The Creation
Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Bearing Up While Fighting the Good Fight By Matthew Fox 2/03/2025 |
St. Paul instructed us to “fight the good fight.” Clearly, a major fight ensues today at the hands of our government, busy invading city after city with armed and masked and mostly untrained forces. The murdering of citizens; the ripping away of citizens’ rights; the arrest of journalists for doing their jobs; the First Amendment be damned; etc., etc. |
What are some ways to stay grounded in the fight? One way is to pay attention to good news alongside the sad and dangerous news. This includes being present to our own breath—which is still ours to breathe—breathe deeply and thankfully. Take walks into nature when possible, interact with
friends |
Domestic terror: ICE agents ram a man’s vehicle in Minneapolis, threaten him with pepper spray, and demand identification. The Latino man was released once they realized he was a US citizen. Photo by Chad Davis Photography on Flickr. |
and
loved ones of the four-legged as well as two-legged variety. Seek out beauty and be with it. In short, ground oneself in the Via Positiva of existence itself, in the beauty and gratuity of living on this planet, taking in its wonders and gifts and miracles that arouse awe and wonder and a sense of the sacred in us. Consider
the goodness in those people who bear witness to the good and beautiful and justice that humans are capable of. Remember the Buddhist monks on a 2,300-mile pilgrimage, the last four months marching from Houston to Washington, D.C., with one object in mind: Peace. |
Thousands wait hours to see Buddhist monks’ peace walk through Petersburg, VA: “You can see the love.” WTVR CBS 6 | The response to that grace-filled pilgrimage has been amazing
and something to behold in itself. Many people who have showed up to embrace them along the way have cried and wept. |
Thousands of
people in Minneapolis, the scene of the assault on American democracy, have shown up in sub-zero weather daily to protest non-violently the violence being done to their neighbors by ICE invading homes, arresting anyone they choose, including children, and spreading terror. Look for allies on a regular basis. Rachel Maddow on Monday nights on MSNOW offers
scenes of people from all over the country, in small towns and large cities, resisting the terror raging in Minnesota. |
It is important to know one is not alone in feeling one’s own moral outrage and that thousands upon thousands of others are taking to the streets to let Congress, the judiciary, and politicians know. Resistance is everywhere. |
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John of the Cross, about whom I have just finished a book to be published in the Fall, found himself at the end of his rope when he was locked up in a “dungeon” (his word) by his fellow Carmelite brothers. His crime? He was trying to reform the order under the tutelage of his Carmelite sister, Teresa of Avila. On escaping from prison, he wrote a short poem called “Dark Night” that was a song and prayer of liberation and gratitude. But how did he survive his nine months in torture and darkness while in the prison itself? By writing a long poem he called the “Canticle” in imitation of the “Canticle of the Song of Songs” in the Hebrew Bible. Both his Canticle and the Biblical Canticle are love poems–he found his sustenance by writing about the quest for God, his Beloved. His poetry, now recognized as among the greatest in Spanish literature, was his art as meditation, his healing, his empowering. He endured by remembering the beauty of existence–indeed, it culminates in his recognition and remembrance that |
Loreena McKennitt puts John of the Cross’ poem “The Dark Night of the Soul” to sublime music. Video meditation by philipApart. | My Beloved is the mountains
the lonely wooded valleys
the strange and distant islands
the rivers sounding echoes above
the whispering breezes tickling the skin with love.
He is the quiet and tranquil night
the stillness that precedes the coming dawn
the silent music,
the sounding solitude |
the meal that refreshes and arouses love. Be like John and keep biophilia and the Via Positiva alive. In today’s video, I cite psychologist Erich Fromm, who teaches that the Holocaust was born of leaders affected by “malignant narcissism.” He also concluded that “necrophilia grows when
biophilia is stunted.” Drink at the wells of biophilia. Be like the camel who drinks and stores water from an oasis before marching across the desert. Return often to the oases of the Via Positiva while feeling the depths of the Via Negativa and carrying on the fight of the Via Transformativa in the most creative ways
possible. |
Banner Image: “Do Justice, Love Kindness” – a memorial to Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Photo by Chad Davis on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation How are you taking good care of yourself and grounding yourself deeply as you
carry on the good fight on behalf of democracy and resist its demise? |
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 |
Podcaster Jon Wilson speaks with Matthew Fox about Creation Spirituality: how Matthew became a Dominican priest; his studies in Paris, Original Blessing versus the Fall-Redemption tradition; the Four Paths; mystics Meister Eckhart, Carl Jung, and Otto Rank; Eros, ritual and how ‘this is
wisdom to love life’. Listen HERE. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox for a Lecture, Discussion, and Q&A on “Manifesto! For a Global Civilization; & Breakthrough: Meister Eckhart’s Creation Spirituality, ” an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, February 19, 2026, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT. Register 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. |
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