The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
Aquinas’s Invite to Get Drunk on Cosmic Awareness & Beauty |
In yesterday’s DM we spoke of reintroducing a sense of the cosmos. To say that we need to “reintroduce” is to say that we have lost the cosmos. And we have. |
The modern era, the industrial mind, so preoccupied with ourselves (Descartes: “I think therefore I am”), so narcissistic (Pope Francis’s words), is learning the hard way—from climate change and all the threats that come with it—that we have | A redwood in the National Redwood Forest: an awe-inspiring elder being, a living ecosystem, a climate-saving carbon sink — or ~$700K in lumber? Photo
by Michael Bryant on Unsplash |
been ignoring the larger picture, the universe that made us and makes us daily. Thomas Aquinas, a premodern thinker who has much in common with indigenous wisdom, knew this because he celebrates, first and foremost, our relationship to the cosmos. This in turn elicits joy and ecstasy, as he says, citing the psalmist: “'They shall be drunk with the beauty of thy house'— that is, the Universe." The universe elicits love and ecstasy, wonder and drunkenness. Isn’t that what the Webb Telescope is feeding us with today? |
The Pillars of Creation, where young stars are forming, set off in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared-light view. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI;
Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI). | Indeed, Aquinas reminds us that the cosmos is more excellent than human beings: God has produced a work in which the likeness of God is clearly reflected—that is, the world itself. We, hopefully, reflect the likeness of God—but the world itself has been doing it for 13.8 billion years. Our greatness as a species, he declares, is that we are capax universi, “capable of the universe.” What an
eye-opener and game-changer this is! Aquinas is urging humans to get beyond our own hurts and wounds and petty agendas and look at the big picture. |
Our bigness of mind, our vastness of intellect and imagination, all urge us to look out into a world so much larger than ourselves. It is not enough to live in the worlds we make. We need to consider the
world that makes us. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 21, 9. Also see Fox, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality, pp. 21, 158, 124. Banner Image: The glittering, glitzy contents of the globular cluster NGC 6652 sparkle
in our own Milky Way galaxy in the constellation Sagittarius, just under 30,000 light-years from Earth and only 6,500 light-years from the galactic center. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Sarajedini, G. Piotto. |
Queries for Contemplation Have you gotten drunk on the beauty of the universe? When was that? What difference did it make? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
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The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard
Times
A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What
a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit | |
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality Matthew Fox renders Thomas Aquinas
accessible by interviewing him and thus descholasticizing him. He also translated many of his works such as Biblical commentaries never before in English (or Italian or German of French). He gives Aquinas a forum so that he can be heard in our own time. He presents Thomas Aquinas entirely in his own words, but in a form designed to allow late 20th-century minds and hearts to hear him in a fresh way. “The teaching of Aquinas comes through will a fullness and an insight that has never been present in English before and [with] a vital message for the world today.” ~ Fr. Bede Griffiths (Afterword). | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox and a speaker’s 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. |
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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