The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
Speaking of Divinization & Cosmic Awareness: Gandhi & Bede Griffiths |
We are considering the teaching from Eastern Christianity naming redemption as theosis, the divinizing of the universe. The emphasis is not on our
individual souls so much as matching the doxa and glory of creation with our own doxa and Christlikeness and projecting that onto our world, work, and all our relations. |
Gandhi also thought along these lines, according to a serious student of his: “For Gandhi, to become divine is to become attuned in thought, feeling and act to the whole of creation.” What
follows is that “Dharma or morality cannot be ultimately divorced from rta or cosmic order.” We know what Gandhi accomplished working from a cosmic understanding like that.
Gandhi also said: “Earth and heaven are in us.”* This statement sounds a lot like Jesus when he taught us to pray,
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“Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” And, “the kingdom/queendom of God is among you.” Father Bede Griffiths points out how thoroughly Gandhi absorbed the teachings of Jesus: |
Father Bede Griffiths talks about how exploring other religions can enhance your own faith experience. Video by Grateful
Living. | Gandhi has shown how the principles of the Sermon on the Mount can be applied to social and political life in a way which no one before him had done: he made the Beatitudes a matter of practical concern in a way which few Christians have realized. |
Father Bede recognizes how we can touch the universe in meditation: In meditation, I can
experience my solidarity with the universe, with the remotest star in outer space and with the minutest particle in the atom. I can experience my solidarity with every living thing, with the earth, with these flowers and coconut trees,...with every human being. I can get beyond all the outer forms of things in time and space and discover the Ground from which they all spring. |
*Raghavan Iyer, The Moral and
Political Thought of Mahatma Gandhi, pp. 91, 100, 176.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality, p. 67. And Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings
and Meditations, pp. 248, 261. Banner Image: Meditating in the Krantskloof Nature Reserve, South Africa. Photo by MissMakhyana89. Wikimedia
Commons. |
Queries for Contemplation What is meant by Gandhi when he says to become divine is to become attuned to the whole of creation? And morality and the cosmic order go together? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation
Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story | |
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
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See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Virtual Retreat, Thursday, September 14,
4:00-6:00 pm PT. To register, click HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox and a speakers' panel for brief Creation Spirituality presentations, music, songs, prayer, and refreshments in a free online and on-site Celebration of Matthew Fox's donation of papers
to the University of Colorado, Boulder. University of Colorado Boulder Libraries – Center for British & Irish Studies – 5th Floor Thursday, September 21, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT RSVP HERE for on-site attendance only. Virtual attendance link will be forthcoming. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Virtual Retreat, Thursday, October 19,
4:00-6:00 pm PT. To register, click HERE.
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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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OR share your insights on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox
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Is the universe itself a temple of God? In the New Testament and the earliest hymns of the Christian community the cosmos is present. But is it present today in Western religions and theologies and
worship? In the dominant rituals of the Protestant or Catholic churches? In our culture as a whole? |
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