The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Keeping Our Hearts & Souls Alive, Fresh, Young, Green & Inspired amidst Dark Times By Matthew Fox 1/12/2025 |
I ended our Saturday DM with the following question: “How do you keep your heart and soul alive and fresh, young, green and inspired, even when the news is bleak and painful?” Here I would like to offer some soul-food that helps accomplish that purpose. |
One way is to pray. What does that mean? I propose in my book, On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style (now called Prayer: A Radical Response to Life), that it means to respond deeply to Life, the good and |
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the bad of it, the joy and the sorrow, the ecstasy and the pain of it. And that we are praying whenever we are doing that, whenever we put into practice our deep Yes or our deep No. The former names our mystical life, the latter our prophetic response to life. It is this dance and dialectic that keeps us going and that truly names our spiritual journey. How many ways are there to say Yes? To pray prayers of Yes? Visits into nature surely; the arts,
listening to our deepest music, contemplating our brightest paintings, laughing at our funniest comedians who, until they are expelled from corporate-owned media under pressure from certain politicians, practice the art of laughing at the news; time with friends—both two-legged and four-legged companions; walking, exercising, swimming, running. |
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| Practicing Gratitude is one of the most fundamental modes of
prayer. It arises organically from paying attention to and practicing the Via Positiva. The Via Positiva releases thanks and gratitude and also reverence and respect and awareness that one |
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a receiver in this life. We did not make our life; life made us. There is a reason why Thomas Aquinas defines the very essence of religion this way—“religion is supreme thankfulness and gratitude.” The new cosmology of cosmogenesis not only names the goings-on of the past 13.8 billion years that have brought us here, but is also now literally showing us the pictures of stars, supernovas and galaxies
that have gestated us. I am convinced that the Webb Telescope, and so much science discovers and creates, is a huge source of revelation of creation. Studying this new science is also a very deep prayer and a source of awe and inspiration
as well as gratitude. Bring your heart to such a study. Another kind of prayer is to enter into silence and contemplation. Deep listening derives from learning to be at home with solitude and stillness, emptying and being emptied, and just being-with. Very useful habits of letting go and letting be are learned in such
meditation. Furthermore, this deep emptying of the Via Negativa prayer feeds and nourishes the Via Positiva experiences and thereby deepens the awe and wonder, surprise, gratitude and reverence that arises in the Via Positiva. It also prepares us to undergo the vicissitudes of the struggles in life such as we are undergoing
as a species today, and as people who want to see a living democracy in preference to a vicious dictatorship of cruelty and narcissism. |
Entering into suffering and darkness, grief and loss, is also a very deep prayer. Not to run from it or pile up addictions of all kinds to escape it, but to enter it and ask: “What do you have to teach me, sorrow?” “What do you have to teach me, fear?” |
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“What do you have to teach me, my broken heart?” Of course the art of letting go applies to addictions from social media and drugs and alcohol and work, so as to live and love more truly and from a deeper and emptier place. The Via Creativa is also a place, a temple, a sacred site from which we pray and learn how to incarnate imagination to give thanks. And to convert it to action and taking of responsibility and linking up with others, thus creating community. The word “community” comes from two words meaning “sharing a common task together.” I subtitle my book on creativity with “where the divine and the human meet” for a reason. The Holy Spirit calls us and invites us into our creativity just as it did Mary at the time of the annunciation. We are
here to birth nothing less than the Christ (or Buddhahood or image of God) in ourselves and our society. Such birthing is itself a prayer and an affirmation, a Yes to Life. |
Banner image: Take the time to be outside and smell the flowers. Photo by Cynthia Greb. Used with permission. |
Queries for Contemplation How do you practice gratitude on a regular basis? And stillness? And
emptiness? And birthing? And thus resilience? How many ways do you say ‘Yes’? Do you say ‘No’? And thus pray? |
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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! |
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| 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. |
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