The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Kaira Jewel: The Role of Community in Practicing Resistance & Compassion By Matthew Fox 3/02/2026 |
For today’s DM, I share, with her permission, a shortened version of a recent essay from Kaira Jewel’s Substack.* It was originally titled, “Compassion as Protection: Practicing with Those Who Cause Harm.” |
Kaira
Jewel lived for sixteen years as a nun in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Buddhist community in Plum Village. She and Father Adam Bucko are married and practicing deep ecumenism as a couple and as co-spiritual leaders. She is author of the very timely book, We Were Made for These Times: 10 Lessons for Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption. Kaira
Jewel: Many of you have been sharing the questions that are most alive for you right now. One that came through clearly and |
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powerfully was this: How do we practice compassion toward those who cause harm, especially when that harm is directed at us or our communities? This is not a philosophical question. It is lived, embodied, and raw. It touches our histories of oppression, our ancestral grief, and the very real dangers we face
today, like the brutal harms of immigration overreach, with ICE operating in our cities in ways that terrorize communities and separate families; staggering and widening wealth inequality; the measurable decline in young peoples’ learning, attention, and well-being driven by digital culture; escalating wars; the unraveling of systems that have held much of the world in relative peace since World War II; and the erosion of democracy, accountability, and shared norms as we see an accelerating
slide toward authoritarianism. |
Kaira Jewel Talks about her book, “We Were Made for These Times.” Video by Kaira
Jewel Lingo. | In the Plum Village tradition, we are taught that compassion is the best protection.
This teaching does not ask us to be passive, naïve, or self-sacrificing. It asks us to be wise, embodied, and rooted in reality…. When we begin to return to our bodies and allow ourselves to feel |
what has been unfelt, something shifts. We become more present. More human. Less reactive. Compassion becomes less of an idea and more of a lived protection. This is why taking refuge in community matters so deeply. We are not meant to hold this alone. In community, we remember our shared
humanity, our shared longing for safety and belonging, and our shared capacity to heal. Community helps us metabolize grief, anger, and fear so that they do not harden into hatred. It also reminds us that compassion does not mean tolerating harm. We can step away, seek protection, and still wish for transformation. We can say no and keep our
hearts open. So perhaps the question is not whether we can be compassionate toward those who cause harm, but how we can stay connected to ourselves while we try. Can we offer compassion without abandoning our boundaries? Can we tend to our own pain so it does not spill outward? |
Can we trust that refusing to react with hatred is itself a powerful act of resistance? If you are feeling raw, weary, or unsure, know that you are not failing in your practice. This is the practice. Compassion grows slowly, especially in hard soil. |
The Official Song of the Buddhist Monks’ Walk for Peace. Video by Walk for
Peace. |
May
we be gentle with ourselves. May we lean on community. And may our compassion, grounded in wisdom and care, be a source of protection for us and for all those we love. |
Queries for Contemplation How do you lean on community to maintain your stamina and strength and common
sense through dire times and ongoing chaos when you are raw, weary and unsure? |
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Matthew Fox offers a keynote at the Unity Earth Symposium V on The Future of
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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. |
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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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
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