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! |
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Week
of 4/15-20/2024: The World as Love, Jews of Conscience, Passover & Earth Day 04/21/2024 |
April 15, 2024: Is the World Love as Teilhard Teaches?
Teilhard de Chardin said that we should add to the teaching “God is Love” a teaching that “The World is Love.” Is he being naive or is he onto something? Teilhard was a passionate advocate of evolution, and it cost him much professionally. He was banished to China, but that time proved to be very rich as he made substantial contributions to the exciting archeological findings of “Peking Man.” In his pursuit of the deeper meaning of evolution, he realized that the
world is love. World, Creation, Universe, Cosmos—it is all love. As Matthew says: We were loved into existence. Existence is rare. Life and consciousness is rare. And evolution brought it about. |
The Webb telescope prompts scientists to rethink our understanding of the universe. Video by PBS
NewsHour. |
April 16, 2024: Aquinas & Teilhard Envisioning the World as Love
Teilhard says that we need to think of the world as Love. Meanwhile, Thomas Aquinas calls the Universe the being that is “most like
God.” If the world is “most like God” then it is Love. Citing the psalmist, Aquinas says that the Universe is “God’s home” and its splendor and grandeur render us “drunk” when we meditate on it. He borrows the “getting drunk” motif from the Song of Songs, the book in the Bible that celebrates human love and lovemaking as a theophany, a mystical experience. Love of the Universe and from the Universe renders us drunk, drunk with love. April 17, 2024: Aquinas on Love in the Universe, the World as Love
Our home is
not an easy place to live. There is suffering, loss, war, death. But there is also love. There is goodness and joy and forgiveness and starting over and redemption. And surely there is beauty. We are, like other beings in the Universe, “merely one part of the entire integrity of the Universe arising from” a kinship of all beings that make up one beautiful whole which we call the cosmos. It appears that the Universe is divinized insofar as all beings in the entire cosmos “share in some
divine gifts.” (Aquinas) |
“Why beavers matter as the planet heats up.” Vox explores how beavers create ecosystem resilience against climate change, combating drought and protecting forests from wildfire. |
April 18, 2024: Jews of Conscience Speaking Out on Brutality to Palestinians
We have been reflecting on the concept of the world as love, but obviously human beings don’t always model divine love.
However, sometimes there are people and movements which bring us hope. For instance, recently the Foundation for Ethics and Meaning shared a “Declaration of Collective Atonement on the Part of Jews of Conscience.”* Here is part of the declaration: We are heartsick to the core about all the tens of thousands of precious lives being lost right now in Gaza, so many of them children who had their whole lives in front of them.…We deeply bemoan all the countless losses, traumas, indignities, acts of dehumanization, humiliation, oppression, terror, and violence that Palestinian and Jewish people have suffered, not just since October 7th, but in the century
since this far too long-standing conflict began. To the Palestinian people specifically: words cannot adequately convey how profoundly sorry we are, as Jews, for the role our people have played (in your suffering.) April 19, 2024: More on Love & Collective Atonement from Jews of Conscience
Teilhard de Chardin talks about how the direction of evolution is one towards more love, an expansion of the
universe’s capacity to love. And Aquinas says that “sheer joy” is the origin of the universe and that goodness, joy and love are expanding in the universe. But yesterday we lamented the great gap between the love of the universe and love between human beings. Fortunately, “Jews of Conscience” are stepping up and modeling loving action in the face of an absolutely brutal and horrifying war. More excerpts from their declaration follows: Jewish tradition teaches us to love the stranger, for we
were strangers once ourselves, as slaves in Egypt…. In this time of deep despair, all of us, religious and secular, must now come together to make this land holy, by learning to love one another with all our hearts—reflecting the love of all sacred creation. To make our peoples examples of the highest good of which human beings are capable, rather than of its basest evil, we must learn to grow together in new ways that can bring to all the recognition and peace we deserve and
need.* |
Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now mobilize over a 1,000 Jews and allies to shut down Hollywood Blvd. to protest Israeli genocide in Gaza and Hollywood’s role in dehumanizing Muslims. Photo by MarcyWinograd on Wikimedia Commons |
April 20, 2024: Earth Day & Passover 2024: Heschel on Passover
Earth Day and Passover fall on the same day this year. Maybe there is a deep meaning behind honoring Earth’s Liberation and the Israelites’
Liberation on the same Holy Day this Spring. Passover is about not only the angel of death passing over Jewish homes marked with the blood of a sacrificed lamb, but also a time of exodus from their enslavement in Egypt. Rabbi Heschel reminds us that “the ultimate concern of the Jew is not personal salvation but universal redemption.” Indeed, “God is waiting for us to redeem the world.” Is liberation for Mother Earth and all her creatures possible? Can an exodus from the slavery of
anthropocentrism and human narcissism happen anew this Earth Day? If so, that would be a Passover par excellence. |
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Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
By Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jen Listug
In
the midst of global fire, earthquake and flood – as species are going extinct every day and national and global economies totter – the planet doesn’t need another church or religion. What it needs is a new Order, grounded in the Wisdom traditions of both East and West, including science and indigenous. An Order of the Sacred Earth united in one sacred vow: “I promise to be the best lover and defender of the Earth that I can be.”
Co-authored by Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Berit Listug, with a forward by David Korten, this collection of essays by 21 spiritual visionaries including Brian Swimme, Mirabai Starr, Theodore Richards, and Kristal Parks marks the founding of the diverse and inclusive Order of the Sacred Earth, a community now evolving around the world.
“The
Order of the Sacred Earth not only calls us home to our true nature as Earth, but also offers us invaluable guidance and company on the way.” ~~ Joanna Macy, environmental activist and author of Active Hope. |
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Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation
Spirituality
Matthew Fox renders Thomas Aquinas accessible by interviewing him and thus descholasticizing him. He also translated many of his works such as Biblical commentaries never before in English (or Italian or German of French). He gives Aquinas a forum so that he can be heard in our own time. He presents Thomas Aquinas entirely in his own words, but in a form designed to
allow late 20th-century minds and hearts to hear him in a fresh way.
“The teaching of Aquinas comes through will a fullness and an insight that has never been present in English before and [with] a vital message for the world today.” ~ Fr. Bede Griffiths (Afterword).
Foreword by Rupert Sheldrake |
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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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One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but
a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this
magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit |
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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 Receive a 20% discount when you buy this and one other book from Matthew Fox’s store! Use Promo Code 20% at checkout. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox as he speaks on “The Deep Feminine and the Deep Masculine and their importance in elevating consciousness and healing our world” at the The Heart of Nature 7-Day Summit with Jane Fonda, Marianne Williamson, Paul Hawken, Nina Simons and over 30 leading experts, Tuesday-Monday, April 16-22. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he offers the Morning Worship Inspirational Message, “How Christian Mystics & the Challenges of Our Time Build Bridges to Buddhist Wisdom and Deep Ecumenism” hosted by Brentwood Inspired Living Center. Sunday, April 28, 10:00am Learn more HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox, Mariko Middleton, and Skylar Wilson of the Order of the Sacred Earth in a
free virtual meeting for connection and networking with other mystic warriors, Tuesday, April 30, 4:00-5:00pm PT.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88665302478 Meeting ID: 886 6530 2478 Learn more at www.orderofthesacredearth.org |
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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.
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Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Ilia Delio and theologian Matthew Fox pick up on their conversation about the viability of contemporary religious institutions in an evolutionary world. They discuss death and resurrection—the enduring challenge of modern approaches to the subject and what we can learn from mystics, past generations and ancient peoples alike. To listen, click HERE. |
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Inspired by this post? Share your insights on Universeodon, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
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