The Creation
Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Adam Bucko on Holiness & The Image & Likeness of God, continued By Matthew Fox 2/21/2026 |
Howard Thurman understood both how fragile and how powerful is the truth that the human being is made in God’s image and likeness. Writing and preaching in the shadow of segregation and racial terror, he said, “There is in every person an inward sea, and in that sea there is an island, and on
that island there is an altar.” To spend time there, he said, is our “crucial link with the Eternal.” |
Thurman was not
describing a private refuge from history. He was speaking to people whose bodies and communities were under assault. He knew that when the world tries to define you as less than human, you must return again and again to that inward altar, where |
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your dignity
is anchored in God and not in the approval of the powerful. But returning to the altar is not the end. It is the beginning. James Cone makes this
unmistakably clear. The image of God, he reminds us, is not a decorative doctrine. It is “the very humanity involved in the struggle against the forces of inhumanity.”… That is why contemplation and resistance belong together. To touch the Eternal within us is to discover that we cannot remain neutral when that same divine
imprint is denied in others. This is where Matthew Fox speaks directly to our moment. “Because evil is so present in our news every day,” he writes in daily meditations, “we have to entertain its opposite, that is, news of the holy.” Turning toward holiness now is not avoidance. It is resistance to despair and numbness. It
is a refusal to let cruelty have the last word. |
Protest by the Muslim Coalition of ISAIAH for Minnesotans, standing united against the White House occupant’s attacks on the Somali community in Minneapolis. Photo by Taylor Dahlin on Flickr. | Fox presses the point further: “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.” He continues: 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, which is our government at work. Saints act on their moral outrage. They find solidarity and community with others who have not totally abandoned their consciences. Holiness is not some kind of abstract perfection. It is conscience made public. Reflecting on a lifetime of watching empires distort truth and power humiliate the vulnerable, Fox concludes plainly: “Today the number one sign of holiness is courage.” Not piety, but courage. The courage to
interfere with injustice. The courage to name large-scale social lies. The courage to refuse dehumanization even when it is normalized. The courage not to abandon that place within us where the interconnectedness of all life is not an idea but a lived reality. |
This courage comes from a heart made large. Our hearts are rendered large by the love of life and existence that we imbibe. They are enlarged through suffering and co-suffering with others. Thurman would say that time spent at the inward altar enlarges the heart. |
Anti-ICE protest in downtown Minneapolis. Photograph by Lorie Shaull on Wikimedia Commons. |
Cone would say that solidarity in struggle enlarges it. A big heart is a brave heart…. When entire communities are targeted and humiliated, to bear God’s likeness means defending the humanity of others as fiercely as we defend our own. It is here, in this costly fidelity, that the image of God is honored. It is here that holiness becomes visible. It is here that hope takes flesh. May our spiritual practice help us return to the
altar within. And may it give us the courage to walk back into the world with a heart large enough to resist what diminishes life. |
Queries for Contemplation Do you agree with Adam that turning toward holiness now is not avoidance but resistance to despair and numbness? And a refusal to let cruelty have
the last word? |
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 |
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. |
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 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. |
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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Join Matthew Fox for a Lecture, Discussion, and Q&A on “Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—And Beyond, ” an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, March 19, 2026, 4:00pm-5:30pm PT. Register HERE. 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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