The Sacred Masculine Hunting-Gathering for Wisdom

We are meditating on the sacred masculine and the divine feminine.  We have called upon Nicolas Cusa who gives ample evidence of having married the divine feminine (wisdom) with the sacred masculine (prophetic warriorhood).  Indeed, he wrote a book called “On the Hunt for Wisdom”—talk about hunting and gathering, a sacred masculine archetype!  He is hunting for wisdom, thus the divine feminine! 

We have also seen how committed Cusa was to deep ecumenism and to the marriage of religion and science.  We have also considered how the current crisis for our species, climate change and all that entails (including the coronavirus and other deadly pandemics that may await us) may come to a head at the COP26 event unfolding in November when all nations gather to commit to serious movement against this existential threat. 

And how the event at the Vatican on St Francis Feast Day, bringing together 40 leaders of different faith traditions, urged humanity to “radical” change and urged religions to work alongside science and also young people who will, of course, inherit a threatened earth system. 

Let us probe deeper into the eco-crisis and its relation to spirituality.  Hear how the prophet Joel lamented centuries ago “over the ruin of the country.” 

Stand dismayed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat, for the barley; the harvest of the field has been ruined.  The vine has withered, the fig tree wilts away; pomegranate, and palm, and apple, every tree in the field is drooping.  Yes, gladness has faded among the sons and daughters of the human race. (Joel 1:1-12)

This lamentation over the pain of Mother Earth is followed by a Call to Repentance and Prayer (Joel 1:13-2:17).

Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, pp. 3f. 

And Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 43-76.

To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.

Banner Image: The center third of “Education” (1890), a stained glass window by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Tiffany Studios, located in Linsly-Chittenden Hall at Yale University. It depicts Science (personified by Devotion, Labor, Truth, Research and Intuition) and Religion (personified by Purity, Faith, Hope, Reverence and Inspiration) in harmony, presided over by the central personification of “Light·Love·Life”. On Wikimedia Commons

Queries for Contemplation

Do you see a relevance between Joel’s lamentation over the fate of Mother Earth and humans and the fading of gladness happening in our time?

Recommended Reading

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.
 “This book is a classic.” Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth.

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature,  to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God