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! |
Olympic
Games,
bell hooks & Thomas Aquinas
on Truth & Justice8/3/2024 |
[FROM THE ARCHIVE: November 3, 2022] We continue our spiritual journey with bell hooks and another philosopher, Thomas Aquinas in the context of current Olympic Games. In this DM from the past, they are interacting on the critical topic of Truth. Without truth, a community dies. Lies are poison to relationships of any kind. Bell acknowledges that when she says, “the heart of justice is truth telling.” There is no justice without truth or the search for truth. There is only injustice ultimately when truth is ignored and lies
flourish. |
While president, a previous president became a “commander-in chief of lies.” A reliable source counted over 35,000 lies he told as president. The Biggest of his Lies being that he won an election that he lost.Over sixty courts |
|
agreed he lost. That Lie led to the trauma of January 6. |
Thomas Aquinas, in league with bell hooks, says that “the proper objects of the heart are truth and justice.” How does all this relate to the Olympic games? One thing about sports is that they are measurable, and judges or umpires are on
the spot measuring the truth of one’s achievements. There is a certain satisfaction achieved when one or another achieves their goal or wins their award. Fairly. We are touched in the heart as both bell and Aquinas agree on. |
Cultural critic bell hooks is in agreement with Aquinas who, as we saw yesterday, says that truth and justice lie in the heart. hooks tells us that “the heart of justice is truth telling.” One cannot build justice on falsehoods. Those who are engaged in lies cannot also be engaged in justice-making. The current election in America is very much about the “Big Lie” and the many implications of it, including the 400+ laws to curtail voting for the disenfranchised to supposedly combat election fraud that never happened. |
|
| There must be a reason why Satan is called “the father of lies.” Our culture seems to be going through a truth crisis with “fake news,” incendiary news, denial of facts like climate change, very often cold indif- |
ference to the truth and excitement over crazy conspiracy theories. |
Why does Aquinas say that truth and justice reside primarily in the heart? This underscores how biblical a thinker Aquinas is, for in Jewish thought the intellect is in the heart, not the head. It is a distinctly modern consciousness that has abandoned such understanding and instead
rationalized all cognition—as if we don’t learn from our guts and heart as well as our heads. Descartes’s definition of truth as “clear and distinct ideas” is a good example of this modern philosophical bias. Of course if we live in a myth (as the modern era did) of a “value-free” approach to truth, then the idea
that the truth is in the brain alone buttresses such an empty concept of “value.” Science and the HeartMath movement are learning today that the brain is not restricted to the head, but actually operates within the heart itself. For instance, the heart sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart. The
heart, therefore, directly influences emotional processing and higher cognitive faculties such as attention, perception, memory, and problem-solving. |
For Aquinas, moral decision-making resides not in the will but in the passions! This was a very controversial position by Aquinas in the Middle Ages, and it is still controversial today, but it parallels Rabbi Heschel’s teaching on the central role that passions play in the |
“Justice and Compassion in Julian, Eckhart, Aquinas.” Matthew Fox |
It
also explains the emphasis Aquinas puts on compassion as when he says “compassion is the fire that Jesus came to set on the earth.” Compassion, after all, is a kind of passion. It also supports Aquinas’s thinking on anger, that moral outrage is an energy that can be put to very good use. |
That truth and justice reside in the heart therefore is biblical, as Aquinas knew well. Do they also reside in our voting decisions? One hopes so. We shall see. Truth is on the ballot this Fall. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp.101-108, 112-116, 131-136. Also see bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions (Love Song to the Nation #1) (NY: HarperCollins, 2001), pp. 40ff. To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE. Banner image: Olympic rings and the Eiffel Tower. Image
by Nicolas Michaud. Flickr. |
|
See Matthew's video reflection from the Archive HERE. (Scroll down to video.) 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 |
Is there room for moral outrage in your spirituality? And for compassion? And for truth and justice? How are you putting it all to work in this election season? |
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 |
|
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. |
|
Inspired by this post? Share your insights on Universeodon, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
|
|
|
