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Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox 

10/08/2024

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. 

Pairing a book about Evil, aimed at adults facing a profoundly significant election, with a book on the new cosmology makes some sense, given the spiritual crisis humanity finds itself in. 

The two new books as a yin/yang mirror image of each other. Composite image designed by team member Rosanna Tufts in Canva Pro.

If it is true that the opposite of Evil is the Sacred, then we want to probe—for children and for adults who read to them—how to spread the word about holiness. 

Not only Rabbi Heschel says that one fights evil with holiness, but Ernest Becker does also. The last book of his life was called Escape From Evil, and that book appeared after his Pulitzer prize-winning study on Denial of Death (though he did not live long enough to learn he won that prize).

Sky Father Ranginui and Earth Mother Papatūānuku, the primal couple in Maori creation myth. Artwork by Kahuroa on Wikimedia Commons.

In his book on Evil, Becker praises indigenous cultures whose rituals and ceremonies connect the human enterprise, both communal and individual, to the powers of the cosmos, thus to Father Sky. 

In contrast, as he puts it, modern man has long since abandoned the ritual renewal theory of nature, and reality for us is simply refusing to acknowledge that evil and death are constantly with us. With medical science we want to banish death, and so we deny it a place in our consciousness. We substitute our immortality projects for the sacred cosmos.

We substitute culture for the Sacred, whereas cosmic rituals of 

the past humanized the heavens and spiritualized the earth and so melted sky and earth together in an inextricable unity.

This allowed humans to transcend their animal condition and be part of the generative powers of nature and the universe. No longer was he an animal who died and vanished from the earth; he was a creator of life who could also give eternal life to himself by means of communal rituals of cosmic regeneration.

The Egyptians hoped that when they died they would ascend to heaven and become stars and thus enjoy eternal significance in the scheme of things. 

Archaic humanity believed that they could put vigor into the world by means of a ceremony, that they could create an island, an abundance of creatures, keep the sun on its course, etc. Through techniques of sacrifice invisible forces behind nature would use them for the benefit of the community. They had no need for missile launchers and atomic reactors; sacrificial altar mounds served [their] purposes well.*

These observations make all more powerful and relevant our efforts the past 27 years to renew liturgy by means of The Cosmic Mass. We can take our inherited rituals and revivify them with newly invented post-modern art forms such as dj, vj, rap, and return to the pre-modern prayer form of dancing to reinvigorate soul, 

The Cosmic Mass reinvigorates Western ritual by deconstructing the modern forms of worship and going back to the most primal form of worship: dance.

spirit, body and community, i.e., the body politic.

Ritual or ceremony is meant to bring the Sacred alive. And make community happen. As African ritual teacher Malidoma Some observed, “there is no community without ritual.”

*Ernst Becker, Escape From Evil, pp. 17, 18, 19, 21.

Adapted from Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society, pp. xxxviii-xli.

See also Fox, “The Cosmic Mass: Reinventing Worship and Religion,” in Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest, pp. 363-383.

See Fox, The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages.

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

Statement of Solidarity with Israel/Palestine.

And Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.

Banner Image: A beam of winter solstice sunrise light penetrates the Neolithic passage tomb of Newgrange to illumine a mystic triple spiral deep within. Leinster, Ireland. Photo by Warren LeMay 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

What immortality projects do you see humanity substituting for the sacredness of the cosmos? (Hint: ideologies, empires, fame, buildings with our name on them, piles of wealth and power, control over others, etc.)

Recommended Reading

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics

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

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.

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.

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

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! In this full-color, beautifully illustrated book, 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. 
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Creation Spirituality Conversations

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.

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