The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Week of 2/9-14/2026:
Saintliness & Satire
in Troubled Times
By The Daily Meditations Team 2/15/2026 |
This is a summary of the previous week’s daily meditations. You can click on any title to view the DM in its entirety. Also, remember that each Monday, Matthew Fox continues to offer a video teaching. Thank you for your loyal readership. |
February 9, 2026: Leonard Cohen on Saintliness, continued
We continue to reflect on what Leonard Cohen says about saintliness in his book Beautiful Losers.* Cohen says that Love is at the center of a saint’s energy. And what love accomplishes, Cohen believes, is balance---“a kind of balance in the chaos of existence.” Note: Saints do not eliminate the chaos, they teach us how to dance with it, how to make balance happen. Instead of trying to rid the world of chaos, they
learn to ride “the drifts like an escaped ski.” An escaped ski has momentum and energy but nothing to steer it. Therefore, a kind of faith is required, or a surrender to forces larger than ourselves. : |
February 10, 2026: Leonard Cohen on Saintliness, continued
The saint is not angelic and ethereal, but grounded and earthy. The saint goes deeper than the earth’s crust, to the
depths where things can be both solid and bloody. The key is that he/she is “at home in the world,” no matter what is shaking and being shaken. The house shakes, the world shakes, but one finds a home in the world and does not flee the scene. Courage and trust reign in the heart of the saints. Says Cohen, “It is good to have among us such men (saints), such balancing monsters of love.” A saint is taken over, monster-like, by the power of love manifest in an immense balancing
act. |
February 11, 2026: Ernest Becker Offering More Thoughts on Saintliness
Today we contemplate another wise person’s thoughts on sainthood, namely Ernest Becker, author
of Escape from Evil.** He writes that healthy religion offers the possibility of a new heroism, the heroism of sainthood. This meant living in primary awe at the miracle of the created object…including oneself in one’s own godlikeness. He adds: If we were not fear-stricken animals who repressed awareness of ourselves and our world, then we would live in peace and unafraid of death, trusting to the Creator God and celebrating His creation. “Exactly what the world needs,” says one teary woman about the monks walking for peace. WUSA9 February 12, 2026: Becker on Saintliness, continued
Ernest Becker sees religion today as failing to open up our perception to “celebrating God’s creation.” He praises indigenous religions for doing exactly that. He said: No longer was man an animal who died and vanished from the earth; he was a creator of life who could also give eternal life to himself by means of communal rituals of cosmic regeneration. The Cosmic Mass is such a ritual. Aboriginal teacher Eddie Kneebone taught Matthew that his
people “teach our children that stars are the campfires of our ancestors.” Becker said: The early promise of Christianity was to bring about...the social justice that the ancient world was crying for. Christianity never fulfilled this promise and is as far away from it today as ever. No wonder it has trouble being taken seriously as a hero system. February 13, 2026: Why Meditate on Sainthood in a Time of ICE, Epstein Files, & the Rest?
We are meditating on sainthood because evil is
so omnipresent in our news every day that we have to entertain its opposite, that is, news of the holy. Saints—and this is meant to be all of us—are those who have a conscience and are not afraid to speak up and walk their talk about values that matter. We see such courage and holiness playing out in the streets of Minneapolis these days by ordinary citizens, at least two of whom have been murdered and martyred by ICE. Matthew is convinced that both mystics and prophets require great
courage---or “big heart” in French. Many of our hearts are breaking as we witness so much evil, but Joanna Macy said, “When your heart breaks, the whole universe can pour through.” Democracy needs yOUR couRAGE. An anti-ICE rally organized by Seattle-area educational unions, joined by health care and tech worker unions, February 2026. Photo by Michael Hanscom on Flickr. February 13, 2026: Confronting Large-Scale Lies Through Satire, Opera & Humor
We have been talking about saintliness, but another way to confront large-scale
lies is through satire. Europe excels at this and recently premiered an opera called Monster’s Paradise, which opened to a very enthusiastic reception.* The plot is described as follows: A President-King so gluttonous, ravenous, and absurdly swollen with ego that he enters a gilded Oval Office with a Coca-Cola fridge, a crown on the desk, and a literal eject button for unwanted visitors. Trump, rendered as a diapered titan with a golden necktie, grows to monstrous
proportions and plants a golf club like a flag on conquered territory. The director of the opera admitted that Washington is “sprinting toward parody so fast that the production might be outdated in eight hours.” But laughter can be a tool in one’s anti-fascist toolbox since fascists everywhere notoriously lack a sense of humor—especially when it’s aimed at them and their ever-so-fragile egos. |
Please note: Our colleague, Gianluigi Gugliermetto is currently recovering from some health challenges. For the rest of this month, the DMs will be written by Matthew Fox. Please join us in praying for GG's good health. Thank you. * Thanks to Maria Popova, “The Balancing Monsters of Love: Leonard Cohen on the Saints Among Us,” The
Marginalian, February 23, 2023.
**Ernest Becker, Escape from Evil. Published by Free Press, March 1, 1985
****Mary Geddry, “Opera vs. Policy” on Geddry, February 9, 2026.
Banner image: The gift of flowers and a smile. Photo by Norbu GYACHUNG on Unsplash |
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. |
|
|
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. |
Matthew Fox joins the real-time Unity Earth Symposium V, “Spiraling Up: A New Energy for Planetary Consciousness,” to give a live-streamed lecture on “From Awareness to Action.” Sunday, February 22, 7:00am PT. Register HERE. Matthew Fox joins Unity Inspired Living to give an inspirational message,"Roots Before Wings: The Foundational Role of Science in Supporting Spirituality," at Sunday morning worship, also livestreamed on Facebook Live, March 8, 10:00am PT. Learn more 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 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. |
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: |
|
|
|
