The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Watch for Matthew Fox's
video meditation — now appearing every Monday! Don't miss Matthew's exciting interviews, webinars and courses, listed at the bottom of this DM (you may need to click the ... to see them). |
Thomas Merton's Inspiring LifeBy the Daily Meditation Team 6/01/2025 |
Please note: As Matthew Fox continues to complete his next book, Gianluigi
Gugliermetto (often called GG), his friend and colleague, will be filling in and composing the Daily Meditations. |
May 26, 2025: “The deepest ground of my being is love”
Thomas Merton was a Roman Catholic monk who was an intellectual, a prophet, and a contemplative, all at once. He was fiercely
opposed to the Vietnam War and spoke out against it openly. Matthew Fox had been inspired by Merton and the two corresponded with one another until Merton’s untimely (and suspicious) death. Matthew details some of this in his book A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey, which GG recommends heartily. In this book Matthew also shares the way Merton so fully embraced the four paths in his life. We will be exploring that this
week. |
Thomas Merton: The final part of his last conference, recorded in Bangkok in 1968. An excerpt from Merton: A Film Biography (2004) Video by Associação Thomas Merton. |
May 27, 2025: Merton and the Via Positiva
“Contemplation is the highest expression of man’s intellectual and spiritual life…. It is gratitude for life, for awareness and being.” Thomas
Merton’s definition of contemplation is remarkably similar to Matthew’s description of the via positiva. For centuries, the Catholic Church encouraged denial of physical desires and “mortification of the flesh.” What a breath of fresh air then was Merton’s appreciation for the “sacredness of life.” Among Merton’s journal entries can be found such sentences as this: “My worship is a blue sky and ten thousand crickets in the deep wet hay of the field.” Unlike many of his predecessors,
Merton preached a profound and readily available via positiva. May 28, 2025: Merton and the Via
Negativa
As a student of Meister Eckhart and D.T. Suzuki, Thomas Merton was very aware of the teachings about emptiness and the void, both in the Christian and the Buddhist traditions. Merton knew the deep connection between the experience of plenitude and that of emptiness —“the point of nothingness in the midst of being.” GG believes Merton was an “expert” not so much of the via
positiva or the via negativa, but of the passing of the one into the other. Merton’s diaries are replete with descriptions of his experience in nature that end with an unspoken invitation — to drop into silence at the end. May 29, 2025: Merton and the Via Creativa
Thomas Merton was a creative human being with multiple gifts. He had been a poet since his youth, and later also became a photographer and a graphic artist. It is indeed quite remarkable that a Catholic monk in the 1960s would take up the
practice of abstract drawings and mix it with Zen calligraphy. As one might expect, Merton’s art was a contemplative exercise, imbued with his spirituality. Matthew, in his book on Merton, quotes him as saying: The function of image, symbols, poetry, music, chant, and of ritual (remotely related to sacred dance) is to open up the inner self to the contemplative, to incorporate the sense and the body in the totality of the self-orientation to God that is necessary for worship and
meditation. Surely Merton would have loved Matthew’s cosmic masses. |
May 30, 2025: Merton and the Via Transformativa
During his lifetime, the social and political writings of Thomas Merton raised quite a ruckus in the Catholic Church and in the public at
large. He was fervently opposed the Vietnam War, the atomic bomb, racism and social injustice, and industrial pollution. It is easy to recognize Merton’s via transformativa not only because his social engagement was so obvious, but because it was for him an integral part of his vocation as a Christian and a human being. As Matthew points out, Merton knew the prophetic tradition very well. Because he was so outspoken in his condemnation of the ills of society, many believe he was
assassinated. In his book A Way to God, Matthew comments, after reviewing the evidence: Perhaps we will never know whether or not Merton died as a martyr at the hands of the American government. But it is very possible he did. I believe he did. |
May 31, 2025: Thomas Merton, a Humorous Saint
Reflecting on the meditations this past week about Thomas Merton, Gianluigi says, “While in my experience most people excel in one or two of the four paths,
Merton seems to have mastered them all.” Though Merton was worthy of high praise, he was not “perfect,” nor would he have wanted to be. So, let’s be imperfect, always fighting for justice, and yet somehow becoming more ourselves in the process. |
SIGN THE PLEDGE: Boycott pro-Trump corporations. Faithful America. EngageForDemocracy offers curated trustworthy reporting, educational resources, and action campaigns to hold government accountable to the Constitution and democratic norms.
Banner image: "There is only one thing to live for: Love. There is
only one unhappiness: Not to know God." From Thomas Merton's journals. Photo by Jim Forest on Flickr. |
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 Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey
In A Way to God, Fox explores Merton’s pioneering work in interfaith, his
essential teachings on mixing contemplation and action, and how the vision of Meister Eckhart profoundly influenced Merton in what Fox calls his Creation Spirituality journey.
“This wise and marvelous book will profoundly inspire all those who love Merton and want to know him more deeply.” — Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism |
|
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 |
|
Prayer: A Radical Response to Life How do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? Fox defines prayer as a radical
response to life that includes our “Yes” to life (mysticism) and our “No” to forces that combat life (prophecy). How do we define adult prayer? And how—if at all—do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, originally published under the title On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style, Prayer introduces a mystical/prophetic spirituality and a mature conception of how to
pray. Called a “classic” when it first appeared, it lays out the difference between the creation spirituality tradition and the fall/redemption tradition that has so dominated Western theology since Augustine. A practical and theoretical book, it lays the groundwork for Fox’s later works. “One of the finest books I have read on contemporary spirituality.” – Rabbi Sholom A. Singer |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 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. |
May 30 - June 1 - Gathering to Transform: The Way of Justice - Join Matthew Fox and many others in Creation Spirituality Communities 2025. Virtual Gathering - Learn more HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox and Brian McLaren in a live webinar, “In the Midst of Doom: Facing Our Moment and Finding Our Way,” hosted by Cameron Trimble of Convergence Lab. Wednesday, June 4, 4-5 pm 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: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88665302478
Meeting ID: 886 6530 2478 Learn more at www.orderofthesacredearth.org |
June 7-8 -- Join Matthew Fox and other speakers in a live 2-day webinar, Forming a Unitive Consciousness, hosted by The Aspen Forum. Learn more HERE. |
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 |
The Christian Mystics: Wisdom for Our
Time
Join renowned theologian and spiritual teacher Matthew Fox in a thought-provoking conversation with Ruby Reed on the lives, work and wisdom of some of The Christian Mystics and their vital role in our time.
In this webinar, we’ll explore how the mystic’s path can empower us to cultivate inner transformation and inspire action in the world by saying "Yes" to life and "No" to injustice, whether through art, contemplation, or activism. Discover how their insights can help us rekindle our spiritual fire and meet the needs of our time with resilience and love. This free video promotes Matthew's upcoming 6-session course with Advaya, that will be released on May 8. |
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: |
|
|
|
