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Joanna Macy: A Note of GratitudeBy Matthew Fox 7/21/2025 |
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great soul passed away 3:35 PM Saturday afternoon. It was my privilege to call Joanna Macy a friend and co-worker. |
I owe her much. She first introduced me to Thich Nhat Hanh by inviting me to attend a talk he gave to a large gathering in Berkeley. Years later, she assisted in bringing him, along with 40 of his nuns and monks, to speak at our University of Creation Spirituality. She helped introduce me to the gifts of
Buddhism and we often taught together (sometimes on the Buddha Nature and the Cosmic Christ), or led retreats together whether at UCS in Oakland or in Munich, Germany or in Findhorn, Scotland. There |
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we conducted a
retreat during Easter Week that included a very poignant Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. We and the participants created the Stations on the sand dunes with wind howling around us. She also joined our faculty in a week-long creation spirituality conference in Australia. One of her talks is published in the book, Creation Spirituality & The Dreamtime.* |
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| I came up with the term
deep ecumenism from what she taught me about deep ecology. We shared the deepest of values regarding peace and justice, saving the earth, animal rights, women’s rights—in short, creation spirituality. I wrote about her the morning she died (in the DM we will publish Tuesday) about an intervention of hers at a conference on the Future of Mother Earth that was sponsored by the Sierra Club. I remember the first time I visited her in her home |
near the rose garden in Berkeley. There were notes on her porch addressed to the wasps who had made themselves at home there. She was begging them to go away and how she did not want to destroy their nests. She was incarnating her Buddhist lessons to respect all beings. I do not recall if her pleas were answered or not. I met Daniel Ellsberg at a dinner at Joanna’s home. She, like Wisdom, was a friend of prophets. Joanna was a spiritual giant. The real thing. Her 90th birthday party was an event etched on my memory forever. So full of life and promise, so many caring people in attendance, and not at all directed to the
past. Her ritual, The Council of All Beings, that she and John Seed created in memory of the species going extinct was real, deeply moving and participatory. |
Her family invited me to her bedside a week ago to give her a blessing along with folk singer Jennifer Berezan, a graduate of our ICCS master’s program, who was among her favorite artists. Jennifer sang her song, “Praises.” We extended our blessings when she was asleep and she woke up at the precise moment that I ended my prayer and her first words were, “Thank you.” |
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Her family urged us to give our blessings again after she was conscious. During Jennifer’s song, Joanna danced with her arms almost directing the music. With a big smile on her face, she repeated that it was her favorite song. She called me to herself for a big hug. In my blessing I asked that
the Buddha and Dalai Lamas of the past and Jesus and Hildegard, Francis of Assisi and Meister Eckhart, greet her in their light. When I mentioned Hildegard, she almost jumped up and shouted—in response, I was moved to add, “Hildegard, a lion.” Both Joanna and Hildegard were lionesses for the truth and for Mother Earth. Both
were warriors and prophets with lion hearts. |
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| Joanna combined a fierce commitment to systems theory and science, plus Buddhist practices and teachings and gifted writings and ideas that
touched thousands of people of all spiritual traditions. Who cannot be awakened by a book titled Thinking Like A Mountain? She urged all to resist despair and I often cite her teaching that “when your heart breaks, the whole |
universe can pour through.” She urged us to put our energy into gratitude, face hurt head on, and remain creative and fight the good fight. Thank you, Joanna. Thank you for your praises for the world and your hard work on behalf of Mother Earth. For the genuine support you lent your friends,
family and co-workers from a deep and passionate heart that was both Buddha-like and Christ-like. |
* See Catherine Hammond, ed., Creation Spirituality & The Dreamtime: Matthew Fox, Joanna Macy, Veronica Brady, Kevin Treston, Elizabeth Cain, Eddie Kneebone (Newtown NSW2024: Millennium Books), 1991. See Matthew Fox,
Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest, pp. 2f., 157, 160, 352. And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth. And Rev. Matthew Fox and Lama Tsomo, The Lotus & The Rose: A Conversation Between Tibetan Buddhism & Mystical Christianity. And Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faith Traditions. And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality. Banner Image: The dunes on the beach at Findhorn, Scotland. Photo by valenta. Wikimedia Commons. |
A Heartfelt Request for
a DM Team Member Dear Friends, As many times as we have invited your action, today we ask in a very personal way. A key member of the DM team, Drake Moore — a young husband and father, gifted web wizard, musician, and generous soul — is |
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battling an aggressive Stage 4 cancer, which has wiped out his family’s income and buried them in medical expenses.
We ask your prayers, and if you are willing, we invite you to contribute to the GoFundMe Drake's friends have set up to help him and his family make it through this difficult time. Anything you can contribute will be enormously appreciated - thank you! --The DM Team |
Queries for Contemplation How has Joanna Macy affected your life and
spiritual journey directly or indirectly? |
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| To view today's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the DailyMeditations with Matthew Fox
website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view and post your Comments. In the sharing that follows, a kind of community is developing around the DM. If you can't reach today's post on the website directly, click HERE. If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his
Vimeo channel HERE. |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, or read other comments and enter into dialogue, please click HERE to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
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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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.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox. He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang. |
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The Lotus & The Rose: A Conversation Between Tibetan Buddhism & Mystical Christianity
How can we move away from “us vs. them” thinking as our surroundings feel more divided and
polarized than ever? Co-authors Matthew Fox and Lama Tsomo discuss how Tibetan Buddhism and Mystical Christianity answer this question from unique points of view, with many commonalities and practical tools to break down the barriers between us.
“The Lotus and the Rose is an extraordinary example of what can happen when spiritual leaders from different traditions open up and speak from the heart.” — Paul
Chaffee, The Interfaith Observer. |
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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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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 thinking (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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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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Matthew Fox offers an online lecture and Q&A to the Association of Pittsburg Priests on “Pere Chenu: Father of
Liberation Theology, Creation Spirituality, and Much of Vatican II”. Wednesday, August 6, 4:00pm – 5:30pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book, Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works with Letters and Songs, in an online Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, August 21, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT. 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 HERE, Meeting ID: 886 6530 2478 Learn more at www.orderofthesacredearth.org |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
GMU President Dr. Gerald Grudzen, along with Father Augustine Pamplany, Dean of the GMU Religion and Science graduate degree program, hosts the Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox for a presentation on "Creation Spirituality and Science," July 11,
2025. |
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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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