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Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox 

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12/31/2024

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. 

Carter was not a 100% successful president by any means. But I think by most standards of valuation, he was a 100% successful human being. 

By that I mean he lived out his values. He had values and played them out. Yes, a politician who lived 

Biography recounts the life of Jimmy Carter, through his presidency and philanthropic and humanitarian work after leaving office.

out values—not by talking about them but by walking his talk.

Carter was unapologetic about his Christianity. He criticized his fellow Baptists and fellow Christians for their hypocrisy and racism and more, but he moved beyond criticizing to acting and actually sacrificing and living an essentially simple lifestyle while working for the needy and with them to build homes with his own hands even in his advanced age thus bringing attention to Habitat for Humanity.

His Carter Center did not just talk about democracy in the abstract, but participated in observing elections around the world to ensure their integrity. He committed himself to eradicating guinea worm disease found in Africa and used his visibility as an ex-president to draw attention to eradicating that disease while calling attention to the fragility of democracy around the world. And at home.

Artist LeRoy Nieman created this image of the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty for President Jimmy Carter. After his term ended, President Carter continued his work for peace with The Elders (see endnotes). Photo by Wally Gobetz on Flickr.

He questioned the apartheid in Palestine and took severe criticism for doing so, yet today his criticism has been called “prescient.”*

His was not a “holier-than-thou” and “more-righteous-than-thou” notion of faith. He went around trying to do 

good in a damaged world and he used his power as a public figure to accomplish his goals.

I have written about the need to move from retirement consciousness to a refirement consciousness after one steps away from one’s regular job. That we should toss out the language of “retirement” and replace it with “refirement.” 

Jimmy Carter did that. Not by talking or preaching or pomposity, but by actions. In doing so he has offered a model for those who, on leaving their job at “retirement” time, and having the privilege of living the rest of their life in comfort, also have the opportunity to be freed up to help others in new ways.

Sacrifice matters. After all, it means etymologically, to “make sacred.” Just as our work is sacred or is meant to be. So our moving beyond a formal work world can also be sacred time (as distinct from “me-time”).

Carter set a high bar for all to move from retirement to refirement. He dug into his soul for the last 45 years of his life and determined that he could use his talents, skills, decent health and connections to assist others and not just accumulate more wealth.

Would that others—politicians and other workers as well—could do the 

“How Habitat for Humanity helped Jimmy Carter express his faith.” The organization’s international CEO Jonathan Reckford speaks with Morning Joe. MSNBC.

same. Intergenerational wisdom would be one result as elders work side by side with youth to build community and a future.

A Blessed New Year to all. And gratitude to Jimmy Carter for his witness to work, refirement and holiness.

*Chris McGreal, “Carter’s book on Israeli ‘apartheid’ was called antisemitic – but was it prescient?” The Guardian, Mon 30 Dec 2024.

See Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 201-203, 214f.

And Fox, The Reinvention of Work.

And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.

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

Banner Image: Jimmy Carter participated in The Elders, an international council of former world leaders working for peace, justice, human rights, and a sustainable planet. Photo by Statsministerens kontor is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

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Queries for Contemplation

Do you agree that Carter sets a high bar for others to move from retirement to refirement, and that doing so is important? And that he was a man of values who committed to them and lived them out? And that matters in politicians and other workers? And that our work is holy?

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

The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time

Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.”
“Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter

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

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 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

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Creation Spirituality Conversations

Hear a conversation between Matthew and Ana Otero of The Desert Rose Mystery School in "Mystical Pathways. A Sacred Talk with Matthew Fox, founder of the Creation Spirituality Movement."

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