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Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox 

11/29/2024

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. 

I believe women have a stake—a huge stake—in men recovering their “hidden spirituality” or the sacred masculine.

After all, women are mothers to boys and friends, lovers and spouses to men. You are sisters, grandmothers, daughters, granddaughters, and co-workers with men. 

Master Drummer Kokomon Clottey ministers through rhythm while men and women dance at a 2014 Cosmic Mass at Historic Sweet's Ballroom, Oakland, CA. From Matthew Fox's archive.

Women would probably like men even more if men were fuller into their spiritual potential. 

Spirituality is about working out of our depths and not out of our superficial selves–which is one reason the spirituality of men is often hidden, the depths of most things are hidden. It takes some digging to get to our depths. As Meister Eckhart, put it, “the ground of the soul is dark.” To understand the men in your lives and encourage the best in them you would be smart to encourage them to develop their spirituality.

The awakening of women that society has been undergoing for forty years, the return of the goddess in her many and varied forms, the entrance of women into places of influence and power from science to politics, academia to medicine, media to theology and religious ministry, has characterized the cultural progress of our time. Of course the backlash is fierce and is now ensconced anew in much of MAGA politics. 

Medieval woodcut (c. 1550) linking the archetypal masculine and feminine (animus and anima) with the sun and moon. Image from AstroWiki.

More than ever we need to criticize the models and metaphors in which we train our boys to be men. What serves a healthy earth, for example? And healthy relationships? And effective rites of passage?  How do we provide a reawakening of art and values and community? And a more fair economic system and a more participatory political system? 

The “sacred marriage” celebrated in mythology and archetypal psychology is about the coming together of the feminine and masculine energies of us all. Taoists call this the Yin/Yang, Jungians call it Anima/Animus and contemporary author Daniel H. Pink calls it “a whole new mind” and a new synthesis between the left and right hemispheres of our brains. 

The masculine/feminine dialectic affects how we see the world and see the energies, different but complementary, of masculine and feminine interacting.

Toxic views of masculinity have prevailed in so many cultures since Patriarchy and Domination replaced Partnership as a cultural norm  (language from Riane Eisler).  

Just as the slave master suffered a toxic soul from the 

"Is Male Dominance in Our DNA?" Amy McPhie Allebest traces the history and interviews Riane Eisler, founder of The Partnership Way. Breaking Down Patriarchy.

system of slavery (though was well rewarded for it and thus often oblivious of the price he was exacting on others as well as himself), so men during the patriarchal period have paid a great price for their hegemony. Being on top 24/7 is bad for the soul. 

As one woman wrote me, “I did not know until I read your book how much men have suffered from Patriarchy.” Men and women and Mother Earth have suffered greatly.  

To be continued.

Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men.

And Fox, Trump & MAGA as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.

And Fox, Christian Mystics.

Banner Image: “I am not afraid of equality…” Young man stands in support during the Women’s March 2018, Vancouver, Canada. Photo by Sally Buck on Flickr.

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Queries for Contemplation

Dorothee Soelle believes that “mysticism comes closest to overcoming the hierarchical masculine concept of God.” She talks about the “mystical certainty that nothing can separate us from the love of God.” Do you agree? What follows from that?

Recommended Reading

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature,  to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God

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.

Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations

As Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry. 
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take what’s in this book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless Youth.

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

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.

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