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Etty Hillesum and Peace-Making By Gianluigi Gugliermetto 6/26/2025 |
Etty Hillesum wrote her diaries in Nazi-occupied Netherlands. In 1941 she ended up in the transit camp of Westerbork because she volunteered to accompany the first group of Jews rounded up by the Germans. She was a counsellor and a friend to many in the camp. Only recently the witness of her colleague, Ies Spetter, emerged and we have come to know that Etty and Ies managed to smuggle children out of the camp. She eventually was sent to her death to Auschwitz, together
with her whole family, in 1943. We can only speculate, but with some degree of certainty, that she continued her work of compassion until the end. |
Her refusal to go
into hiding, choosing instead to go to Westerbork, has been criticized, but it seems unfair to read in her choices any kind of sacrificial ideology. It is instead fair to say that she was no stranger to the work of helping others in very concrete ways. |
“Etty Hillesum: The Thinking Heart of the Barracks” Excerpts from An Interrupted Life: Diaries 1941-1942 and Letters from Westerbork. Jonathan Fields. |
In her diaries, we read: Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. This quote can be manipulated, sentimentalized, and privatized until it becomes harmless. That is, un-prophetic. But if you take out the prophet from the mystic — as Matthew Fox tirelessly explains — you get nothing. Most likely you get an obnoxious religious person, which Etty most surely was not. We should instead meditate on
what this quote means in the context of the second World War genocide that she lived through, and in the context of the Palestinian genocide that is being carried on under our own eyes, the “first televised genocide in history” as some have called it. |
Child survivors of Auschwitz. From the USHMM/Belarusian State Archive of Documentary Film and Photography, on Wikimedia Commons. | Etty knew what helping others during a genocide meant. Surely she did not run away from her responsibilities. Yet she says: We have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace within ourselves. This is far from meaning that we can
continue to live in |
our
privileged corner to cultivate our inner peace, as if that would solve all problems. It means that once we have done all we can do, in the most creative ways we can, we should not fall into despair because our action has not achieved the results we hoped for. Ultimately, in fact, there is a deep action which nobody
can preclude us to enact, and that is: reclaiming large areas of peace within ourselves. Not just a small corner of peace, but larger and larger areas of inner peace that eventually will reflect, almost effortlessy, on others. This is true mysticism at work, not divorced at all from
prophetism. |
This is a big challenge that Etty places before us, who want to find quick solutions, especially when we cannot bear to see suffering or understand our complicity with it. This means acknowledging that our unwavering inner work is not our private work, that we do it for the good of the whole. We cannot |
Trailer of the documentary “Bringing Etty Hillesum to Life,” an outreach of the Etty Hillesum Cards Project. See the full movie HERE. |
afford to stop it when times are evil and the playing field is harder. To deflect from the work of inner peace would mean to deflect from our fundamental moral duty. To close our eyes to suffering and to find refuge in our inner peace, doing nothing concrete, would be to falsify the call to inner
peace. It is in the balance, and in our hard inner and outer work, that we find our meaning. |
Queries for Contemplation |
How does Etty Hillesum inspire you today? If your inner and outer work are unbalanced, what can you do to correct the situation? |
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. |
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew
Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our
deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register |
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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 |
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Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic–and Beyond
Julian of Norwich lived through the dreadful bubonic plague that killed close to 50% of Europeans. Being an anchoress, she ‘sheltered
in place’ and developed a deep wisdom that she shared in her book, Showings, which was the first book in English by a woman. A theologian way ahead of her time, Julian develops a feminist understanding of God as mother at the heart of nature’s goodness. Fox shares her teachings in this powerful and timely and inspiring book.
“What an utterly magnificent book. The work
of Julian of Norwich, lovingly supported by the genius of Matthew Fox, is a roadmap into the heart of the eco-spiritual truth that all life breathes together.” –Caroline Myss
Now also available as an audiobook HERE. |
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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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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox in a new 6-month program of mystical wisdom for a new world.
In this 6-month immersion program with Matthew, you’ll explore what it means to be a modern mystic and prophet, integrating this sacred knowledge into your life through the authentic teachings of Jesus and other wisdom keepers. This journey births what Matthew calls Christianity 2.0 — based not on dogma, but on a spirituality that recovers the sacred sense of original goodness. By Application only - apply HERERegister for a free information session HERE |
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| Join Matthew Fox in a 6-Class Course: The Great Christian Mystics, exploring some of the richest and most
inspiring mystic-prophets in the Christian lineage, including Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Mechtild of Magdeburg, Thomas Aquinas, and Meister Eckhart. Open-ended course includes six modules of pre-recorded lessons, live community discussions, and live conversations with Matthew Fox. Starts Tuesday, May 20; 10% off discount code: FOX-10 Register HERE. |
MONTHLY: Join Matthew Fox 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
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July 18, 11:30 am PT -- Join Matthew Fox in Angelology: The Physics of Angels, hosted by The Fintry Trust. Learn more HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
"On Forming a Unitive Consciousness." (To listen, click on the photo below.) |
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