The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
08/18/2023
by Rick Reich-Kuykendall |
Today we will look at “A Sensual Mysticism.” But by sensual, we
don’t mean “erotic,” which implies pleasure. The Latin root for sensual is “sesualis” which means “endowed with feeling”–as our senses are. But feeling covers a wide range from pain to pleasure and everything in between. However, the most important feeling evoked in Creation Spirituality is compassion. This is what Matthew writes on the topic: |
A sensual mysticism is clearly
the surest route to a prophetic consciousness. To deny God divine pathos and passion
is to make an abstraction of God. JESUS’ ANIMA WAS FULLY DEVELOPED Who is Jesus if not a man with a fully developed anima side to his character—as poet, as story teller, as weeper | |
over dead friends and live ones: a man with
deep, therefore, spiritual, feeling who preached compassion, thereby revealing a profound side to the nature of God: the feminine side. Compassion means “passion with,” to be in solidarity of feeling with the joy and pain of another. An awakened passion can lead to a renewal of compassion, a fuller, deeper living out of our interdependence with all
creation. |
The Chipko Movement, India: Women and men of Mahila Mangal Dal village, Uttarakhand, place their bodies between logging contractors and the trees, 1973. CC BY-SA
4.0, Wikimedia Commons. | In Hebrew the word for compassion is the same as the word for womb. Desire moves people
to commit themselves to great things; it is not the enemy. |
Desire is the motive of everything. We’re not born with a soul, we have to make it, in a sense. In a sense, you make soul through living, living joy and living grief, and out of both compassion is born. |
See Matthew Fox, Whee! We, Wee All the Way Home: A Guide to Sensual Prophetic Spirituality, pp. 33, 137
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice, p.
22
And Fox, Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life, p. 97
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 251, 270
See Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake, The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science & Spirit Meet, p. 119
And Fox and Sheldrake, Natural Grace: Dialogues on Creation, Darkness, and the Soul in Spirituality and Science, p. 87
Banner Image: A rescued manatee calf receives hydration and oxygen, 2016. Photo by Florida Fish and Wildlife on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation Share a time when someone showed compassion for you. |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our
website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
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. | |
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing
a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic
Register | |
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. | |
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 Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science & Spirit Meet
By Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake When was the last time a scientist and a theologian discussed angels together? What are angels? Many people believe in angels, but few can define these enigmatic spirits. Now visionary theologian Matthew Fox and acclaimed biologist Rupert Sheldrake—pioneers in modern religious thinking and scientific theory—launch a groundbreaking exploration into the ancient concept of the angel and restore dignity, meaning, and joy to
our time-honored belief in these heavenly beings. | |
Natural Grace: Dialogues on Creation, Darkness, and the Soul in Spirituality and Science by Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake Natural Grace, a 208-page inspired dialogue between theologian Matthew Fox and scientist Rupert Sheldrake, unites wisdom and knowledge from unconventional angles. Considering themselves heretics in their own fields, Matthew and Rupert engage the conversation from postmodern and post-postmodern perspectives, deconstructing both
religion and science—while setting the foundation for a new emerging worldview. Having outgrown the paradigms in which they were raised, both Fox and Sheldrake see it as part of their life missions to share the natural synthesis of spirituality and science rooted in a paradigm of evolutionary cosmology. | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society” at an online Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, August 24, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. 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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