The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
Creation Spirituality:
An Amazing Gathering
Place |
07/28/2023
by Rick Reich-Kuykendall |
Today we will look at the amazing diversity that Creation Spirituality embraces. A diversity of social
activists, people of different sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, economic backgrounds, and coming from many faith traditions—and even some of no traditions. My hope today is that you will find yourself here, because you are certainly welcome! |
So we meditate today on these statements by Matthew: As a movement, creation spirituality becomes an amazing gathering place, a kind of watering hole for persons whose passion has
been touched by the issues of our day—deep ecologists, ecumenists, artists, native | Many voices, one heart. Image by Matteo Paganelli on Unsplash |
peoples, justice activists, feminists, male liberationists, gay and lesbian peoples, animal liberationists, scientists seeking to reconnect science and wisdom, people of prophetic faith traditions—all these groups find in the creation spirituality movement a common language and a common ground on which to stand. All races, all religions, all sexes, all sexual orientations, and all beings— four-legged, the
winged, the rock people and tree people and cloud peoples— all are dwelling paces of the
Divine. |
“Couple in Love.” Photo by Lightfield Studios, Adobe Stock | The creation-centered tradition recognizes passion, body, senses, and sensuality as part of the divine gift, that original blessing, that touches the depths of awe and gratitude in our lives. |
There is no regret for being body in the creation tradition. The spiritual God of the Jews is also a sensuous God;
indeed, the creator of all that is sensuous,
including
senses, desires, appetites, memories, sexuality, the earth. Matter in the creation tradition
is not an enemy of spirit
but is a home for spirit,
a place of
spiritual power, magic,
and elan. |
See Matthew Fox, Creation Spirituality, Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth, pp. 16-17 and 103 See also Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of
the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 14-15 See also Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance, p. 39 See also Fox, Whee! We, Wee All the Way
Home: A Guide to Sensual Prophetic Spirituality, p. 219 Banner Image: “The Peaceable Kingdom” woodcut by Fritz Eichenberg for The Catholic Worker, 1950. Image uploaded to Flickr by Jim Forest. |
Queries for Contemplation Would it seem to you that the Creation Spirituality Community is both passionate and compassionate,
and an amazing gathering place for people of all orientations?
|
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our
website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth Passionate and provocative, Fox uncovers the ancient tradition and the present-day movement of a creation-centered spirituality that melds Christian mysticism with the struggle for social justice, feminism, and environmentalism. Fox calls for a “Liberation theology for first-world peoples” and presents a
practical outline of that theology. Basic to Fox's notion of creation spirituality is the gift of awe--a mystical response to creation and the first step toward transformation. Awe prompts indignation at the exploitation and destruction of the earth's people and resources. Awe leads to action. He cites Rabbis Abraham Heshel’s warning that when awe is lost, false gods of consumerism take over, “forfeit your sense of awe and the universe becomes a market place for you.” Showing how we can
learn from each other, 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. | |
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 | |
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ:
The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of
these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author of The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe. | |
Whee! We, Wee All the Way Home: A Guide to Sensual Prophetic
Spirituality Years ahead of its time when first published in 1976, this book is still bold and relevant today. Perfect for anyone who thinks mysticism needs to get out of the head and into the body. Matthew Fox begins the Preface to this book by stating, “This is a practical book about waking up and returning to a biblical, justice-oriented spirituality. Such a spirituality is a way of passion that
leads to compassion. Such a way is necessarily one of coming to our senses in every meaning of that phrase.” One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, this title explores the importance of ecstasy in the spiritual life. Fox considers the distinction between “natural” ecstasies (including nature, sex, friendship, music, art) and “tactical” ecstasies (like meditation, fasting, chanting); he goes on to consider that a truly authentic mysticism must be sensuous in its orientation, so to cultivate the
maximum amount of ecstasy for the maximum amount of people. | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox and Brian Swimme in a new 7-week online course hosted by The Shift Network: "Science, Spirituality & the Noosphere: Deepen the Meaning of Your Life & the Power You Hold to Create Fulfillment & Happiness," beginning August 8. Register
HERE and receive access to a free introductory video. 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 |
Aaron Perry hosts Matthew Fox on the Y On
Earth podcast, on “Hildegard von Bingen & Her “Viriditas,” sharing profound wisdom and deep insights about the essential importance of our relationship with Mother Earth, our celebration of the Divine Feminine, and our connection with Creation Spirituality, drawing upon centuries
of knowledge and wisdom from indigenous and mystical traditions world-wide… particularly from the Rhineland Mystic Movement of the medieval European Renaissance, and a most extraordinary woman at its helm: Hildegard von Bingen. | |
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