The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
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When
Faith & Panentheism Are Actions, Not Just Beliefs or Dogmas 05/29/2024 |
In yesterday’s DM, we reflected on a detour taken by Christianity in the fourth century, when an emperor converted to Christianity called an Ecumenical Council that resulted in the Nicene Creed. |
And how that creed, while offering some basic common beliefs that helped bring warring Christian factions together, left out the teachings of Jesus! It focused exclusively on Christ and the doctrines and dogmas that surround him. |
Council of Nicaea, 325 C.E. Fresco in Salone Sistino, Vatican, by Giovanni Guerra, Cesare Nebbia, and others. Wikimedia Commons |
In this regard, our recent DMs on playing with dogmas (as opposed to using them as theological cudgels) seem like a very ripe idea. Faith is meant to be about action, not just beliefs or dogmas or creeds. Maybe we need a creed about behavior. For example: Love others as you love yourself. Love yourself! That is the best and maybe only cure for fascism and projecting your power onto others. Erich
Fromm, a profound psychologist and thinker, tells us that fascism is born of self-hatred after all. Forgive and you will be forgiven. |
Justice and compassion: U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink joins Elliot Kaye and World Central Kitchen in distributing food to shellshocked residents of Kyiv, Jul 26, 2022. Photo by U.S. Embassy Kyiv Ukraine on Flickr. | Do justice and compassion, for they are the imitation of God. Fall in love at least three times a day. Fall in love with creation and with life. “Behold the lilies of the field." And other beauties of life and nature that we can easily take for granted. |
Learn to behold! Behold the wonders of the ocean and its fishes! Behold the gift of good soil from which healthy foods
derive. Behold clean air! Behold the wonders of water (and the dangers of droughts). Behold the blue sky (and the poison wildfires and smog spill into the sky). |
Behold the beauty of the animals (and the extinction going on of so many). Behold the songs of the birds! Can we learn to
behold and not to take for granted? Not to take for granted the health or the beauty of this world, in which we live, move and have our being? |
Wildlife Messengers discover it is crucial not only to protect critically endangered regent honeyeater birds of southeast
Australia, but also to preserve and teach them their species song, enabling them to find mates and breed in the wild. |
And how this world includes Spirit or God or Goddess everywhere, inside us and us inside him/her/it/them? Panentheism therefore. Is this why Beguine Mechtild of Magdeburg said in the 13th century, “the day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw—and knew I saw—all things
in God and God in all things”? And a century later, Julian of Norwich defined faith this way: Faith is trusting that “we are in God and God whom we do not see is in us.” |
See Matthew Fox, “The Four Paths as Four Commandments,” in Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth, pp. 18—26.
And Fox, Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond, p. 102.
And Fox, “Panentheism,” in Fox, Original
Blessing, pp. 88-92.
Banner Image: Law enforcement officials bring down an activist from the anchor chain of the tanker Gran Couva, part of a 24-hour action by Greenpeace to block the vessel from delivering 27,000 metric tonnes of crude palm oil from the Kampar Peninsula’s peatland forest to Rotterdam. Photo by Esperanza a Greenpeace Ship 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 |
Is your coming to your spiritual awakening like that of Mechtild’s? Your seeing God in all things and all things in God? Your moving from theism to panentheism? Your learning to behold? |
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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Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic–and Beyond
Julian of Norwich lived through the dreadful bubonic plague that killed close to 50% of Europeans. Being an anchoress, she ‘sheltered in place’ and developed a
deep wisdom that she shared in her book, Showings, which was the first book in English by a woman. A theologian way ahead of her time, Julian develops a feminist understanding of God as mother at the heart of nature’s goodness. Fox shares her teachings in this powerful and timely and inspiring book.
“What an utterly magnificent book. The work of Julian of Norwich, lovingly
supported by the genius of Matthew Fox, is a roadmap into the heart of the eco-spiritual truth that all life breathes together.” –Caroline Myss
Now also available as an audiobook HERE. |
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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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