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Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox 

11/08/2024

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I received it as a gift years ago from a shaman friend when I was going through a profound grief experience. Remember that grief has three layers to it: First is anger. (Just yesterday someone asked in the Comments section: “What do I do 

“Grieving Woman.” Photo by x1klima on Flickr.

with my rage?”) This practice gives rage and anger its due in a way that does not hurt anyone.

The second—and deeper—layer of grief is sorrow. This practice empties the soul and takes you there also.

And the third layer of grief is letting go and moving on. 

Here is the practice. Get a hand drum and beat it daily for fifteen minutes while letting whatever sounds want to come out from your third chakra, your gut, which is where we keep our grief and anger and also where compassion begins. Do not edit these sounds. 

The genius in this is that you can beat the drum as hard as you want and you are hurting no one. You are “riding the horse (the drum’s hide) into the land of grief.”

Shamanic drumming, Spain. Photo by Viktor Vito Tomić on Unsplash

Once when I was employing this practice, I ended up in a circle of Native American women who were grieving. I said to them, “you have more to grieve about than I do” and one spoke up and said to me, “if your heart is broken, stay. You only have one heart.”

This taught me two things: 
1) Grieving is not a competition. It is not about “mirror, mirror on the wall, who is suffering the most of all.” 
2) Grieving is utterly and universally human. It is one of the dimensions of our common humanity. We need to honor it.

This practice works. It is wise. And ancient. Fifteen minutes a day. You will know when your grieving time is enough so that you can move beyond. 

Good action follows good grieving. Go to work to do what you can to interfere with the forces of fascism and defenders and disseminators of fascism in the media and other places of power in our time and culture.

I also recommend art as meditation to get your anger out and to grieve. Dance, paint, do clay, garden, sing, do breath work, do poetry. All this is prayer, a radical response to life. All of it honors your deepest truth and deepest feelings which must be acknowledged in order to prepare you to go into the deep work of interfering and serving others.

Recently, this wonderful poem came my way written by Leon Wieseltier, from his book Kaddish, scanned by Meg Wheatley to read as a poem. It speaks to the practice of Letting Go that Meister Eckhart is so fond of advising, the Via Negativa. He tells us, “we sink eternally from letting go to letting go into the One.”

"Kaddish,” an ancient Aramaic prayer proclaiming the greatness of God even in the midst of loss. Sung by the late Israeli singer/songwriter Ofra Haza.

Sink, So As To Rise

There are circumstances that must shatter you; 
And if you are not shattered, then you have not understood your circumstances.
In such circumstances, it is a failure for your heart not to break. 
And it is pointless to put up a fight, for a fight will blind you to the opportunity that has been presented by your misfortune. 
Do you wish to persevere pridefully in the old life? 
Of course you do: the old life was a good life. 
But it is no longer available to you. It has been carried away, irreversibly. 
So there is only one thing to be done. 
Transformation must be met with transformation. 
Where there was the old life, let there be the new life. 
Do not persevere. 
Dignify the shock. 
Sink, so as to rise. 

See Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest, pp. 128f., 369-371.

And Fox, “Path Two: Letting Go and Letting Be,” in Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart, pp. 166-292.

And Fox, “Path II: Letting Go and Letting Be, Via Negativa,” in Fox, Meditations with Meister Eckhart, pp. 35-64.

And Fox, Prayer: A Radical Response to Life.

Banner Image: “Praying Hands.” Photo by WSilver on Flickr.

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

At a time of great rupture and grief, it is so important that we learn to grieve. How do the practices recommended here work for you? Have they worked for you in the past also?

Recommended Reading

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

Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart

Matthew Fox’s comprehensive translation of Meister Eckhart’s sermons is a meeting of true prophets across centuries, resulting in a spirituality for the new millennium. The holiness of creation, the divine life in each person and the divine power of our creativity, our call to do justice and practice compassion–these are among Eckhart’s themes, brilliantly interpreted and explained for today’s reader.
“The most important book on mysticism in 500 years.”  — Madonna Kolbenschlag, author of Kissing Sleeping Beauty Goodbye.

Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book

A centering book by Matthew Fox. This book of simple but rich meditations exemplifies the deep yet playful creation-centered spirituality of Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart was a 13th-century Dominican preacher who was a mystic, prophet, feminist, activist, defender of the poor, and advocate of creation-centered spirituality, who was condemned shortly after he died.
“These quiet presentations of spirituality are remarkable for their immediacy and clarity.” –Publishers Weekly.   

Prayer: A Radical Response to Life
How do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? Fox defines prayer as a radical response to life that includes our “Yes” to life (mysticism) and our “No” to forces that combat life (prophecy). How do we define adult prayer? And how—if at all—do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, originally published under the title On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style, Prayer introduces a mystical/prophetic spirituality and a mature conception of how to pray. Called a “classic” when it first appeared, it lays out the difference between the creation spirituality tradition and the fall/redemption tradition that has so dominated Western theology since Augustine. A practical and theoretical book, it lays the groundwork for Fox’s later works.
“One of the finest books I have read on contemporary spirituality.” – Rabbi Sholom A. Singer

The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages

The second book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series, The Return of Father Sky helps boys and girls to celebrate a new relationship with the masculine by way of Father Sky, whose return excites joy and wonder and possibility that enlarge the soul to welcome others and all creation. Written in a rhyming Dr. Seuss-like style, this full-color, beautifully illustrated book, written by world- renowned theologian Matthew Fox weaves together modern science and classic spirituality in a whimsical, entertaining format to illustrate important truths to readers aged 4 and up. 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.

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

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