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Spiritual Warrior vs. Soldier 1/15/2025 |
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 the video for last Sunday’s DM, I shared Thomas Berry’s observations about the role of the “warrior” in the indigenous spiritual traditions. I also told the story of a student of mine from the First Peoples of Canada who was a student at the University of Creation Spirituality. |
He shared his experience of returning from the Vietnam War and being told by his elders, “you have been a soldier and now we will make you a warrior.” The training took four years and a lot of it was learning to subtract and let go. I share a parallel story in my book on The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors To Awaken the Sacred Masculine in the chapter on the archetype of the “spiritual warrior.” A Vietnam veteran named Broken Walk, who volunteered |
“Singing Spiritual Warrior” Drawing gifted to Matthew Fox. |
to go to war at seventeen, told this story. There’s a difference between being a soldier and being a warrior. Don’t ever get these two confused. When I was in the army, I was a soldier. I was a puppet doing whatever anybody told me to do, even if it means going
against what my heart told me was right. I didn’t know nothing about being a warrior until I hit the street and marched alongside my bothers for something I really believed in. When I found something I believed in, a higher power found me. That’s it. That’s the story. He protested war and went to
jail for it. Tibetan teacher Chogyam Trungpa talks about the “sad and tender heart of the warrior” and this is very real. The warrior is in touch with his or her heart—the joy, the sadness, the expansiveness of it. To confuse soldier and warrior is to feed militarism and the reptilian brain. |
“Led by veterans, hundreds of people representing labor, faith groups, immigrant rights and outraged communities marched in San Francisco, calling on [California Senators] to stop sending arms to Israel.” Photo by Peg Hunter on Flickr. | The Sufi mystic Hafiz knew the difference between solider and warrior when he exclaimed in one of his poems that soldiers “were lying all around him in excruciating pain”—for that is what a soldier does, deliver or receive death or excruciating
pain. |
At the same
time, Hafiz declares, “you can become a horseman carrying your heart thought the world like a life-giving sun, but only if you and God become sweet lovers.” The warrior, unlike the soldier, is a lover. The warrior is so much in touch with his or her heart that he/she can give it to the world. The warrior loves not only his nearest
kin and mate but also the world and God. The warrior relates to God as a lover. To be continued. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors To Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 77f.
And from Fox, Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths, pp. 414-417.
See also, Fox, Confessions: The Making of a
Post-denominational Priest, pp. 400-402.
And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.
Banner Image: Mugshot of Martin Luther King Jr following his 1963 arrest in Birmingham, Alabama. Photo: Birmingham Police Department. Wikimedia Commons. | For updated lists of organizations helping those affected by the devastating LA wildfires, please see these article from the L.A. Times HERE, and from the New York Times HERE. |
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 |
Have you ever confused “soldier” with “warrior”? How did you learn the difference? What difference does that make? |
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 |
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One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but
a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this
magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit |
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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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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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Join the Creation Spirituality Communities Education service as they host guest speaker Matthew Fox in an overview of Deep Ecumenism and its relevance today in the first class of a course, “Deep Ecumenism: Exploring Spiritual Identity” by Instructor Roxanne Whitelight. Matthew Fox’s lecture: Jan 15 - 4:00pm PT Course runs Wednesdays, January 15– February 19, 2025. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book, co-authored with Rupert Sheldrake: The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science and Spirit Meet, in an online Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, January 16, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT. Register HERE. |
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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