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Contemplation:
Another “C” toward Becoming Human 06/29/2024 |
We are proposing an
alternative to the silly and unconstitutional and unimaginative law by the state of Louisiana to put the ten commandments in all public schools. We call it the “10 c’s” and they have been tested in a test project in an inner city high school in Oakland, California. |
[FROM THE ARCHIVE: 8/5/2020 One of the “C’s” is Contemplation. Maria Montessori teaches children how they can “make silence.” Humans are all capable of “making silence.” |
Making silence, calming our busy monkey brains and our action/reaction reptilian brains, is necessary for the very survival of our species. As we live more and more in busy, crowded, noisy urban settings, we are called to deal more |
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wisely with technological inventions that, if not checked, can annihilate our species with their immense powers of violence and destruction. |
Many methods are available from wisdom traditions the world over to teach practices of calming the busy brain, of meditation and stress reduction. Kaleo Ching, a faculty member at my university, taught “Tai Chi and Mask Making” with us and in prisons. Kaleo taught maximum and minimum
security inmates for Haight Ashbury Jail Psychiatric Services in San Francisco. After his classes, several students approached him and said: “This is the first time in my life I have experienced quiet.” Wouldn’t it be marvelous to introduce murderers to their capacities for quiet before they kill
others? Wouldn’t this education prove to be a marvelous investment in murder-prevention? And prison prevention? Studies and films are available on what happens in a prison when meditation practices like Vipassana meditation is introduced to the prison complex. Calm displaces hyperactivity and hypertension. Joy begins to spread. |
Chi Kung Prayer – with Kaleo & Elise Ching at Wisdom University. Dan Gauthier | Why not teach joy and calm before prison and to the culture at large? Every human has these capacities in them but they have to be nourished
and nurtured. They have to be educed. That is education’s job. Rather than feeding young people pills for |
so-called “hyper-activity” we ought to be showing them ways of finding peace that are internal and not by way of drug-taking. |
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person can take these ways with them their whole life long. In inner city schools in San Francisco yoga was taught youngsters under the rubric of sports and physical fitness. A fourth grader reports: “I feel really grumpy in the morning.Yoga makes me feel ungrumpy.” |
With yoga, students are calmer and stress is reduced. Children find inner controls. One teacher observes:Yoga is similar to other sports in that it takes determin-ation and will. It’s different in that you compete with yourself. When kids see them-selves improving, their self-esteem improves. |
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As
kids learn the exercises, they themselves lead the other students. Says one student: “When you can’t focus, you do yoga and you can focus.” |
Charles Burack reports that getting students to simply focus on one’s breath produces powerful results. Such exercises provide a nonideological, nonauthoritarian, and non-consumerist means of self-empowerment because it puts individuals in touch with their own deep, vital self, which is the living source of strength, wisdom, and kindness. This self is not selfish; rather, it is highly sensitive and responsive to the real needs and worth of the
surrounding universe. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human, pp. 108-111. Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest, pp. 353-359.
Banner image: “Chambers.” Mixed media collage-painting by Kaleo Ching. Please open the link to read Elise Dirlam Ching’s extraordinary accompanying poem. (kaleoching.com/gallery.html -14th row of "Drawings, Paintings, and Poems)
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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 |
How do you find silence and tame your reptilian brain? And monkey brain? How might the world change if everybody did? |
The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human
The A.W.E. Project reminds us that awe is the appropriate response to the unfathomable wonder that is creation… A.W.E. is also the acronym for Fox’s proposed style of
learning – an approach to balance the three R’s. This approach to learning, eldering, and mentoring is intelligent enough to honor the teachings of the Ancestors, to nurture Wisdom in addition to imparting knowledge, and to Educate through Fox’s 10 C’s. The 10 C’s are the core of the A.W.E. philosophy and process of education, and include: compassion, contemplation, and creativity. The A.W.E. Project does for the vast subject of “learning” what Fox’s Reinvention of Work did for vocation
and Original Blessing did for theology. Included in the book is a dvd of the 10 C’s put to 10 video raps created and performed by Professor Pitt.
“An awe-based vision of educational renewal.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice. |
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Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)
Matthew Fox’s stirring
autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of
this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self |
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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 |
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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 and 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 and 11 other speakers for a 6-week course on Cosmic Water: The Radical
Roots of Mystical Christianity hosted by Advaya.Life (Matthew speaks on June 18). Tuesdays, May 28 - Thursday, July 4, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT Register HERE (for 10% discount use code FOX-WOW) |
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Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book Prayer: A Radical Response to Life in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, July 18, 6:00 - 7:30 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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