We alluded in yesterday’s DM on “Putin’s Masculinity Problem” (one shared by his admirer, the recently defeated president of the United States), how out of touch he is from an authentic masculinity.
We saw how a perverted masculinity, one born of resentment and envy, can wreck havoc on others and indeed on peace and history itself. A reality that Europe is very familiar with in an invasion comparable to that of Germany’s invasion in 1939.
Hopefully, this time around, the rest of Europe is resisting such a sick display of power for power’s sake and empire for empire’s sake.
This mauling of another and much smaller nation by the giant Bear of the Russian Federation will not end well for its leader and its citizens.
There is much to admire of healthy masculinity in the virtues of courage and generosity that are being shown by the Ukrainians and their leaders;
… by media persons willing to stay in the combat areas to let the world know the truth of war;
…and surely too by Russian citizens who are protesting this unwarranted war, knowing full well that jailing can follow such protesting.
War brings out the worst and the best in humankind. Our recent and quite lengthy Daily Meditations on the healthy vs. the unhealthy masculine have proven to be very timely.
Many of the topics we have been meditating on the past few months serve as medicine for those men and their institutions that are currently either raping the earth or raping other nations in their untampered rage, a rage born of envy and resentment.
In some next Daily Meditations we will remind ourselves of some of the topics that serve as medicine for the soul and, hopefully, for our community of nations, all of which have to adopt the divinefeminine and the healthy masculine if Earth as we know it is going to survive the human and if humanity is itself going to avoid its own extinction.
Putting our energy to wars against each other is no way to heal the wars we are also waging against Mother Earth.
See Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men.
See also Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 359-371.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: Nina Kutukova, one of four remaining residents in this bombed-out apartment building in eastern Ukraine in 2015. She stays as she has nowhere else to go. Photo Credit: UNHCR/Y.Gusyev on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
How can nations adopt a consciousness and practice of both the divine feminine and the healthy and sacred masculine?
Recommended Reading
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
14 thoughts on “Humanity’s Masculinity Problem”
Matthew, For your “Query for Contemplation” today you ask: “How can nations adopt a consciousness and practice of both the divine feminine and the healthy and sacred masculine?” The best way I can think of accomplishing this would be to get our message out in a more affective way–and this too you suggest when you write: “In some next Daily Meditations we will remind ourselves of some of the topics that serve as medicine for the soul and, hopefully, for our community of nations, all of which have to adopt the divine feminine and the healthy masculine if Earth as we know it is going to survive the human, and if humanity is itself going to avoid its own extinction.” On the other hand this can be a way of simply talking without doing. Putin is an atheist and an intolerant tyrant. He is not about to listen to our message, because it doesn’t fulfill his desires. Our only hope is that (in the words of Jimi Hendrix) “When the power of love, overcomes the love of power, then the world will know peace”–and I feel that this is true. But how do we overcome the love of power when Putin seems to be so power hungry! Hendrix’s statement suggests that the power of love can overcome Putin. I however do not think that Putin can be trusted anymore that Hitler could be–they had/have no heart for love. They hardened their hearts! The only kind of love that Putin and his associates can relate to is “Necrophilia,” or the love o f death. I recall Norman Brown’s LIFE AGAINST DEATH would be a good book to reflect upon at this point… And then there is the haunting paradox of Jesus teaching to “Love our enemies”–does that mean Putin too ??? Countless thousands of Christians died in the Roman arena as martyrs and witnesses for love. And yes, it did very slowly wear the Roman’s down. But are the nations of the world going to stand back and watch this happened to the Ukrainian people–let this happen to the Ukrainian people ???
The fear is that Putin seems to have threatened to deploy some form of nuclear weapon unleashing a destruction we have never seen before. Petro Poroshenko says that the Ukrainians are experiencing hell and that Putin should feel himself in hell. This raises the image of the demonic, something that materialized when they created the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
Matthew’s reference to the Greek figure of Prometheus reminded me of Jim Garrison’s reference to Pluto in his book The Darkness of God: Theology after Hiroshima, p. 85 [1982]:
“It is interesting to note that during the Manhattan Project which produced the original atomic bomb, the scientists involved were amazed and deeply troubled by the characteristics of the waste product produced when the uranium was fissioned in their small reactors. At first they termed this ingredient as the ‘K factor’, then ‘the great god k’. The more they learned about its properties, the more diabolical it appeared until they officially named it ‘plutonium’, after Pluto, the ancient Greek god of hell.”
It would seem that Putin/Pluto has brought us to the gates of hell but it was not without human cooperation in generating and disseminating such weapons in the dark bunkers of the global military-industrial complex. It has proved to be a joint Faustian bargain with the devil.
Gwen, I love how you end your comment with: “It would seem that Putin/Pluto has brought us to the gates of hell but it was not without human cooperation in generating and disseminating such weapons in the dark bunkers of the global military-industrial complex. It has proved to be a joint Faustian bargain with the devil.” I say, “AMEN !!!” to that.
This is a tough one. I appreciate your honest assessment of Putin, Matthew. His recent not so veiled threat of nuclear war if nations push back is the ultimate in bullying. Lorna Byrne (who for me embodies the Divine Feminine) went live on social media yesterday, clearly distraught, imploring us to pray for peace and love for All. To pray for a softening of Putin & other leaders’ hearts. If Saul on the road to Damascus indeed had a profound transformative mystical experience, it seems Putin and others could too, facilitated by our prayers. This is what I think it’s going to take. Hopefully a lot of people worldwide will have heart-openings, come together around this and non-violent justice will be done. Then Hendrix’s quote will be closer to being realized.
In response to your query question, the word SOLIDARITY, beckons to be understood more deeply. THIS SOLIDARITY STANDS ON THE SIDE OF LOVE, WITHOUT ANY GUARANTEE OF SUCCESS. This solidarity is not only sympathetic and empathetic, for it is much deeper… active in its expressions of compassion and mercy… doing whatever one can, to alleviate the suffering of another. It’s selfless giving, a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of another… a love so passionate that one is willing to lay one’s own life down for the greater good of the collective… in a nonviolent stance… speaking forth a deeper eternal truth of a much more expansive VISION of relatedness, oneness, wholeness, desiring to be seen… fearlessly striving to unfold within the evolving hearts, minds and souls of humanity. The sacredness of this solidarity often emerges through the creative mystery of the dark night within the collective consciousness of the soul of humanity, an embrace of death that births new life, through the sanctifying and purifying movements of the Black Madonna. Will we surrender, letting die what needs to die within ourselves, in order for this new life to emerge? Will we lay down our arms, and fall to our knees as we help each other carry the weight of the crosses we are to bare together? Will we turn our weapons into plow shares, preparing the ground of our hearts for the new seeds to be planted and learn to tend to, nurture and care for one another and the all and the everything of creation?
This is a worship song I wrote a few years ago. I offer this song as a prayer.
Arise
From the ashes of oppression
And the thorns of suppression
I have heard your cries.
From wars across barren lands
Prayers offered in blood stained hands
I have heard your cries.
On eagles wings my daughters will arise
In love and mercy given from on high
Though broken hearted in one voice you’ll stand
Heavens hope reaching out through healing hands
Arise, arise, arise
Arise, arise, arise
From desert places, where wells run dry
Destruction falling from the sky
I have heard your cries
From beneath veils that tempt to hide
Mankind’s ignorance, selfish pride
I have heard your cries
On eagles wings my son’s will arise
In courage and strength given from on high
Saving children, righteousness taking a stand
Heavens touch bringing hope to many lands
Arise, arise, arise
Arise, arise, arise.
Thank you Jeanette for your powerful prayer for this time of crisis.
Perhaps the citizens of so many countries who are protesting in the streets against ‘Putin’s’ war are examples of your clarion call to “Arise”…
You bring together both daughters and sons, the divine feminine and masculine, united in prayer for the children of the world …
Tikkun Olam
Shalom
Jeanette, This is going to sound strange and morbid, but when you say: “The sacredness of this solidarity often emerges through the creative mystery of the dark night within the collective consciousness of the soul of humanity, an embrace of death that births new life [I am totally with you up to this point. But when you say,] through the sanctifying and purifying movements of the Black Madonna–[my mind just took a strange turn and I thought how many statues of Mary will be blackened in this war–new Black Madonna’s born of war]…
Richard, this new Black Madonna leads us through the transformation and images of Her archetypal essence of the Living Flame of Her mysteries of evolution and the imprinting of the dying crucified to the sacred image of Her all pervading presence, that gently touches the totality of humanity with acceptance… gathering up the scattered fragments within the unfolding of our journey into the dark night of the soul… all our longing, loss, and human failure… sealing the divinity of the image of Sophia/Christ into the being of our collective One soul. If you get a chance, you might like to read “Desire, Darkness and Hope: Theology In A Time Of Impasse”, by Constance Fitzgerald, whom offers a Carmelite perspective combining the journey of the dark night of the soul through John of the Cross and the mysteries of Sophia as the new Black Maddonna emerging through the time of impasse that we are all in the throws of. The turn your mind took, is not as morbid as you think, but rather is an emergence of this new image arising from the unconscious into conscious awareness. Perhaps you should paint a picture of Her mysteries emerging from within you! I’d love to see this painting, if you choose to do so.
Jeanette, I just wanted to say, what a profound poem that is so perfect for this very time…
Thank you Matt for your meditation today and for showing the video of the heroic sacrifice of Vitaly Skakun. It reminds me of the love motivated self-immolation of Nhat Chi Mai which was totally misunderstood by westerners, who called it a suicide. She put, in front of her, this message:
“I wish to use my body as a torch,
to awaken love among brothers
and bring peace to Vietnam.”
Kristal Parks
In our indigenous and mystical/contemplative spiritual traditions, inner and outer personal/social transformation are intimately related. We must continually have faith and be open to our own inner spiritual transformation on our spiritual journey with God’s Spirit of Love~Wisdom~Creativity with-in: others, Mother Nature, all Living Creation, all Spiritual Dimensions, and the Cosmos….
Kristal, Nhat Chi Mai sounds like she was of the same mentality and dedication that I have read of in the lives of many of saints and especially in the Early Church Fathers–such as St. Polycarp–and the countless, nameless early believers who died in the Coliseum; torn apart by animals, or by the swords of gladiators, and around Rome as human torches. Thank you for your comment.
I think that we both need to pray for all involved, including Putin, and also to provide every practical means to the Ukrainians to be able to defend themselves. I know that this is not an easy or acceptable thing to say here, but beyond the most severe economic sanctions and cyberwar against Putin, it seems to me we should be arming them with all the weapons of war, if we have not done so already. Putin only understands material power at this point. We need to fight him with all the spiritual power we have, but also with all the material power. There is already of spark of the wish for democracy in Russia with courageous people continuing to speak out, and even if Putin “wins”, people of the Ukraine and elsewhere will continue to resist. In answering the Urgent Action requests from Amnesty International, I am constantly humbled, amazed, and grateful for the courage and holy spirit of people in the most repressive of dictatorships who continue to put their bodies on the line for human rights.
Yes, we must pray for Putin and for all evil-doers, if we truly believe that we are all made in the image of God and that we obey the words of Jesus to love out enemies. Personally, I have found that practices of lovingkindness are the best way for me to be able to pray sincerely for him and his ilk, including the ex-president and the current governor of the state of Florida, along with all the politicians in this country who are, in my opinion, committing treason by supporting Putin.