The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Awakening as Immersion and Changing of the Mind By Gianluigi Gugliermetto 3/25/2026 |
Several months ago, in the wake of previous experiences, I put together a team of five people, including myself, and created a week-long retreat that will be held on the island of Sardinia toward the end of May 2026. Dennis Edwards, the secretary of the Matthew Fox Legacy Project, and Mario Bonfanti, who
has worked for us on-site in Sardinia, have been instrumental in making this happen. |
Matthew himself has supervised the initiative and will participate by means of three live sessions during which participants will be able to dialogue with him on the most important discoveries that they will have made in the course of the retreat. We titled the initiative “Awakening the Divine
Human: An Immersion in the Living Wisdom of Creation Spirituality.” You can look at the |
"Retreat: Awakening the Divine Human: An Immersion in the Living Wisdom of Creation Spirituality - Sardinia." Mon., May 25 - Sat., May 30. To register, click HERE. |
program HERE. The pivotal word for me in this title is
“immersion” as I want to use an inductive method rather than a deductive one. That is, experience first, reasoning about it later. |
This does not mean that we will not be reflecting and thinking. In fact, the transformation of the mind and its habits is the essence of spirituality. I cannot think of any spiritual master in any tradition whose aim is anything else than helping practitioners transform their mind, and thus the world around them (the via transformativa, which in Jungian terms is “thinking”). |
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| I have found too often than people participating in retreats love hearing their voice expressing their thoughts, which are of course the thoughts
they brought with them to the retreat location. In the course of this week, instead, people will be asked first to sense (via positiva), to feel (via negativa), and to create (via creativa) and only then giving full sway to the power of |
thought/action (via transformativa). |
In
reality, there will be a verbal “gathering of experiences” in small groups in the late afternoon of each day, followed by a sustained moment of exchange with Matthew Fox online. But these moments will be preceded by “immersion moments” in the sea, in caves, in hot pools, in nature. In Jungian terms, we want the soul to be leading the experience, rather than the intellect. As I was asked a few times about the Christian contents of the retreat, I want to be clear that there is none, in the sense that we will not work on Christian symbols or texts. As a theologian, however, I am convinced that working within the depths of human spirituality, getting in contact with the roots of our species’ quest for the divine, is a prerequisite for any healthy engagement with the Jewish and Christian
traditions. We have chosen the island of Sardinia indeed because it offers something unique: the possibility of connecting to the ancestral traditions of humankind in a pristine natural environment. The amount of Neolithic sites that are still preserved or have been excavated is stunning, and we will experience some of them
not as tourists but as pilgrims. |
There has been a challenge to the program coming from some people who think that it is unethical to promote a tour that not everybody can afford and is causing pollution by way of air travelling. Wouldn’t it be more consistent to practice in one’s own place, and maybe create sustainable local guilds of practitioners? I have been dealing internally with similar issues in the past and I am not sure I have found |
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a
solution. I can, however, express publicly the intention that is behind this retreat. It is giving me the occasion to introduce others to a deep source of meaning—i.e. Sardinia itself—that is very important for my own soul. I hope that participants — some of whom are making financial arrangements to be able to fly to Italy
— will look at it not as yet another trip but as a rare occasion and a sacred time. A time of deep listening. Beyond words. With the purpose of elaborating for a very long time, each in their own place and life context, the insights that will be gathered. |
Banner image: “Sant’Antioco Island, Cape Sperone.” Image by Maurizio Panicara. Wikimedia Commons. |
Queries for Contemplation How do you deal with your ethical conflicts around the sustainability of your
ecological footprint? Or with the disparity between your level of income and that of others? |
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! CREATION SPIRITUALITY CONVERSATIONS |
Matthew Fox offers a keynote at the Unity Earth Symposium V on The Future of
Interspirituality: From Awareness to Action, exploring the maturation of interspirituality and how shared spiritual awareness becomes structured, embodied action in the world. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox and Carolyn Myss in a 3-session event: "Darkness, Love and Advancing Consciousness in These Times." March 11, 18, 25, 2026 (Wednesdays) Virtual / Live Zoom Event. The Sophia Institute, 3pm PT. Learn more HERE. |
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Matthew Fox joins David Abram, Lynn Twist, and Randy Woodley as Cameron Trimble of Convergence CoLab hosts “Vision for the Common Good,” a four-session Conversation Series. Tuesdays, March 17, 24, 31, and April 7, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT Register HERE. |
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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 |
Matthew Fox offers a lecture, “A Christianity for All Creation” as part of “For All Creation: A Day with Matthew Fox, Kelly Sherman-Conroy and Will Allen,” an On-site and Virtual Event presented by the Center for Ecological Regeneration, Hennepin Ave. UMC, and Garrett
Evangelical Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. Saturday, April 18, 9:00am – 3:00pm Register HERE. |
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. |
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