A religious warrior takes care of his or her physique and soul as a way to be sturdy.
Dr. Lyla June Johnston, musician, scholar, and neighborhood organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages.
And a religious warrior is aware of what she or he stands for, refines it, and finds allies for the resistance.
A religious warrior develops “ethical creativeness” because the highly effective useful resource it’s to outwit the reptilian mind that usually dominates in these grasping and hungry with out finish for energy for energy’s sake.
A religious warrior doesn’t roll over and play lifeless; or throw up his/her arms in give up; or undertake an “eat, drink and be merry as a result of tomorrow we die” philosophy.
A religious warrior heeds the knowledge of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who noticed that motion springs not from thought however from a readiness for duty…Silence within the face of evil is itself evil. God won’t maintain us guiltless. To not converse is to talk. To not act is to behave.
A religious warrior takes one’s duty significantly—however not lugubriously—and stays related to the Through Positiva ingesting from its assets commonly. Such assets—gratitude, magnificence, reverence, awe, marvel, a way of the sacred–nurture one’s motive for being, carrying on and resisting.
Angel Studios.
Thus a religious warrior takes on the camel persona (see my Antichrist e book), pausing typically on the water gap, the oasis, the Through Positiva, to fill one’s hump for the Through Negativa journey—the caravan trek by way of the desert of nothingness.
A religious warrior deepens his/her Sure (or mysticism).
A religious warrior deepens his/her No (or prophetic facet).
A religious warrior stays related to the brand new creation story from science about cosmogenesis that provides a unified imaginative and prescient of the universe and humanity’s place in it.
Religious warriors discover allies who collectively nourish themselves in solidarity on the enjoyment and marvel and duty discovered therein, specifically that we’re a part of a cosmic historical past of 13.8 billion years and two trillion galaxies and a whole lot of billions of stars that has invited us right here. For a function.
Religious warriors know that function is frequent Pleasure and Justice which rain grace on our caravan (together with wrestle and tribulation).
Creating frequent rituals, ceremonies, liturgies to provide thanks and awaken that Pleasure and Creativeness and Braveness for Justice is integral to the religious warriors’ survival and nourishment alongside that journey.
The Cosmic Mass is a nice instance of such nourishing rituals as I’ve witnessed and took part in for at the least 28 years. We’d like many extra Cosmic Plenty presently in historical past to construct and nurture the religious warrior in us all.
The religious warrior acknowledges the knowledge spoken by Thomas Berry: The human enterprise relies upon completely on this high quality of awe and reverence and pleasure within the Earth and all that lives and grows upon the Earth….In the long run the universe can solely be defined when it comes to celebration. It’s all an exuberant expression of existence itself.
See Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, pp. 353, 365.
And Matthew Fox, “Conclusion: Be a Camel and Escape the Allurement of the Antichrist,” in Fox, Trump and the MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, pp. 85-91.
And Fox, Prayer: A: Radical Response to Life (former title: On Changing into a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Type).
And Fox, “Religious Warriors,” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 77-104.
And Fox, “Religious Warriorhood,” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Knowledge Springing from International Faiths, pp. 404-422.
Banner Picture: Vitality warrior. Photograph by Xuan Nguyen on Unsplash.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you have got a “readiness for duty” that Bonhoeffer requires? And an consciousness of “an exuberant expression of existence itself” that, with celebration, alone explains the universe? And a want to have a good time, thank and drink within the doxa and glory of the universe and a dedication to sustaining Mom Earth.
Beneficial Studying
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
As Matthew Fox notes, when an getting old Albert Einstein was requested if he had any regrets, he replied, “I want I had learn extra of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics characterize a wide-ranging sampling of those readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no religion. The visionaries quoted vary from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in disaster, and we want highway maps that may floor us in knowledge, encourage us to motion, and assist us collect our abilities in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary e book does simply that. Matthew Fox takes a number of the most profound religious teachings of the West and interprets them into sensible each day mediations. Examine and apply these teachings. Take what’s on this e book and educate it to the youth as a result of the brand new era can not afford to undergo the spirit and moral illiteracy of the previous.” — Adam Bucko, religious activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Basis for Homeless Youth.
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 typically used to unfold management and worry. Nevertheless, given immediately’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables on this e book 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 inspecting the archetype of the Antichrist, it’s now…Learn this e book 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 rapid 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 photographs, 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 rapid obtain.
Prayer: A Radical Response to Life
How do prayer and mysticism relate to the wrestle for social and ecological justice? Fox defines prayer as a radical response to life that features our “Sure” to life (mysticism) and our “No” to forces that fight life (prophecy). How will we outline grownup prayer? And the way—if in any respect—do prayer and mysticism relate to the wrestle for social and ecological justice? One among Matthew Fox’s earliest books, initially printed beneath the title On Changing into a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Type, Prayer introduces a mystical/prophetic spirituality and a mature conception of easy methods to pray. Referred to as a “traditional” when it first appeared, it lays out the distinction between the creation spirituality custom and the autumn/redemption custom that has so dominated Western theology since Augustine. A sensible and theoretical e book, it lays the groundwork for Fox’s later works.
“One of many most interesting books I’ve learn on up to date spirituality.” – Rabbi Sholom A. Singer
The Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he finds ten metaphors, or archetypes, starting from the Inexperienced Man, an historical pagan image of our basic relationship with nature, to the Religious Warrior….These timeless archetypes can encourage males to pursue their greater calling to connect with their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Each man on this planet ought to learn this e book — to not point out each lady who needs to know the struggles, typically unconscious, that form the lads they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, writer of The Left Hand of God
One River, Many Wells: Knowledge Springing from International Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all of the world traditions for his or her knowledge and their inspiration in a piece that’s excess of a listing of theological place papers however a brand new technique to pray—to meditate in a world religious context on the knowledge all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes which might be foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all of the world religious traditions provide knowledge about every.“Studying One River, Many Wells is like coming into the wealthy silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you learn this textual content, you mirror, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Really no phrases can absolutely specific my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to up to date spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, writer of Anatomy of the Spirit
