February 17, 2025: Alexei Navalny: Extra Braveness, Sacrifice, Conscience, Non secular Warriorhood
We’re all referred to as to be each prophets and mystics. The mystic is the lover in us; the prophet is the defender of what one cherishes. The mystic says “Sure” to Life; the prophet says “No” to injustice which is the best menace to life, love and group. Among the many many from whom we will discover inspiration is Alexei Navalny. Regardless of being tortured throughout his incarceration, he by no means stopped combating in opposition to Putin’s oligarchy. Yesterday was the primary anniversary of his homicide. Let’s bear in mind Jesus’ phrases: Blessed are they who’re persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the dominion of heaven.…Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for nice is your reward in heaven. For in the identical manner they persecuted the prophets who have been earlier than you.
February 18, 2025: Evil on the March, Resistance Too?
We have fun the braveness of Alexei Navalny and people who proceed to talk of him and combat in opposition to tyranny. In the meantime, there are some examples within the U.S. of the alternative of braveness, which is bullying. Police in New York charged 5 males with torturing a trans individual for a number of months after which murdering him. Three Rochester metropolis council members report that hostility towards transgender individuals is rising. This doesn’t sound like a “land of the free or the house of the courageous.” Singling out trans individuals—a minority of a minority—hardly looks like a courageous factor to do. It’s what bullies do—choose on these they suppose nobody else will help. Fortuitously, within the face of this hate, resistance in opposition to our personal fascist regime is rising.
February 19, 2025: When Presidents Celebrated the “Development of Human Nature”
Not too long ago JD Vance visited Germany and, turning his again on his again on the duly elected premier of Germany, made a present of as a substitute visiting the neo-Nazi social gathering chief of AfD, a far-right political social gathering. In an article in The Bulwark*, William Kristol writes: There have been loads of presidents with whom many people have disagreed…however there’s been nothing, no less than in my expertise, that’s challenged our fundamental satisfaction in our personal authorities till now. He cites Abraham Lincoln’s eulogy of Senator Clay, given in 1852, the place he praised Clay for championing the “development…of human liberty, human proper and human nature.” We have to faucet into our ethical outrage, train our conscience, and rise up and protest in no matter methods we will. In essence, we should advance human nature.
February 20, 2025: Imam Muhsin Hendricks & Different Non secular Warriors Amongst Us
Fortuitously, together with the rise of rightwing fascists and oligarchs, we even have many examples of brave religious warriors. One is Muhsin Hendricks, a homosexual imam who ran a mosque in Cape City as a secure haven for homosexual and different marginalized Muslims. Sadly, he was shot to dying not too long ago. In a documentary in 2022, when requested concerning the threats he confronted, he responded this fashion: “The must be genuine was higher than the concern to die.” How comparable that’s to one thing MLK, Jr. as soon as stated: “One should love one thing greater than the concern of dying if he’s going to stay.” A parallel story of braveness is unfolding within the U.S. as dozens of competent civil servants within the DOJ and different departments are quitting the present administration fairly than violate the oaths they made to the Structure.
February 21, 2025: Governor Pritzker Speaks Fact to All Individuals
Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, gave a strong State of the State deal with not too long ago. Pritzker, who’s Jewish, spoke about how the Holocaust started with “a seed of mistrust and hate and blame.” And he sees that seed in our personal nation proper now when, as an illustration, the president who watches a airplane go down within the Potomac and suggests—with out details or findings—{that a} range rent is answerable for the crash. The authoritarian playbook is laid naked right here: They level to a gaggle of people that don’t appear like you and inform you guilty them on your issues. For those who suppose I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too quickly, contemplate this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. He ends his speech thusly: Tyranny requires your concern and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your braveness. So collect your justice and humanity, Illinois, and don’t let the ‘tragic spirit of despair’ overcome us when our nation wants us essentially the most.
February 22, 2025: What If We Had Not Only a King However a Mad King?
Not too long ago, the person who sits within the Oval Workplace referred to himself as a king. What if he weren’t only a king however a MAD king? Would a mad king, for instance, declare that Ukraine began the battle with Russia (though Russia invaded Ukraine)? Would a mad king finish all environmental protections, additional endangering the planet that he and the remainder of us stay on? How can we combat such insanity? First, manage and protest. Telephone your representatives and senators. Demand city halls. Second, keep grounded spiritually. Learn the information however not overly a lot. And handle your self. Dwell and breathe and pray and meditate and get open air and follow kindness and study from the mystics. Third, discover allies, discover group.
*William Kristol, “A Patriotic Opposition,” The Bulwark, February 18, 2025.
Banner picture: “Take Braveness.” Picture taken by S Khan on Flickr.
Really helpful Studying
Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had all the time shied away from utilizing the time period “Anti-Christ” as a result of it was so usually used to unfold management and concern. Nonetheless, given right now’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables on this guide using the archetype for the reason for justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a second, for analyzing the archetype of the Antichrist, it’s now…Learn this guide with an open thoughts. Good and evil are actual forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, writer of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For instant entry to Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white pictures, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To obtain a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for instant obtain.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Reworking Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling writer Matthew Fox affords a brand new theology of evil that essentially modifications the standard notion of fine and evil and factors the best way to a extra enlightened remedy of ourselves, each other, and all of nature. In evaluating the Japanese custom of the 7 chakras to the Western custom of the 7 capital sins, Fox permits us to suppose creatively about our capability for private and institutional evil and what we will do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a greater imaginative and prescient and depth of notion far past the grasp of anybody single science. A breath-taking evaluation.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, writer of Quantum Theology: Non secular Implications of the New Physics
Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Imaginative and prescient for a New Technology
Authors Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox encourage us to make use of our abilities in service of compassion and justice and to maneuver past our damaged methods–financial, political, academic, and spiritual–discovering a spirituality that not solely helps us to get alongside, but in addition encourages us to reevaluate our traditions, remodeling them and within the course of constructing a extra sacred and simply world. Incorporating the phrases of younger activist leaders culled from interviews and surveys, the guide offers a framework that’s intentionally interfaith and speaks to our profound craving for a life with religious goal and for a greater world.
“Occupy Spirituality is a strong, inspiring, and important name to embodied consciousness and enlightened actions.”
~~ Julia Butterfly Hill, environmental activist and writer of The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Girl, and the Battle to Save the Redwoods
