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! |
Election-Time Weirdness:
Is Caring
the Opposite of Weird? 08/09/2024 |
In yesterday’s DM, we considered VP nominee Tim Walz’s naming of weirdness as characterizing much of his opponents’ positions and proposals. |
Today
we offer a few more prime examples and then move on to an important question arising from this discussion. Is it weird to be a Roman Catholic vice-presidential candidate but ignore the pope’s teachings about |
“‘Stalker’: Harris-Walz campaign spreads ‘joy’ as J.D. Vance gets even weirder.” Joy Reid anchors the MSNBC political analysts’ panel. |
saving Mother Earth from climate change? Is it weird to call all women without biological children “cat ladies?” Is it
weird to propose that people with more children should have more votes in an election than those without children? Is it weird to be a Roman Catholic vice-presidential candidate but call nuns and religious sisters “cat ladies” (because this is what you are doing if you say women without children are such)? AND, that
they should have fewer votes than women with their own biological children? |
Lauren Mayer parodies Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Memories” with a commentary on JD Vance’s targeting “childless cat
ladies.” | Is it weird to propose that an education system not tell the facts about slavery and
oppression? Is it weird to propose that an education system not tell young people about the varieties of human (and others species’) sexuality? |
What are synonyms for weird? Following are some: strange, odd, bizarre, peculiar, uncanny, eerie, creepy, unusual, uncanny, unearthly, abnormal. What happens when one applies these terms to presidential candidates and their speeches and proposals? Do they come out as strange, odd,
bizarre, peculiar, uncanny, eerie, creepy, unusual, uncanny unearthly, abnormal? Now let us turn to the opposite–What is the opposite of weird? Is it normal, every-day, usual, standard, regular, ordinary, typical, customary, common, average, natural, habitual, routine, conventional? What happens when one applies
these terms to presidential candidates, their speeches and proposals? |
I frankly find these terms quite flat and boring when it comes to politics. So let’s look for another opposite of weird. I propose that maybe caring should be the opposite of weird in the political sphere. Caring about the common good. And individuals. And
policies that promote both. |
VP candidate Tim Walz tweeted a memory of meeting with HRH The Dalai Lama on X.com. |
Caring about survival and the wellbeing of Mother Earth in a time of climate change and the destruction it wages. Caring about how we bring forward the better angels of ourselves and safeguard against the worst that humans are capable of. Caring about justice and compassion and the weakest among us and fashioning laws that curb our worst instincts. Maybe compassion is as unweird as we can
get. |
See Matthew Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality.
Banner Image: Democratic Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Wikimedia Commons. |
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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 |
Do you recognize Caring and Compassion to be the opposite of weird in the political sphere? What follows from that? |
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the
meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest
consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
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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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Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an Introduction by Charles Burack
To encapsulate the life and work
of Matthew Fox would be a daunting task for any save his colleague Dr. Charles Burack, who had the full cooperation of his subject. Fox has devoted 50 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His more than 40 books, translated into 78 languages, are inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and have awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. Essential Writings begins by exploring the influences on Fox’s life and spirituality, then presents selections from all Fox’s major works in 10 sections.
“The critical insights, the creative connections, the centrality of Matthew Fox’s writings and teaching are second to none for the radical renewal of Christianity.” ~~ Richard Rohr, OFM. |
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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, 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 |
MONTHLY: 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. Last Tuesday of every month, 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 |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, August 15, 4:00-5:30 pm PT.
Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, September 19, 4:00-5:30 pm PT.
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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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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