The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Cataclysms &
Rediscovering Life,
Nature and Creation 11/15/2023 |
Today as we look for ways to stop the bickering, get over our wars and rumors of war, including our war with Mother Earth, we wonder if humanity can change and transform quickly. Time is of the essence. We are in a
hurry. |
Not only wars between nations and peoples threaten our survival but the war against Mother Earth especially does so. Climate Change and more. Can we respond? Are we up to it? If not, our species is destined to go the way of the Neanderthal and the 15 other hominid |
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cousins we have identified so far, all of which share this one thing in common: All are now extinct. We are the last ones standing. War is so déjà vu. We have tried
it for centuries. It is integral to the Patriarchal Project. Winners and losers. Empire builders and those swallowed up by empires. Colonizing, colonizers, and those colonized. Slavery. Attempts at genocide. Genocide. So familiar, so déjà vu. |
"The Terror of War": 9-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc, naked after tearing off her burning clothes as she fled with her family after a napalm bomb was dropped on their Vietnamese village. Photo by Nick Ut, Associated Press; public domain.
Wikimedia Commons. | Can our species continue to survive this way? Of course not. Maybe we need an emergency to wake us up out of our bad habits of war, of reptilian brain responses, of patriarchy unchecked. |
Maybe Climate Change is that emergency. Maybe French playwright Antonin Artaud is correct when he wrote in 1938 that “it is right that from time-to-time cataclysms occur which compel us to return to nature, i.e., to rediscover life.” Creation spirituality is all about rediscovering life. Nature. Cosmos. That which is. Being. And not taking it for granted. |
Meister Eckhart: “Isness is God." The Via Positiva, falling in love with life at least three times a day. Prayer: A Radical Response to Life. Order of
the Sacred Earth: I promise to be the best lover (mystic) of Mother Earth and the best defender (prophet or warrior) that I can be. |
Experts Care for Banyan Tree in Lahaina after deadly wildfire on Maui: Arborist Steve Nimz describes the treatment being given the beloved 150-year-old tree, emblem of its community’s hope of recovery. Maui Now |
Maybe we need extinction staring us in the face. As it is doing. Shouting at us to rediscover life. |
See Matthew Fox, Prayer: A Radical Response to Life (formerly, On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style.)
And Fox, Original Blessing.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the
Peoples of the Earth.
Banner Image: “In Flanders fields the poppies blow.” Poppies growing in the WWI battlefields of Flanders, Belgium, where a million soldiers from more than 50 different countries were wounded, missing or killed in action. Photo by Tijl Vercaemer from Gent, Flanders, on Wikimedia Commons. |
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Queries for Contemplation Do you agree that emergencies and cataclysms can assist us to rediscover life? Also, can attacks on democracy assist us to rediscover—and rebirth—democracy? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, or read other comments and enter into dialog, please click HERE to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Prayer: A Radical Response to Life How do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? Fox defines prayer as a radical response to life that includes our “Yes” to life (mysticism) and our “No” to forces that combat life (prophecy). How do we define adult prayer? And how—if at all—do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, originally published
under the title On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style, Prayer introduces a mystical/prophetic spirituality and a mature conception of how to pray. Called a “classic” when it first appeared, it lays out the difference between the creation spirituality tradition and the fall/redemption tradition that has so dominated Western theology since Augustine. A practical and theoretical book, it lays the groundwork for Fox’s later works. “One of the
finest books I have read on contemporary spirituality.” – Rabbi Sholom A. Singer |
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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 |
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Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
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.
"A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes." -- Frederic
and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice. |
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Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
By Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jen Listug
In the midst of global fire, earthquake and flood – as species are going extinct every day and national and global economies totter – the planet doesn’t need another church or religion. What it needs is a new Order, grounded in the Wisdom traditions of both East and West, including science and indigenous. An Order of the Sacred Earth united in one sacred vow: “I promise to be the best lover and defender of the Earth that I can
be.”
Co-authored by Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Berit Listug, with a forward by David Korten, this collection of essays by 21 spiritual visionaries including Brian Swimme, Mirabai Starr, Theodore Richards, and Kristal Parks marks the founding of the diverse and inclusive Order of the Sacred Earth, a community now evolving around the world.
“The Order of the Sacred Earth not only calls us home to our true nature as Earth, but also offers us invaluable guidance and company on the way.” ~~ Joanna Macy, environmental activist and author of Active Hope. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join the Global Ministries University celebration as Matthew Fox joins the GMU faculty with a lecture on “Creation Spirituality and Religion and Science”. Registration is now full for this virtual event but you may subscribe to be notified to watch it on the GMU YouTube Channel. Friday, November 17, 7:30 am PT. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book “Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest ” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, January 18, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Hunger for Wholeness: What is Wholeness in the Midst of Crisis with Matthew Fox (Part 1) In the midst of increased violence between Israel and Palestine, Ilia Delio and theologian
Matthew Fox discuss the state of the world today and how to have courage in Part 1 of their conversation. Ilia and Matt discuss his mentor, Marie Dominique Chenu, the influence of liberation theology on social justice in the church today, and what can still be learned.
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Inspired by this post? Share your insights on Universeodon, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
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