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! |
Playing with Dogmas: Instead of Dogmas in a Box, Dogmas in a Sandbox! 05/24/2024 |
Yesterday, we meditated on the importance of healthy criticism of institutions–but also the dangers of destroying them altogether, as fascists want to do. |
Recently, Pope Francis called out American bishops who become “closed up inside a dogmatic box.” It is good to hear a Pope criticize his own institution and confront American bishops for their “suicidal attitude” of clinging to something and not wanting to see beyond that….Because it is
one thing to take tradition into account—to consider situations from the past. But quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box. |
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What is a dogma? For me a dogma is an effort to name a mystery in a partial way in order to explore it more richly—and playfully. Dogmas are for playing with! (All ideas are.) After all, Thomas Aquinas says the nearest word for contemplation is “play.” To contemplate on a
dogma is an invitation to play. Much more fun than hiding ideas and self inside a sealed and unchanging box forever! Nothing in the universe is unchanging—evolution applies to everything we encounter. It is a law or habit, of the universe. All is in flux. Even our most cherished dogmas. Cardinal (now Saint) Newman
wrote a book on the The Development of Doctrine ten years before Darwin’s Origin of Species. Even doctrines and dogmas develop and evolve. |
Peace through a prism: “Los Angeles: Looking for Peace (Olhar a Paz).” Mural by Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra. Photo by Wally Gobetz on Flickr. | How does one play with and develop dogma? Well, how does one play with anything? One engages one’s imagination around it. “What if?…” we
ask. What if a Trinitarian model is not just a literal |
model of Divinity but a playful model of how the world works? Mom, Dad, child is a trinitarian model after all. So is sculptor, clay and pot. So is painter, paints with canvas and a painting. Seems like there is a lot of Trinitarian energy going on around us all the time. Sometimes 1 +
1 = 2. But Trinitarian thinking tells us sometimes 1 + 1 equals 3. It introduces some fun, creativity and surprise to the everyday equation. Dogmas are meant to be played with. Just as a football field offers a parameter in which to play a game so it doesn’t just spill out everywhere, so a dogma
provides a springboard of a notion plus a parameter within which to play one’s heart out. Like a sandbox. To be continued. |
See Matthew Fox, Prayer: A Radical Response to Life, pp. 148-156. (Originally, On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style.)
And Fox, Whee! We, Wee All the Way Home: A Guide To Sensual, Prophetic Spirituality.
And
Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality, pp. 226f.
Banner Image: Children playing in a sandbox. Photo by Michael Swan on Flickr. |
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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 |
Pick a dogma, any dogma. Play with it. What happens? How healthy is it to move from box to sandbox, from serious clinging to serious play with our cherished ideas and beliefs?
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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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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. |
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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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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. "This delicious book for children of all ages celebrates joy as the essential truth of
reality." - Andrew Harvey, Author of The Hope and Radical Regeneration "I absolutely LOVED reading this beautiful, creative, stirring story—a charming, whimsical, powerful, parable." -
Robert Holden, Author of Happiness NOW! and Higher Purpose |
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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 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. |
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