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! |
Are Our Times Both
Apocalyptic & Revelatory? 09/06/2024 |
Are we living in apocalyptic times? What might be called also “End Times?” This is what triggered the impactful fresco on “The Antichrist” by Luca Signorelli after all. |
There was an “end time” mood in 1500 when he started the fresco that so impressed Sigmund Freud and many others, myself included. It was a “half millennium” moment. Many people are feeling an “end time” or apocalyptic time currently. Surely the news on climate
change |
“Sermon and Deeds of the Antichrist.” Fresco by Luca Signorelli, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Orvieto. Wikimedia Commons. |
harbors such feelings. As glaciers and continents melt, seas rise, temperatures break all records and species including human migrate on an ever-widening scale, there is and will be a feeling of “end time” or apocalypse. As democracies come under fire still more from without and within by
forces of authoritarianism and fascism, an “end time” looms. An “end time” or “apocalyptic time” gave birth to archetypes like the antichrist in the Christian scriptures at the end of the first century. Indeed, the Book of Apocalypse is all about the early Christians facing the wickedness of an empire and its commitment to wiping this early sect off the face of the earth. Throwing them to the lions, etc., was a real thing, as was blaming them for a fire that engulfed
Rome. |
The First Felon has been priming his violent base with lies in preparation for a November 5 claim that the 2024 election was rigged – in fact or not. PBS NewsHour. | Today’s election is also a real thing. One where one candidate has been counted lying 33,000 times while president and 126 times in his previous presidential debate. A time when lies come as readily as truths—and the media barely reports them because they are so frequent—is a sign |
of the end of civil
discourse and democracy. Democracy requires virtue and a minimum of truth telling. Indifference to truth, and the end of truth, are signs of the antichrist who arrives at end times. Of course, the Book of Apocalypse, the last book in the Christian Bible, is also called the Book of Revelations because the two words, apocalypse and revelation, are interchangeable in Greek. So we have a right to ask: Are our times also a time of revelation and revelations? I think we can truly say they are. Science has been particularly revelatory of late. The finding that our universe is 13.8 billion years old and expanding and contains most likely two trillion galaxies is a revelation. It is literally “taking the veil off” of our common story, feeding us a new creation story just when we need it, just when our previous ones were coming apart. |
Creation Stories are revelatory and keep tribes together and set common norms for behavior and today’s story is for all humans and tribes. The Webb Telescope is unveiling much that feeds awe in our hungry hearts. As Rabbi Heschel teaches, “awe is the
encounter |
“Blinding emotional moment” – William Shatner recalls his overwhelm at experiencing the coldness of space against the warm nurturance of Earth and the imminent danger of climate change. CNN |
of the mind with the
universe” and “the beginning of wisdom.” Can an uptick of awe feed an increase of wisdom—which our species desperately needs? Can our facing our demise as a species jolt us into changing our suicidal ways and indifference to climate change? One hopes so. Evil looms large in a time of apocalypse. But so too does the sacred and gratitude for our existence and courage, imagination and creativity to evolve into a new version of homo sapiens. One that puts joy
and justice and our divine powers of compassion into how we live on this earth. Like Jesus and others have assured us is possible, doable and the work of Spirit. Such revelations birth hope and new visions. |
See Matthew Fox, Trump & MAGA as Antichrist: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
And Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance.
Banner Image: “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” Painting by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1887. 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 feel both apocalypse and revelation in our times? Do you believe new levels of awe from today’s creation story can awaken a new humanity such as Jesus and other spiritual leaders spoke of? One where gratitude for our existence and the sacredness of it all lights fires of joy and justice and compassion? |
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s
rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
Now also available as an e-book HERE.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and
Conversations with the Divine. |
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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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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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The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian
paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth
wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author of The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe.
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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 |
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 |
Matthew Fox will make a guest appearance during the Creation Spirituality Communities course, Creation Spirituality in a Time of Apocalypse. He will talk about his new book on the antichrist, which is an apocalyptic archetype. Join Theodore Richards, founder of the Chicago Wisdom Project and editor of the online Magazine/Podcast
ReImagining as he takes us through 4 sessions exploring how Creation Spirituality can give birth to new stories during times of upheaval. Dates: Sept 9, 16, 23, 30 from 7-9 PM ET. Cost: $150 per student: In honor of
Matthew Fox’s gracious involvement CSC is extending the 25% discounted rate until 9/6/24. USE COUPON CODE APOC25 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. ConvergenceCoLab hosts Matthew Fox, Margaret Wheatley, and Brian McLaren in an online conversation on “Post-Doom Spirituality," Wednesday, October 16, 6-8:30 PM ET. Register now with an EARLY BIRD rate of $30, HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his two books, In the Beginning There was Joy and The Return of Father Sky, in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, October 17, 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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