The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
By Gianluigi Gugliermetto 1/8/2025 |
There are many ways through which we human beings can achieve a state of ecstasy, that is, transcend ourselves and touch the divine. Matthew Fox beautifully describes some of such natural ecstasies in his book WHEE! We, wee All The Way Home. A Guide to Sensual, Prophetic Spirituality, a book which (as I said yesterday) is well worth of being taken up again. |
We live in a context, in fact, where the most natural experiences that make us feel truly alive and that allow us to let go of our attachments to our egos are not welcome anymore, are not given a place of relevance in our culture, and are manipulated to produce a monetary gain. |
Ancestral union with nature, calling for rain in drought: “Rain Must Fall | The Rain Dance,” performed by Kitty Phetla of the Joburg Ballet. Vuvuzela Afrika |
About the transcendence that we can experience in nature, Matthew writes: The first of the natural ecstasies we can all recognize from our experience is nature itself. How often, how easily, we can fall into forgetfulness (and therefore ecstasy) while sitting by the sea learning to vibrate with it; or walking
barefoot on an earthen field with sunshine on our backs; or finding a lone spot with the pine trees at the peak of a mountain (…) Our ecstasy or standing outside of ourselves is so real in nature that we may truly come to believe what is the fact: that we are the sea; we are a part of the stars; we are of the earth. About friendship as a major mode of transcendence, he writes: A second ecstasy familiar to us all is friendship. The mutual attraction and sharing that reaches to a point of forgetfulness of self (…) is an experience of ecstasy built into our everyday lives. (…) Has our friendship
penetrated sufficiently to that depth of experience which is forgetfulness of the self and all the roles we play during our less ecstatic hours? (…) For in friendship we are relaxed enough to experience something greater than ourselves. And that experience some call God and others, love. |
Transcendent moments: “Couple in Love.” Photo by Lightfield Studios, Adobe Stock | Matthew includes several other experiences in his list of natural ecstasies. Sexuality, although the respect that sexuality requires to maintain its ecstatic character appears to be rarer and rarer in our culture. |
Sports, as long as an excess of competition and violence don’t spoil them. Thinking, which he describes as marrying two thoughts so that a child-thought is born! And, of course, music and arts: Who has never lost herself, stood outside and beyond himself, while listening to a Mozart sonata? The point is that the experiences which the current culture has more and more come to define as quaint and common are basic only in the sense that they constitute the foundation of what being human is. At present — perhaps much more than in 1976 when the book was written — such experiences are challenged in their abilities to lead us naturally and without effort to ecstasy, to forgetfulness of self. They do exist, of course, but they are under attack and
subject to manipulation. |
How many of us take the time to listen attentively to a full Mozart sonata? How many afford to spend time for an aim-less yet deep conversation? How often do we enjoy nature without checking our phone? But while these experiences are being forgotten or curtailed, we have not developed other equally |
A community immersed in natural ecstasy: flashmob performance of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain, 2012. cd tube |
practical methods to detach ourselves from the fears, the certainties, and the vociferous claims of our egos. Natural ecstasies are the easiest ways to reach the self-forgetfulness we need in order to balance the rest of our activities, focused on the attainment of goals. For all their availability, however, they
seem to have become difficult to use. Often they are substituted by artificial means. We cannot, in fact, live human lives without at least a modicum of ecstasy, that is, in theological parlance, a modicum of experience of God. |
Banner Image: How often do we buffer our self-forgetful experience of nature — whether in grief or joy — through a screen? Kawah Putih, Sugihmukti, Bandung Regency, West Java, Indonesia. Photo by Panji Adhi on Unsplash |
Queries for Contemplation What is the relevance of natural ecstasies in your
life? |
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. Books and More by Matthew and Friends! Be sure to check out Matthew's new store at MatthewFox.org, now offering books, recorded courses old and new, and special events... and don't miss our growing collection of books endorsed by Matthew on Bookshop.org! |
|
| Counterpoint: A Response to Peter Thiel’s Antichrist An Important Conversation with Matthew Fox and Gil Duran Did you miss this two-session series with its powerful counter-narrative rooted in wisdom, justice, and |
authentic spirituality? This is your
chance to add it to your library of classics to be watched, re-watched, and contemplated. Fox explores the archetype of Christ and Antichrist as it plays out in our world today but also in artists of old. He draws from the teachings of Jesus and Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Carl Jung, and other mystics and visionaries, illuminating the stark contrast between life-giving and life-destroying spiritual energies. Purchase HERE. |
UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox in a free 4-session Online Lecture/Discussion/Q&A event, “Creation Spirituality and the Celebrating & Healing of Mother Earth & Ourselves,” co-presented by the Episcopal Diocese of Wisconsin and Matthew Fox Legacy Project. Wednesdays, January 14, 21,28, February 4, 2026, 4:00pm-5:30pm
PT January 14 - Creation as an Original Blessing and the Springboard of Awe and Wonder January 21 - Sacred Mother Earth: The Holiness of Creation and Recovering the Cosmic Christ January 28 - The Cosmic Mass, and the Stations of the Cosmic Christ: Reinvigorating Liturgy and Rituals February 4 - Jesus as a Teacher of Democracy and the Renewal of Education and Values through the “10 Cs” 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 |
Awakening the Divine Human: An Immersion in the Living Wisdom of Creation Spirituality …a week-long retreat in Sardinia, Italy, May 25-30, 2026 Join us on the sacred
island of Sardinia for a deeply immersive 6-day retreat rooted in the teachings of Matthew Fox, C.G. Jung, and the ancient wisdom of the land. Set along the turquoise shores and among the Neolithic sites of this timeless Mediterranean island, this retreat invites you into a transformative journey of reconnection—with Earth, Self, Gender, and the Divine. Learn more HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
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. Course includes six modules of pre-recorded lessons. Sign up HERE. |
|
|
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: |
|
|
|
