The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew
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A Sense of the Whole and the Holy vs.
a Rampaging Oligarchy 1/3/2025 |
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. |
In yesterday’s DM, I asked the question whether the crashing down of so many elements of our “civilization” might suggest we ought to start over by beginning with the cosmos itself. When we lose a sense of the whole, we become lost. |
That is why peoples the world over consider creation stories as being central to what they teach their children and to how they envision the universe and their place and responsibility in it. One reader responded by telling me of her teaching children such things in a Maria Montessori |
Montessori program coordinator Kathryn O’Neill discusses the importance of parents stepping back to allow children their own experience of the natural world. Nature Time Kids |
school. I have celebrated Montessori’s work in my book on The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human and elsewhere. This is why the Bible begins with a creation story that emphasizes
the goodness and very goodness—the “original blessing” that all of creation, humanity included, is. If a culture fails to begin with the big picture, human greed and envy and violence fill the void. As the aboriginal people of Australia teach, “Our Dreamtime teaches the rules for
living in the environment.” And “dreamtime” is about entering into the continuous creation and our place in it. |
“The Earth is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.” The trailer of the video biography The Great
Story gathers some of Thomas Berry’s teachings and student responses. Bullfrog Films | That is what Rabbi Heschel warned us about when he said, “forfeit the sense of awe and the universe becomes a marketplace for you.” Thomas Berry called us to the same reality when he said that using the Earth like it is an object to be bought,
sold and abused will destroy it and us. And when the sacred is lost |
we
can only recover it by returning to the wonder that the universe provides us daily. Oligarchy is born of such greed, envy and violence. The power of the few becomes the law of the land. It even becomes the arbiter of truth, because truth itself becomes a means to serve the purposes of the
few. This is apparent in today’s media world where billionaires like the Murdochs at Fox and Musk at X and those who link up with them own the means to overwhelm the airwaves with their version of what truth is. It is whatever they say, even if it is lies. |
A culture without a living awareness of the cosmos is a narcissistic culture and is set up not only for oligarchy but for consumerism as if one’s identity is named by what one buys. “I buy therefore I am.” Or, “I can’t buy, therefore I barely exist.” Or, “I am so rich, I can buy up the housing market or SCOTUS or the presidency or the media or any other project that will make me ever |
Monopoly protest monopolized and subverted: “The Landlord’s Game,” patented in 1924 by feminist/anti-monopolist Lizzie Magie; purchased and marketed by Parker Brothers in 1932 with royalties going to Clarence Darrow. Learn more HERE and HERE. |
richer and more powerful. I can buy politicians and make all the laws that favor my agenda.” Today, with the news of our vast universe appearing daily with Webb Telescope and the rest, there is no excuse to fall ever deeper into narcissism and
oligarchism. To be continued |
See Matthew Fox, The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human, pp. 105, 108.
And Fox, “Gifts of Wisdom: Rules for Living in the Universe,” in Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating
Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth, pp. 43-72.
And Fox, “Chapter 4: Cosmic, Universalist: Harmony, Beauty, Justice as Cosmic Energies,” in Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality, pp. 66-80.
And Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations, pp. 361-365.
Banner Image: “The Planting of Seeds in the Fifth World: In the first days of the Fifth World, where we now dwell, the people and animals assumed the forms they now have. In the sky, the sun and moon took their places and the days and nights were brought into being.” Detail of a card by Navajo shaman/artist David Paladin. |
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 |
Do you see a connection between the rise of Oligarchism and the demise of a cosmic awareness in our educational institutions, professions and media? How can we rise to the occasion to confront the despair this causes and the opening it provides for the super elite to buy up everything—media, government and education too—to accomplish their aims? |
The AWE Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human
The AWE Project reminds us that awe is the appropriate response to the unfathomable wonder that is creation… AWE 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 AWE philosophy and process of education, and include: compassion, contemplation, and creativity. The AWE 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 Cs 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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Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation
Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice. |
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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 thought (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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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 and cosmologist Brian Thomas Swimme in a new 7-week live video course hosted by The Shift Network: “The 4 Paths of Creation Spirituality: Embracing Awe, Chaos, Creativity & Transformation With the Universe as Your Guide.” Tuesdays, December 3 –
January 28 (except Dec 24 and 31), 5:00pm - 6:30pm PT Register HERE. |
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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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Inspired by this post? Share your insights on BlueSky, Instagram, Universeodon, or Facebook using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
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