The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Watch for Matthew Fox's video meditation -- now appearing every Monday! |
Youth:
Speaking Truth to Powerful Guardians of Education 05/09/2024 |
The youth need to speak truth to power—someone has to, after all. The powerful are often tired guardians of the status quo and its mighty institutions. |
When one sees presidents of universities cower under questioning at congressional hearings, then rush back to their campus and call in the police to harass and beat up on their students and faculty, something is seriously amiss. And wrapping it up in sloganeering about “antisemitism” is
less than truthful. |
Fifty-four years ago this week, Ohio State National Guardsmen shot 13 unarmed students, killing four, during anti-war protests at Kent State University. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Ohio” with stills from the 1960s and 1970s protests. HardRain Productions. |
It is for this very reason that, beginning 45 years ago, I turned my back on dominant academia (including its god-awful accrediting institutions): Because I sensed that one cannot teach spirituality in a Western university, where the intuitive brain is ignored, and with it values get banished from education. When I approached accrediting institutions, I found them absolutely deaf and disinterested in truth or wisdom or alternative pedagogy. It was all about money. |
Front door of the University of Creation Spirituality, founded by Matthew Fox in downtown Oakland, CA in 1996; closed in 2005. Photo taken from the official UCS Facebook page. | I designed a new pedagogy and started the Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality in 1977 at Mundelein College in Chicago, then moved it to Holy Names College in Oakland, California in 1983. After a wonderful 12-year run there, we had to move because of pressure from the all-seeing Vatican of
the time. So I opened up the University of Creation Spirituality in downtown |
Oakland, offering a doctor of ministry degree that focused on Work and Spirituality. After nine years I started YELLAWE, an effort to reinvent education for inner city teen-agers, so many of whom were dropping out of high school. I did not want simply to criticize academia as it was (and sad to say still is)—void of values—but to offer an alternative that would show the way to a fuller learning experience. A way that included a search for wisdom (a feminine archetype) and not just unbridled knowledge that is soul-less, value-less and cold. |
California congressman Ro Khanna recently appraised the current situation on campuses: We have to understand that this is a defining moment for this generation, similar to anti-Vietnam protests, anti-apartheid protests, anti-Iraq war protests. |
CBS Face the Nation anchor Margaret Brennan introduces Rep. Ro Khanna, discussing protests on college campuses. |
And they’re telling us that there over 30,000 people have died. It’s time for this war to end….They want to see leadership in America and around the world. This is not the world that they want. Is it the world any of us want? |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest, pp. 126-176.
And Fox, The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human.
And Fox, “Honoring the Child Within—Youth and the Cosmic Christ” and “The Cosmic Christ and
Creativity,” in Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, pp. 180-210.
Banner Image: Students for Justice in Palestine gathered at the consulate general of Israel in solidarity with the Gaza Strip. The rally, including students from Hunter College and John Jay College of the City University of New York, New York University, and St. Joseph’s College, protested Israel’s siege and occupation of the
Palestinian enclave. Photo by Joe Catron on Flickr. |
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Responses are welcomed. To add
your comment, or read other comments and enter into dialog, please click HERE to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Queries for Contemplation |
Do you see values re-entering education with the non-violent protests against the slaughter in Gaza (and the October 7 slaughter as well)? Are the youth awakening a morally slumbering academia and America? |
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)
Matthew Fox’s stirring
autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of
this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self |
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The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human
The A.W.E. Project reminds us that awe is the appropriate response to the unfathomable wonder that is creation… A.W.E. is also the acronym for Fox’s proposed style of
learning – an approach to balance the three R’s. This approach to learning, eldering, and mentoring is intelligent enough to honor the teachings of the Ancestors, to nurture Wisdom in addition to imparting knowledge, and to Educate through Fox’s 10 C’s. The 10 C’s are the core of the A.W.E. philosophy and process of education, and include: compassion, contemplation, and creativity. The A.W.E. Project does for the vast subject of “learning” what Fox’s Reinvention of Work did for vocation
and Original Blessing did for theology. Included in the book is a dvd of the 10 C’s put to 10 video raps created and performed by Professor Pitt.
“An awe-based vision of educational renewal.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice. |
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The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian
paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth
wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author of The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe. |
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In the Beginning There Was Joy: A Cosmic Celebration for Kids of All Ages
The first book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series tells the story of the big bang and how humans fit into the awesome, fantastical,
cosmic picture! With artwork curated from illustrators around the world, this book expresses the joy and wonder of all peoples and cultures, planting seeds of respect, cooperation and hope to work together for the healing of our planet. "Matthew Fox does it again, here for our young ones, who so need a positive, cosmic vision
to thrive, or even survive, in a sad time." - Father Richard Rohr, Author of The Universal Christ "Matthew Fox offers a resounding affirmation of what our souls have always suspected: we are made for joy." - Mirabai Starr, Author of God of Love and Wild Mercy Receive a 20% discount when you buy this and one other book from Matthew Fox’s store! Use Promo Code 20% at checkout. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox in a new, live, 7-week video course hosted by the Shift Network, Cultivating Compassion in Spirituality: What Meister Eckhart & Other World Mystics Can Teach Us About Navigating Collective Turmoil. Tuesdays, May 7 – June 25, 5:00pm - 6:30pm PT. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book with scientist Rupert Sheldrake, Natural Grace: Dialogues on Creation, Darkness and the Soul in Spirituality and Science in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, May 16, 4:00-5:30 pm PT.
Register HERE. |
Join keynote speakers Matthew Fox and Brian Swimme at the 2024 Creation Spirituality Communities Gathering on “Reimagining Our Story, Hope for Humanity,” live at Cape Cod, MA and by livestream. Friday, May 31 – Sunday, June 2. Learn more and register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Ilia Delio and theologian Matthew Fox pick up on their conversation about the viability of contemporary religious institutions in an evolutionary world. They discuss death and resurrection—the enduring challenge of modern approaches to the subject and what we can learn from mystics, past generations and ancient peoples alike. To listen, click HERE. |
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Inspired by this post? Share your insights on Universeodon, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
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