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Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox 

08/12/2024

I would like to offer a few observations as a spiritual theologian and observer. Which is sort of my job, as I said in launching the Daily Meditations six years ago: we ought to pray the news and not just watch the news. One way of

      Olympic swimmers, Paris, 2024. Photo by Joe. Flickr.

understanding prayer is to recognize the Via Positiva, the Via Negativa, the Via Creativa and the Via Transformativa in everyday events and in our everyday lives.

Some people will criticize the games for costing lots of money or being beholden to corporate sponsors and media conglomerates, or the coverage being too nation-based, etc., and such criticisms are worth considering. But they are far from the totality of what we are witnesses to when we watch the Games.

“Inuit Kunik” — Mother and child rubbing noses, Padlei, NWT, 1950. Photograph by Richard Harrington. Wikimedia Commons.

I recall a story I learned years ago that in the Inuit tradition of old, when a war was to break out between tribes, the elders of each tribe called for a poetry contest. A jury that included people from both tribes was assembled and the best poet from each tribe was chosen and the two poets went at it for a week. 

At the end of the week, the jury voted on the best poet and that tribe won the war. War over.

Now that is a very advanced civilization, in my opinion. A recognition that humans invariably have conflicts but that we also have options as to how to deal with those conflicts. Humans have choices about what modes we choose to compete—and whether they need to be wars to the death or poetry contests is a matter of choice.

Sport invites people into competition and the competition can be demanding—very hard work goes into preparing for all the contests of the Olympic games, effort that brings out the best in oneself amidst practice, practice, practice. 

Simone Biles, floor exercise at the Paris Olympics in 2024 (slow motion). Slow Motion Gymnastics

The fruits of that practice are on display in competition. We who participate by attending (whether as TV watchers or with tickets on the spot) are treated to watching excellence at work. Beauty happens. Joy happen. Connecting happens.  

                                                                                      To be continued.

See Matthew Fox, Whee! We, Wee All the Way Home: Toward a Sensual, Prophetic Spirituality

And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

And Fox, Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet

Banner image: “Diyora Keldiyorova at the 2024 Summer Olympics” kissing her medal. Wikimedia Commons.

Statement of Solidarity with Israel/Palestine.

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 find sport and games and sometimes competition to be a spiritual experience, whether playing them or watching them?  Why do you think that is so?

Recommended Reading

Whee! We, Wee All the Way Home: A Guide to Sensual Prophetic Spirituality

Years ahead of its time when first published in 1976, this book is still bold and relevant today. Perfect for anyone who thinks mysticism needs to get out of the head and into the body. Matthew Fox begins the Preface to this book by stating, “This is a practical book about waking up and returning to a biblical, justice-oriented spirituality. Such a spirituality is a way of passion that leads to compassion. Such a way is necessarily one of coming to our senses in every meaning of that phrase.” One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, this title explores the importance of ecstasy in the spiritual life. Fox considers the distinction between “natural” ecstasies (including nature, sex, friendship, music, art) and “tactical” ecstasies (like meditation, fasting, chanting); he goes on to consider that a truly authentic mysticism must be sensuous in its orientation, so to cultivate the maximum amount of ecstasy for the maximum amount of people.

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

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

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 

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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