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! |
Week of 9/23-9/28, 2024:
Recovering a Sense of the Sacred, and Remembering More of Matthew's Family 9/29/2024 |
PLEASE NOTE:
With the days ticking down to 11/5,
learn the deeper stakes in this year's election. 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. |
Monday, September 23, 2024: A Sense of the Sacred: The Opposite of Evil, continued
Matthew further elaborates on his statement from his latest book, Trump and MAGA as Anti-Christ, that the opposite of Evil
is not the good but the sacred, or “the holy” as Rabbi Heschel puts it. An awareness of the holy “bestows upon man a power of love that enables him to overcome the powers of evil,” as Gandhi, King, and Mandela were able to do. A society that does not have a sense of the sacred is unable to understand or effectively resist evil when it comes along. The 2024 election is about recovering joy, love, beauty, and truth, to combat the evil of the MAGA movement. |
An
Australian graffiti artist’s rendering of the Iroquois idiom, “White man speaks with a forked tongue.” Photo by Ralf Genge on Pixabay. |
Tuesday, September 24, 2024: Recovering a Sense of the Sacred
At the same time that life on Mother Earth is being threatened by climate change, we are being gifted a new creation story from science. This new story can unite all
peoples regardless of their political or religious beliefs or their cultural differences. Thomas Berry tells us how to recover our sense of wonder and of the sacred: “Appreciate the universe beyond ourselves as a revelatory experience of that numinous presence whence all things come into being.” Rabbi Heschel reminds us, “Awe is the beginning of wisdom.” Moving away from an “original sin” consciousness and toward an Original Blessing consciousness is key to our own and our planet’s
survival. Wednesday, September 25, 2024: More News of My Family, Including My Father
Matthew announced the link to the livestream of his brother’s funeral in Reykjavik. Having told stories of his brothers and mother last week, he fills in the story of his father, George T. Fox, an Irish immigrant to Edmonton, Alberta. His family moved to Chicago, where George attended Villanova University on scholarship and became a star football player. After college, and with a new wife and son (Matthew’s brother Tom), George moved to become a football coach at the
University of Wisconsin in Madison, where Matthew grew up. After 10 years, George went into a painting/contracting business. Not having enough money to put all of his children through college, he paid for his daughters’ education, but insisted all the boys get scholarships. George always admired physical courage, but when Matthew contracted polio at age 13, they both learned the meaning of moral courage. |
Matthew Fox with his father. Photo courtesy of Matthew Fox. |
Thursday, September 26, 2024: Art and Artists and Healing Times
On the morning before his brother Tom’s funeral, Matthew tells of a lovely gift from Charlene Kaye, the stepdaughter of his other brother Nat: A video of her
performing an original song, Shadow to Light, composed in memory of Nat Fox. She writes: In the lyrics of the song, this imagery came to me of an aurora in the sky, as if Nat has joined the cosmos in the form of those psychedelic colors. Only until after it was written did I realize that the aurora, or the northern lights, is what Iceland is so famed for …..I like to think it’s Nat, Tom and everyone else we love who has passed on, shining down on us together and dancing in light.
Says Matthew: “Thank God for artists!” “Shadow to Light – in loving memory of Nat Fox,” sung by Nat’s stepdaughter Charlene KAYE. Friday, September 27, 2024:
More Thoughts on Recovering a Sense of the Sacred
Returning to the question of “what is the opposite of evil?” Matthew points out that evil operates in the same places as the spirit — unfortunately — and that’s why we must look for the Sacred wherever we can. Because the Sacred (not goodness) is the opposite of evil. Not just the universe is sacred, but so are all of its parts. Thomas Merton says,
“every non two-legged creature is a saint.” A dog, a cat, a horse, a bird, are all holy creatures living out their holiness. The Cosmic Christ “speaks to us gently in ten thousand things….He shines not on them but from within them.” |
Saturday, September 28, 2024: Further Recovering a Sense of the Sacred
Thomas Merton says, “Every plant that stands in the light of the sun is a saint and an outlaw.” Even our breath is holy: some Jewish scholars tell us that “Yah” is the in-breath, “Weh” the out-breath, and this is where the word Yah-weh comes from. The pastor who presided over the funeral of Matthew’s brother Tom, cited Jesus’s saying about the wisdom of children: “whoever embraces one of them embraces me.” All teachers, Tom included, are invited to relate to their
students as other Christs therefore. Wendell Berry wrote that the greatest mistake of religion was “the conceptual division between the holy and the world.” |
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. |
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew
is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author,
The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story |
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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. |
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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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A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey
In A Way to God, Fox explores Merton’s pioneering work in interfaith, his essential teachings on mixing contemplation and
action, and how the vision of Meister Eckhart profoundly influenced Merton in what Fox calls his Creation Spirituality journey.
“This wise and marvelous book will profoundly inspire all those who love Merton and want to know him more deeply.” — Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism |
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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.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline
Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
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 and others in a panel discussion on “Mysticism, Spirituality and Psychedelics” at the Portland 2024 Psychedelic Symposium: Illuminating Visions, a hybrid virtual/on-site event. Panel discussion (online): Friday, October 4, 10:30 am - 12:00 noon PT;
Symposium (on-site): Friday, October 4 - Sunday, October 6. Register HERE. |
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ConvergenceCoLab hosts Matthew Fox, Margaret Wheatley, and Brian McLaren in an online conversation on “Post-Doom Spirituality," Wednesday, October 16, 6-8:30 PM ET. Register now with an EARLY BIRD rate of $30, HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his two books, In the Beginning There was Joy and The Return of Father Sky, in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, October 17, 4:00-5:30 pm PT.
Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Dei, American Cardinal Burke, and Steve Bannon, former Trump advisor and former Executive Chairman at Breitbart News. He explains how Cardinal Burke and other neofascists in the Catholic Church opposed the Second Vatican Council, which sought to update the Catholic Church. He then explains how both Leonard Leo (co-chairman of the Federalist Society board of directors, who drew up lists of potential conservative judges who were then appointed to the Supreme Court) and
Kevin Roberts from the Heritage Foundation, share a right-wing Catholic ideology. |
Inspired by this post? Share your insights on Universeodon, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
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