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Love, Mysticism,
Anger:
Healing of Democracy via the Irrational? 11/16/2024 |
As the results of the election ripple out, learn the deeper stakes involved. 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. |
Yesterday we considered Otto Rank’s medicine for an ailing democracy. Rank was living at a time like ours, the rise of fascism and the dangerous irrationality of culture and politics in the late 1930’s. Just before WWII broke out. |
He was alert to what he called the “violent distortions” of the far-right politics of his time (and what we are seeing in ours). And a weakening of democracy. His remedy has to do with calling on the “irrational.” He is calling our attention to the excessive |
“What A Surge In Far-Right Politics Could Mean For Europe.” Insider News |
rationality of the modern era and its science of mechanism and reductionism, of Freud, of Newtonian causality—indeed of patriarchy itself. What would Rank categorize as “irrational”? Consider the following: Dreams, music, dance, art, ritual, sex, lovemaking, babies, laughter, play,
massage, drumming, singing, the smell of new cut grass, the tastes of spicy food, silence, grief, color, creativity, peace, clowning, nature, wilderness, prayer, fear, animals, angels or spirits, children, beauty, paradox, myth, stories, games, campfires, chant, darkness, tenderness, forgiveness, meditation, God, birds, trees, plants, flowers. And anger. And, Rank adds, “legitimate foolishness,” the folly that accompanies wisdom. Holy
folly. |
The “irrationality” of beauty, of nature, of color. Image by Peter (Stubborn Dutchman Taurus) Prehn on Flickr. | What would life be without these? Where would we derive our reasons
for living, our zest for carrying on? The irrational includes, he says, the “dynamic forces governing life and human behavior.” In our rationalized culture, the forces are often stigmatized as |
‘irrational,’ and he is trying to remove the stigma and find the gold there. Humor and satire are irrational—and effective. Yesterday the satirical newspaper The Onion bought Alex Jones’ Infowars at auction with help from Sandy Hook families whom Jones had mocked on his
website devoted to conspiracy theories. Jones had been fined over $1 billion for his taunts and subsequently declared bankruptcy. Our lives (and elections too) are far more irrational than modern science and modern education would have
us believe. Rank talks about how “vital human values”—ethics itself—derive from the irrational, from what is truly vast and wonderful and catches our attention and curiosity. What leads to adventure. In other words, what is truly marvelous. The irrational is that which “does not fit into our scheme of things.” He and Einstein are on the same page, that values come not from the “rational brain” but from the “intuitive brain” as Einstein puts it. Rank declares that “the epitome of the irrational is the marvel of creation itself.” It is in nature. Creation. Wonder is irrational, not
rational. It is wonder that moves us most deeply. This Jewish spiritual consciousness, shared by Rabbi Heshel and Jesus himself, Heschel calls “radical amazement” and he reminds us that “awe is the beginning of wisdom.” The rational gives us knowledge—and that is important; but wonder leads to wisdom. Rank sought both. |
Rank does not propose that the irrational replace the rational, but that they need to be balanced. Otherwise “violent distortions” result which manifest themselves individually as neurosis and culturally as various forms of revolutionary movements which succeed because they are irrational |
The importance of balancing the left and right sides of the brain. BnD TV |
and not in spite of it. A “constructive and dynamic relationship” between the rational and irrational is required. Rank believes that Karl Marx succeeded because he offered hope to the poor. Hope is irrational. It keeps people alive in dire times. We need, says Rank,
a whole new civilization—one that includes the irrational—because “human nature is at bottom irrational.” |
*Otto Rank, Beyond Psychology (NY: Dover Publications, 1958), pp, 289-291. Adapted from Matthew Fox, “Psychotherapy and the ‘Unio Mystica’: Meister Eckhart Meets Otto Rank,” in Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, pp.139-156. See also Fox, “Otto Rank on the Artistic Journey as a Spiritual Journey, the Spiritual Journey as an Artistic Journey,” in Fox, Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life, pp. 199-214. And Fox, The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human. And Fox, Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.
Banner image: Beauty, Magic, and Mysticism. Image by Raziel Janeway on Flickr. | A Caring Note from the DM
Team: The results of the U.S. election are affecting us all in a variety of ways, and challenging times certainly lie ahead. If the burden becomes overwhelming, we urge you, please, to seek support. Here are a few resources that can help: National Helpline for essential services: 211 or 211.org National Suicide/Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 or
chat 988lifeline.org. Veterans Crisis Line: 1-800-273-8255 LGBTQ Youth Lifeline: Call 1-866-488-7386 or text START to 678678. Trans Lifeline: Call 877-565-8860 National Sexual Assault Hotline: Call
800-656-4673 |
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 understand the “irrational” or “more-than-rational”? Do you recognize this as part of the role that mysticism plays in our lives? And the anger that often fuels politics? |
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time
While Matthew Fox recognizes that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers throughout history, he also wants to introduce Eckhart to today’s activists addressing contemporary crises.
Toward that end, Fox creates dialogues between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Rich, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and many others.
“Matthew Fox is perhaps the greatest writer on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has successfully bridged a gap between Eckhart as a shamanistic personality and Eckhart as a
post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith movement, to reveal just how cosmic Eckhart really is, and how remarkably relevant to today’s religious crisis! ” — Steven Herrmann, Author of
Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward |
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Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life
In one of his foundational works, Fox engages with some of history’s greatest mystics, philosophers, and prophets in
profound and hard-hitting essays on such varied topics as Eco-Spirituality, AIDS, homosexuality, spiritual feminism, environmental revolution, Native American spirituality, Christian mysticism, Art and Spirituality, Art as Meditation, Interfaith or Deep Ecumenism and more. |
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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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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 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. |
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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, Rev. Nóirín Ní Riain, and celebrated Irish performers Owen Ó Súilleabháin, and Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin in an Interfaith Advent celebration of Irish sacred music and storytelling to honor the varied Festivals of Light and explore the mysteries they reveal. Saturday,
December 7, 9:00am – 11:00am PT.
Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for an on-site and online Advent Retreat titled “A Great Coming: Creation Spirituality and the Renewal of Religion, Humanity and Holy Mother Earth,” hosted by Immaculate Heart Community, Los Angeles. Saturday, 12/14, 9 AM -5 PM; Sunday, 12/15, 9-11
AM.
Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his two children’s books, Father Fox's Fantastical
Fables – In the Beginning There was Joy and The Return of Father Sky in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, online. December 19, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT Register HERE. |
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Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Adam Bucko and Kaira Jewel Lingo
host a Christian Buddhist Gathering and Talk by special guest Matthew Fox on his book Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election. |
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