The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Watch for Matthew Fox's video meditation -- now appearing every Monday! |
Original Blessing, Self-Love, and the Curing of Fascism 05/16/2024 |
If self-hatred leads to fascism, then the cure for fascism is self-love. |
Meister Eckhart asks, How can anyone be compassionate toward her neighbor who is not compassionate toward herself?This is why Jesus says: ‘Be compassionate!’ He wants our compassion to begin at home. He wants us to be compassionate toward our own body and our own soul. |
High-school students participate in a “To Write Love on Her Arms” workshop on mental health and suicide prevention. Photo by Jessy Rone on Flickr. |
He goes on, very much in the vein of Thomas Aquinas: Everyone loves himself or herself to some degree. To do otherwise is to fool yourself. For if you hated yourself, you would cease to exist. Since friendly relations with another spring from friendly relations with yourself, you should meditate on how it is that the soul loves the body. |
Brian D'arcy James as Matt Carroll and Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer of the Boston Globe interview victims of priestly abuse in Spotlight. | Adolf Hitler had a tyrannical father (not unlike Trump) who beat him daily according to German psychologist Alice Miller. Abuse leads to abuse. The “sins of our fathers” get carried on if there is no intervention. When Love intervenes, whether it be |
other relatives, a teacher, a clergy person, a therapist, a friend, a group in recovery, healing can happen.
I once read that 95% of rapists were themselves rape victims. Caring for the wounded child within—or failing to–has profound social and political consequences. Self-hatred unattended gives birth to
fascism.
Why are we so short of self-love currently? One reason is our narcissism as a species—Climate Change may assist us to break out of our species isolation and wake up to our utter
dependence and interdependence on 13.8 billion years of creation. |
Psychologist Erich Fromm links self-hatred to fascism. I hold him in great respect–of all the books I studied for my book on Evil, his book on The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness touched me the deepest. It is he who said, “necrophilia grows when biophilia is stunted.” |
Trauma expert Dr. Gabor Mate speaks on “The 7 Impacts of Trauma.” Wholehearted |
Fascists are
low in biophilia. Low in Original Blessing. What evil does an absent Via Positiva and absent Original Blessing wreak in others? In history? Those yearning for autocracy and strong men to rescue them today should heed these teachings. How important the new cosmology can be–the Webb Telescope feeds us with daily images of the beauty, wonder and gift-giving of the universe. Creation loves us. Original Blessing
therefore. Original Goodness. |
|
| In Case You Missed It: Our 5th Anniversary Survey continues for the rest of this week! We are eager to learn more about what
the DM means to you, and how we can improve it as we go into our sixth year. In appreciation for your feedback, you’ll receive a 25% discount code that you can apply to any purchase from Matthew’s store. This opportunity is good until this Friday (May 17), so participate in the survey
now! |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Meditations with Meister Eckhart, p. 105.
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. xiii, 9f., 20, 155, 195, 258, 300.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation
Spirituality.
And Fox, Essential Writings in Creation Spirituality.
Banner Image: Coming for comfort to Nature. Photo by Kevin Young on Unsplash |
|
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. |
Queries for Contemplation |
What do you find cures self or others of self-hate often born of trauma and abuse? Does the new cosmology assist? |
Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book
A centering book by Matthew Fox. This book of simple but rich meditations exemplifies the deep yet playful creation-centered spirituality of Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart
was a 13th-century Dominican preacher who was a mystic, prophet, feminist, activist, defender of the poor, and advocate of creation-centered spirituality, who was condemned shortly after he died.
“These quiet presentations of spirituality are remarkable for their immediacy and clarity.” –Publishers Weekly.
|
|
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
|
|
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 |
|
Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an Introduction by Charles Burack
To encapsulate the life and work
of Matthew Fox would be a daunting task for any save his colleague Dr. Charles Burack, who had the full cooperation of his subject. Fox has devoted 50 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His more than 40 books, translated into 78 languages, are inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and have awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. Essential Writings begins by exploring the influences on Fox’s life and spirituality, then presents selections from all Fox’s major works in 10 sections.
“The critical insights, the creative connections, the centrality of Matthew Fox’s writings and teaching are second to none for the radical renewal of Christianity.” ~~ Richard Rohr, OFM. |
|
In the Beginning There Was Joy: A Cosmic Celebration for Kids of All Ages
The first book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series tells the story of the big bang and how humans fit into the awesome, fantastical,
cosmic picture! With artwork curated from illustrators around the world, this book expresses the joy and wonder of all peoples and cultures, planting seeds of respect, cooperation and hope to work together for the healing of our planet. "Matthew Fox has created a narrative, for every parent and grandparent, both spiritual and
scientific, that is a gift for all elders who recognize their responsibility in initiating the young ones into the grandeur of existence." Cosmologist Brian Swimme, Author of Cosmogenesis and The Universe Story "Matthew Fox has given all of us, children included, a wondrous and enchanting view of creation
and all that humanity should aspire to." - Caroline Myss, Author of Anatomy of the Spirit and A Time for Grace |
|
UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox in a new, live, 7-week video course hosted by the Shift Network, Cultivating Compassion in Spirituality: What Meister Eckhart & Other World Mystics Can Teach Us About Navigating Collective Turmoil. Tuesdays, May 7 – June 25, 5:00pm - 6:30pm PT. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book with scientist Rupert Sheldrake, Natural Grace: Dialogues on Creation, Darkness and the Soul in Spirituality and Science in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, May 16, 4:00-5:30 pm PT.
Register HERE. |
Join keynote speakers Matthew Fox and Brian Swimme at the 2024 Creation Spirituality Communities Gathering on “Reimagining Our Story, Hope for Humanity,” live at Cape Cod, MA and by livestream. Friday, May 31 – Sunday, June 2. Learn more and register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Matthew Fox speaks on "Preserving Things in the Good" at the Unity of Walnut Creek Earth Day worship service held on April 21, 2024. |
|
Inspired by this post? Share your insights on Universeodon, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
|
|
|
