From the beginning, the vision of these Daily Meditations has been to awaken people–mystics and prophets all–to actions that come from a deep heart place to face the challenges that scientists and the United Nations have warned us about regarding climate change, the disappearance of species and much more.
We are told we have 11.5 years left to rise to the occasion. We feel this awakening must be more than political and technological, it must also be spiritual.
Last week’s Common Dreams Conference in Sydney, Australia, produced the following call to action and in particular a call to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and a demand that a treaty be enacted between them and the government of Australia. I was pleased to be present on that important occasion, having been invited to speak on the Creation Spirituality tradition and today’s struggles.
COMMON DREAMS STATEMENT
We, the participants in the Common Dreams Conference, from diverse places and faith traditions, in 2019 hereby:
- accept and celebrate the Uluru Statement from the Heart
- recognise the sovereignty of the Aboriginal peoples as enunciated in the accompanying Uluru Statement from the Heart
- acknowledge their rich creation spirituality that continues to make a vital contribution to the diverse culture of Australia
And
We call upon Federal, State and Local Governments and all people of Australia to drastic action
- to call for constitutional change to embrace this sovereignty
- to exercise restorative justice (Makarrata) in its full extent as defined by Aboriginal Peoples
- to enshrine a First Nations Voice in the Constitution via the treaty process
And
We challenge and call all faith communities of Australia to action
- to endorse the Common Dreams Statement
- to urge the governments of Australia to accept and implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart
- to activate the Treaty process so that there is ongoing justice for the First Peoples of Australia
on the basis that the shared Abrahamic traditions embrace the Creation Spirituality of the Scriptures, but especially in the Genesis account of Abraham, who
- became an ally and friend of the indigenous custodians of Canaan
- recognized and swore by the Creator Spirit of Canaan (El Elyon)
- formed a treaty with a Canaanite community, a treaty that embraced the land.
This statement recognizes the collusion of governments and churches in the dispossession and cultural and physical genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
The statement also acknowledges that “we have often dismissed the Aboriginal beliefs in a Creator Spirit as paganism, unlike Abraham who recognized El, the Creator Spirit of the Indigenous Peoples of Canaan….Abraham made a treaty with an indigenous community in Canaan, declaring loyalty, making a bond with the land itself and swearing by the Canaanite Creator Spirit….The Rainbow Spirit Elders followed the Abraham Trail and urged us to do the same.”
See Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faith Traditions.
For Deeper Contemplation
Be with this statement and let it wash over you. What is it saying to the relationship of indigenous peoples in your land and all over about human and governmental relationships?
Go to Genesis 14 and consider how Abraham worked with the indigenous people on the land. He was, as Australian Biblical scholar Norm Habel insists, involved in an interfaith movement with the ancient peoples honoring a Creator Spirit, a “Rainbow Spirit” and Father God. Abraham was unlike Moses, whose version of the God Yahweh was less ecumenical.
Recommended Reading
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.
