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).

By Matthew Fox

6/14/2025

This weekend feels sort of packed with issues of healthy/unhealthy fathering and masculinity. On Friday I was part of a 1-day conference on “Healthy Masculinity.”

And on Saturday the White House occupant is celebrating his birthday, having called for a military parade down the streets of Washington D.C. to do him the honors. We are all contributing to his birthday present since we are footing the bill, which is estimated to be about $50 million (not sure whether or not that includes repairing 

Aside from the expense, the protest by veterans and general public, the infrastructure impact, and the optics, a higher power may prevent Dear Leader’s military birthday bash. Occupy Democrats
 

the damage to Washington streets from heavy tank tracks). So that is one version of masculinity.

In response, the 50501 Movement is organizing a national non-violent protest day with the declared theme of “No Kings” to stand against authoritarianism. They are expecting about 2,000 such protests in every state. 

What makes a healthy father? I suspect that at its base, a healthy masculinity both mirrors and accomplishes virtues that we admire (the word vir means man). Virtues of caring for others, thus empathy and compassion. And caring for the common good, thus justice, in all the domains of our lives whether racial, economic, gender, gender preference, our relationship to Mother Earth and therefore to future generations of humans and other species, and so much more.

“Make America Think Again.” A father models nonviolent resistance with his son. Photo by Jose M on Unsplash

Virtues are the true strength of manliness and the authentic power of virility. A good father teaches such things by example as much as by words. To stand up to injustice and lies and to power-over dynamics is to display important values, habits or virtues.

And to admit that we can all make mistakes and fall and fail, but to have the inner strength to judge ourselves honestly and thus regain our steps, rise up and return to trying to do and be better.

But we meet people and men today who are not the least interested in criticizing themselves. Many such people are perched in high places in our society and hold reins on very many power places and decision making that impact millions of people.

A good father and a good man know humility is not about debasing oneself but is about being real and honest with oneself and knowing deep down that we are connected to everyone and everything else and that the “web of creation” calls us to a conscience of interdependence and therefore compassion.  

Working for justice allows compassion to be structured and safeguarded. And injustice against anyone is an injustice against us all.

All this is about virtue, inner strength, healthy masculinity and fatherhood. Authentic manhood is knowing we are 

A father reads to his daughter in the children’s library of the Marshall Public Library in Pocatello, Idaho. Photo by Judy Beth Morris on Unsplash.

part of something very vast we call the universe, that has birthed this home of ours called Earth. And that we are responsible for her flourishing so others may live.

All God’s people can live—the two legged and four-legged and winged and finned ones. Forests and soil and waters and all. 

May we all be loving fathers, strong fathers, who operate from the inside-out.

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. 
 

Corrections: Thursday's DM inadvertently left off the Banner Image credit: 
"Power to the People” poster by John August Swanson. From the PISLAP website.
 

See: Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.

And Fox, The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages.

And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.

And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.

And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ.

Banner Image: Authentic, human masculinity: a father comforts his weeping son. Photo by Kindel Media

Queries for Contemplation

How are you celebrating No Kings Day on Saturday?  How are you and your celebrating Fathers Day on Sunday?  Were you blessed with a healthy father in your life who taught you truly virile powers?  

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.

Recommended Reading

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 HERE Register 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.

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  

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

View this post, video, and more on our website

Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox is made possible through the generosity of donors.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation. Thank you!

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:

Did you receive this email from a friend?
You can subscribe to our daily meditations via the opt-in box on the sidebar at DailyMeditationsWithMatthewFox.org