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The
Nobility Inside 06/06/2024 |
[FROM THE ARCHIVE, 5/26/2019] After I wrote my book on The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, I was speaking at an Earth Conference in New Mexico and an indigenous man approached
me. |
He told me that he had been a chaplain in a state prison for men for 12 years and that my book “was the first book he found that got men to look inside and find the nobility inside.” It is super important that men and women |
Shelton Prison, Washington State: Native American inmate group the Tribal Sons reclaim their ancestral spiritual practices, drumming and dancing before a Sweat Lodge ceremony. Video by Frank Hopper. |
find the nobility inside. After all, Erich Fromm tells us that self-hatred is the cause of fascism. Let us explore that theme in this and some subsequent DMs. |
Yesterday we considered one story recounting the price one individual paid for hanging out with a distorted masculinity. Study after study is telling us the same thing. The rise of strongmen and authoritarianism around the world
today echoes the reality of Patriarchy run amok. A recent study found that boys are more likely to act out their depression than girls and so the early warning signs of depression in boys are often missed, leading to a misdiagnosis as a conduct disorder or attention-deficit disorder. Young men in the U.S. are committing suicide on an average of three per day – which is five times the rate of women. The authors conclude: Depression in males of all ages is a public health crisis that
must be addressed. To do so, we must redefine healthy masculinity… |
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| The return of the Sacred Masculine is as important for women as it is for men,
not only because women have men in their lives – sons and grandsons, husbands, lovers, fathers, brothers, uncles, coworkers – but also because there is a masculine side to a woman’s soul just as there is |
a feminine side to the masculine soul. If we are living in a time and culture of a toxic masculine – one that defines masculinity as being number one and always being on top and as reptilian brain aggression – then women as well as men are walking around with toxins in their souls. Indeed, the first response I had
to my book on men was from a woman who wrote: I have over 200 books on the goddess in my personal library and not a single book on the sacred masculine. And I have two sons! I do not regret my twenty years of incorporating the divine feminine, but you are right. It is time now to pay attention to the sacred masculine. Until I read your book, I had not understood how much men have suffered under patriarchy. |
One of the signs of the healthy masculine is welcoming the goddess and the divine feminine. The converse is also true: Healthy women welcome the healthy masculine in themselves and others. A second response to the book that meant a lot to me came from a Native American man who worked in prison for twelve years. he said to me, It is very difficult to get men in prison to look at themselves- they are always projecting onto others. Yours is the first book I have ever used that got them to look and find the nobility inside. |
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That is what we mean by “original blessing,” isn’t it? How do men (and women) recover “the nobility inside?” We will explore this in subsequent meditations. |
Drawn from Confessions by Matthew Fox, pp. 418 and 419
See also The Hidden Spirituality of Men.
Banner Image: Men and women together call for humanity: Peaceful Uprising founder Tim DeChristopher and Roxbury, MA clergy lead a protest march in 2016, linking a local pipeline to a mass
grave for victims of climate-caused heat in Pakistan. Photo by Peter Bowden on Flickr; referencing DeChristopher’s video, “The Age of Anticipatory Mass Graves.” |
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See Matthew's original YouTube reflection on this topic HERE
(scroll to the bottom of the essay). Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, or read other comments and enter into dialog, please click HERE. |
Queries for Contemplation |
In prayerful meditation, sit with the following questions and invite Spirit to guide your thoughts… - What have been your experiences of healthy versus toxic masculinity?
- What has been your experience of “the nobility inside?”
- What calls that nobility forth in you?
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Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)
Matthew Fox’s stirring
autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of
this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self
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The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an
ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael
Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
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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. "Matthew Fox does it again, here for our young ones, who so need a positive, cosmic vision
to thrive, or even survive, in a sad time." - Father Richard Rohr, Author of The Universal Christ "Matthew Fox offers a resounding affirmation of what our souls have always suspected: we are made for joy." - Mirabai Starr, Author of God of Love and Wild Mercy |
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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 Matthew Fox and 11 other speakers for a 6-week course on Cosmic Water: The Radical Roots of Mystical Christianity hosted by Advaya.Life (Matthew speaks on June 18). Tuesdays, May 28 - Thursday, July 4, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT Register HERE (for 10% discount use code
FOX-WOW) |
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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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