The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Today's the day: Matthew Fox's video meditation is below! |
A Sense of the Sacred:
The Opposite of Evil, continued 09/23/2024 |
PLEASE NOTE: With the days ticking down to 11/5, learn the deeper stakes in this year's election. Get your copy of Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election today! Choose your format in the book block below. |
In Saturday’s DM, we addressed some questions arising from my new book, Trump & MAGA as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election. The third and final question was about my statement that the opposite of Evil is not the good but the Sacred. I said that it follows that “we cannot have a
conversation on Evil until we have a conversation on the Sacred." |
Allow me to elaborate on this important point. Rabbi Heschel teaches that the Biblical answer to evil is not the good but the holy. It is an attempt to raise man to a higher level of existence, where man is not alone when confronted with evil. Living in ‘the light of the face of God’ bestows upon man a power of love that enables him to overcome the powers of evil….* |
Living in the light of the face of God. A young woman in a temple in Varanasi, India. Photo by Jorge Royan. Wikimedia Commons. |
There is so much truth and wisdom in this statement. With an awareness of the holy and our capacity for it (the holy being another word for “the sacred”), humans can rise to a higher level of existence when confronted by Evil. Is this not the spiritual genius of Gandhi and King and Mandela who resisted violence with non-violence, and Evil with “a power of love that enables humans to overcome the powers of
evil”? |
An Australian graffiti artist’s rendering of the Iroquois idiom, “White man speaks with a forked tongue.” Photo by Ralf Genge on Pixabay. | A society that has lost a sense of the sacred is
at a loss when Evil comes along. It resorts to terminology like, “this is unprecedented.” How many times have we heard that from journalistic pundits in the last nine years since Donald Trump rode down an escalator, and pronounced that all immigrants are scum and murderers and rapists and the rest? |
It
still goes on, as is clear in the lies he and his vice presidential running mate are spreading about Springfield, Ohio and the so-called eating of pets by Haitian immigrants, lies that are drawing Ku Klux Klan and Proud Boy marchers to show up on the streets of that town, frightening immigrants and their families. |
Is this not what the 2024 presidential election is about? Moving beyond lies and projections and doom and gloom and Trump’s notion that “I alone can fix it,” to a group awakening that puts forward beauty and truth and goodness and a sense of the sacred? |
An Ohio city with a Haitian migrant influx is thrust into the political spotlight. Video by PBS
NewsHour. |
And joy too? And therefore love, since joy is born of love as Thomas Aquinas insists. And the common good ahead of individual gain and power grabs by a minority? Is this
not what lies at the heart of a healthy democracy? The antichrist displays no joy or love or truth except by accident. |
*Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism (NY: Harper and Row, 1955), p. 376.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society, pp. xxxvi-xxxviii.
See also: Matthew Fox, Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024
Election.
And Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 33-41. Banner image: A shaft of light illuminates the holy. Photo of Antelope Canyon, Arizona, by tegawi on Pixabay. |
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| To view today's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website,
where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view and post your Comments. In the sharing that follows, a kind of community is developing around the DM. If you can't reach today's post on the website directly, click HERE. If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
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 |
What does Heschel’s observation mean to you, that “the Biblical answer to evil is not the good but the holy”? |
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil
that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly
masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics |
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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.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color
prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with
black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download. |
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The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and
action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–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 |
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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. Register HERE. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Bannon, former Trump advisor and former Executive Chairman at Breitbart News. He explains how Cardinal Burke and other neofascists in the Catholic Church opposed the Second Vatican Council, which sought to update the Catholic Church. He then explains how both Leonard Leo (co-chairman of the Federalist Society board of directors, who drew up lists of potential conservative judges who were then appointed to the Supreme Court) and Kevin Roberts from the Heritage
Foundation, share a right-wing Catholic ideology. |
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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