ bodies is contrary to this. It is unjust and anti-body. |
| Says Richards: “That is what form is: the bodying forth. The bodying forth of the living vessel in the shapes of clay.” What does bodying forth mean? Surely it is one way to describe our powers of creativity in their many manifestations from sports to craft-making to singing, to giving massages and so much more. |
Richards underscores how important creativity is and how necessary it is to give it our attention when she says: “We have to realize
that a creative being lives within ourselves, whether we like it or not, and that we must get out of its way, for it will give us no peace until we do.” |
Richards’s use of the term
incarnation is deliberate. We Christians of the West usually only mouth those words and then return to the safety of our heads. Authentic spirituality calls for a deep bodying forth, a genuine belief expressed in action born from the holiness of our own | | This is Greg Gude, co-owner of Broome Animal Sanctuary, with his beloved pig Otis. Every Saturday he does a photo shoot with Otis, who is clearly an exceptional pig, as well as exceptionally well
cared for. Used with permission. To find out more about the sanctuary, click HERE. |
incarnation, our
bodily natures. That is how we connect with one another and with all of creation—by way of our shared bodiliness. Justice and the common good call us. Richards reminds us that it is “impossible to distinguish between body and soul: between the living being and the shape it takes.” We and our good work is a “bodying forth.” |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, “Deep Ecumenism, Eco-justice, and Art as Meditation,” in Fox, Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life, pp, 215-242. See also Matthew Fox, Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet. Please note: In yesterday’s DM, there was an error. In the first
paragraph it said that Matthew studied with Pere Chenu 65 years ago. It should have read 55 years. We apologize for the error. Banner image: “Dance in the Shadow,” a circle dance in Lisboa, Portugal. Photo by Ardian Lumi on Unsplash |
Queries for Contemplation Do you find yourself getting out of the way of the creative being dwelling within yourself? Is Incarnation and bodying forth your/our “whole concern”? What does “incarnation” mean to you? |
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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 | |
Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday
Life In one of his foundational works, Fox engages with some of history’s greatest mystics, philosophers, and prophets in profound and hard-hitting essays on such varied topics as Eco-Spirituality, AIDS, homosexuality, spiritual feminism, environmental revolution, Native American spirituality, Christian mysticism, Art and Spirituality, Art as Meditation, Interfaith or Deep
Ecumenism and more. | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox and Brian Swimme in a free online event hosted by The Shift Network: “Hope for Humanity’s Future: Science, Spirituality & the Noosphere: Find Deeper Meaning in Our Spiritual Traditions With Illuminating Insights in Science & Technology.” Saturday, July 22, 10:00am PT. 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 |
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. Matthew's talk begins at timestamp 34:25. |
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