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! |
Week
of 6/10-15/2024:
Teilhard, Aquinas,
Sister Dorothy & David Paladin 06/16/2024 |
June 10, 2024: From Orvieto: Aquinas and Teilhard
Matthew is in Orvieto, Italy marking the 800th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Aquinas, leading a weeklong retreat which also features three art-as-meditation teachers. Last week
we reflected on Teilhard de Chardin. Both Teilhard and Aquinas were lovers of both nature and science. Matthew asks himself, How would Thomas Aquinas respond to today’s science? The answer? He’d be ecstatic, intoxicated, beside himself, thrilled, and deliriously joyful. He would be head over heels in love with the world and the cosmos as we are getting to know it. And so, it is a joy to be in Orvieto, a place of morphic resonance, where Aquinas wrote and
taught. |
The beauty of the night sky, as viewed through the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile. Video by SpaceRip. |
June 11, 2024: Teilhard, Aquinas and Creation Spirituality
Teilhard was accused of being “too pagan;” Matthew was accused of working too closely with Native Americans; and Aquinas was criticized for bringing “pagan”
scientist Aristotle into the Christian faith. Aquinas’s response? “Revelation has been made to many pagans” and “the old pagan virtues were from God.” Teilhard talked about “how to see God everywhere.” Matthew says, If that is not creation spirituality, I don’t know what is. Teilhard also criticized organized religion and saw a distinction between religion and spirituality. He warned about the “enfeeblement” of religion. Matthew says: A solution is found in reconnecting
to the Earth, the work of the first chakra. June 12, 2024: Teilhard and Aquinas Battling Dualism
Teilhard, like Thomas Aquinas before him, waged an incessant battle against dualism. Teilhard said: Matter and Spirit: These were no longer two things but two states or two aspects of one and the same cosmic Stuff…. Matter is the Matrix of Spirit. Spirit is the higher state of Matter. Teilhard came to realize that Spirit was “the very heart” of matter which evolved and morphed into Psyche. Psyche was born of matter and, through all this
evolving, Spirit was present at the core of things. |
June 13, 2024: Green Man Jesus Inspires Eco-Martyr Sister Dorothy Stang
[FROM THE ARCHIVE: 5/28/2019] We meditate on how the Green Man archetype challenges today’s toxic masculinity. Hildegard of Bingen
called Jesus a “green man.” THildegard was a champion of the Earth and of preserving and defending the Earth. Jesus is, for her, a green prophet, fully alive, fully committed, fully in love with life. Meanwhile, Sister Dorothy demonstrates the courage and commitment that defending Mother Earth requires. She is one of thousands who were—and continue to be—martyred defending the Amazon. Matthew sees her as a patron saint to resisters and Earthkeepers everywhere. June 14, 2024: Eco-Martyr Sister Dot & the Sacred Masculine
[FROM THE ARCHIVE:
5/29/2019] We explore more fully the story of Sister Dot and her martyrdom on behalf of Mother Earth. At her funeral one of the indigenous farmers she had served stood up and declared: “Sister Dot, we are not burying you; we are planting you.” When Sister Dot knew her life was in danger, many advised her to leave Brazil. She wrote: I don’t want to flee, nor do I want to abandon the battle of these farmers…. Sister Dot kept a copy next to her bed of the
book Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen by Franciscan Sister Gabriel Uhlein. Sr. Dot’s brother kindly gave that book to Matthew after she was killed. It is filled with sketches and doodles that Sr. Dot made. Sister Dot, like Saint Hildegard, is living proof of the power of art as meditation to feed and nurture prophets and spiritual warriors. |
June 15, 2024: More Wisdom from Artist-Shaman David Paladin
[FROM THE ARCHIVE: 4/29/2021] Another inspiring person speaks
about the power of art and creativity: Navajo painter David Paladin. Like Sr. Dorothy Stang, he faced forces of evil but did not let it prevent him from stepping up and serving humankind. David was captured during WWII and put into a concentration camp where he was mercilessly tortured. When he was liberated, he was emaciated, paraplegic, and in a coma. He awoke from the coma after two years. Deciding to give himself to the ancient tradition of healing, the elders threw him into an icy cold
river. Miraculously, David recovered. He was able to walk again. He subsequently became an artist, a shaman/healer, and a police chaplain. He tells us: Look at yourself as magicians, as healers, as lovers of humanity, as givers and sharers. From that perspective living becomes an art in itself. Then everything you do becomes magic! |
Banner image: "Emergence." Sand painting by Navajo artist David Paladin. (cropped) Used with permission.
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Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
As Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in
Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion
and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take what’s in this book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless
Youth. |
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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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Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet
Because creativity is the key to both our genius and beauty as a species but also to our capacity for evil, we need to teach creativity and to teach ways of steering this God-like power in
directions that promote love of life (biophilia) and not love of death (necrophilia). Pushing well beyond the bounds of conventional Christian doctrine, Fox’s focus on creativity attempts nothing less than to shape a new ethic.
“Matt Fox is a pilgrim who seeks a path into the church of tomorrow. Countless numbers will be happy to follow his lead.” –Bishop John Shelby Spong, author, Rescuing
the Bible from Fundamentalism, Living in Sin |
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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 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 |
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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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