Continuing our meditations on past themes and titles in the DM that speak to the underlying dynamics of the Ukrainian war, we offer the following as a poem, a litany, a prayer for a healthier world.
Humanity is invited to move beyond its petty differences to tackle the real challenge of our time: The Matricide to Mother Earth, our common home against whom we are making war, not building peace.
We continue contemplating the themes of the DMs we’ve explored as a poem and a prayer and a Litany.
January 1: Webb Telescope: Chasing Light, Chasing the Truth of Our Origins
January 3: Awakening to Father Sky & The Sacred Masculine
January 4: Father Sky & the Return of the Sacred Masculine
January 5: Men Holding Spirituality in Secret
January 6: Additional Reasons Why Men Hide Their Spirituality
January 8: The Sacred Masculine & Father Sky
January 9: How Father Sky Opens the Door of the Heart to the Sacred Masculine
January 10: Father Sky in Scripture
January 11: The Modern Era Kills Father Sky
January 12: Aboriginals of Australia on Father Sky
January 13: Father Sky among Indigenous Peoples, continued
January 14 Father Sky among Indigenous Pacific Islanders and Africans
January 15: Our Post-Modern Sky
January 18: King, Howard Thurman and the Return of the Sacred Masculine
January 27: Thich Nhat Hanh and the Sacred Masculine
February 1: Putin’s Hyper-Masculinity, the Irish Fishing Fleet & St. Brigid
February 4: Adrienne Rich on the Healthy Masculine & Divine Feminine
February 6: Rich on the Gifts of Feminism to a Patriarchal World
February 9: The Sacred Marriage of the Green Man and Black Madonna
February 14: The Sacred Marriage of Black Madonna, Green Man, Yin/Yang
February 15: A Sacred Marriage of East & West, Feminine & Masculine
February 19: The Role of Toxic Masculinity in Gun Violence Unveiled
February 20: Proving One’s Manhood—Continued
February 21: Practices for Recovering the Sacred Masculine
February 22: More Practices to Regain the Healthy, Sacred Masculine
February: 25: Putin’s Masculinity Problem
February 26: Humanity’s Masculinity Problem
February 27: A Tale of 2 TV Stars Turned President, 2 Versions of Masculinity
See Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.
See Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: Ancient image of the sacred masculine: Cernunnos, god of the wild and wildlife, from the Gundestrup Cauldron, c. 150-1 BCE. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
What moves you on reading and contemplating these themes? How does it move you to action?
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
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6 thoughts on “A Poem/Litany/Prayer to the Sacred Masculine, continued”
Matthew, Today you ask in our “Query for Contemplation”: “What moves you on reading and contemplating these themes? How does it move you to action?” What occurs to me, rather than “moves me” is we have spent a tremendous amount of time on the masculine. I trust your judgment that this is THE important focus for us at this time. But the only action that this moves me to as a man is a kind of self-negation. I feel ashamed to be associated with men. That’s why as a child I stayed in the kitchen with the women, listening to them talk, rather than being out in the living room, with the men, watching the game. Beyond this I have been the token man in feminist classes such as one I took from Rosemary Radford Ruether when she was a visiting professor at Claremont School of Theology, and I also belonged to a coven with all women except me and one other guy. I have also been included in get togethers with “the girls”–my wife’s friends–as “one of the girls”. And its why I have women doctors. I don’t like men for the most part because they act out of too much out of their testosterone–what they need is a few shots of female hormones too bring them, down,,,
I find it somewhat challenging at times, identifying with the expressions and manifestations of the unhealthy masculine and relating to this within women, as I ponder and reflect on these themes. I know it exists, because I have experienced it, in my relationships with other women. My sense through these encounters, is that women express and manifest this imbalance in slightly different ways than men… yet are just as wounding. Will there be further discussions within the DMs looking more in depth into how and in what ways women express and manifest the unhealthy masculine within themselves? My husband and I have had some rather interesting conversations around this, and there definetely is a difference.
On another note, the words Mathew spoke in today’s DM, stressing the importance of doing the inner work necessary, with regards to the inner war going on within our own hearts, minds and souls… really resonates with me. I perceive this to be one of the most important aspects of the spiritual journey. There is a beautiful piece of artwork in HymestStorms book, ” The Seven Arrows”, that captures an image of what Mathew has referenced. War will continue to manifest and express itself outwardly, until and unless humanity really starts taking seriously the inner work that must be done, in order to heal the root causes of the war going on within our own hearts, minds and souls.
I have found ritual, ceremony, journaling, and some of the ancient traditions within my Christian faith, such as Spiritual Discernment and the Examen Exercises to be effective tools in doing this inner work.
Thank you Richard for your mix of the serious and the humorous. The light touch is much appreciated in these times of heavy introspection.
In Matthew’s review of past profound meditations on the Sacred Masculine has been the awareness of the growth of the toxic and destructive masculine in patriarchal cultures, especially in Western societies/“civilization”, the past 6500 years. Its increasingly destructive manifestations in the world wars of the 20th century, eradicating indigenous peoples/cultures around the world, and the matricide of Mother Nature; continued poverty, violence and injustices in contemporary world societies; and now the dictator Putin conducting war again and threatening world peace. It was hard for me to review these harsh realities and their genesis that Matthew has helped us become aware of. Just like many surviving indigenous peoples/cultures, surviving mystical/contemplative spiritual traditions and individuals, we also have to do our part to maintain the faith and action of the Living Loving Spirit of the Divine Feminine and the Sacred Masculine in our inner and outer lives with one another, Mother Nature, the spiritual dimensions, and the Cosmos….
What an essential topic for deep exploration, sharing, and public conversation. This relationship between masculine and feminine between and among us is, as I see it (and as I hear in Matthew’s comments), at the root of so many ensuing dynamics. Richard, your words leave me feeling both appreciative for your sensitivity and your life experience, and also motivated to speak up for what it’s worth.
For a variety of reasons, it feels as important to me for all of us to nurture and strengthen healthy masculinity as well as healthy femininity. I can’t quite imagine it being truly possible for one to exist without the other.
Would the world be better off without toxic masculinity? Absolutely. For me, it feels just as important for me to nurture my own healthy masculinity as it is to nurture the inner feminine in me as well. As I show up as -all- of who I am, then perhaps I can encourage others to do the same. I still often find myself shying away from my full self in deference to others and in fear of being perceived as “too much.” Essentially, the distinction I feel is important for me to make within me is to be intimately aware of what is animating me in any given moment.
If it is a desire to express a bunch of masculine energy for its own sake, or for my ego’s sake, then I best be aware and bring care and humility to the situation. But if it is a desire to express love, celebration of life, community, and the miracle of being alive, then it feels deeply good to bring forward the initiatory masculine energy inside, bring it out from under the bushel, and let it shine. 🙂 That feels not only more glorious and fun in me, but also more loving, generous, and … hearty!
And, I also realize that what I’m describing is just one tiny sampling of this much much larger conversation that Matthew is raising. And his book on the sacred masculine is a huge contribution to all of this in so many wonderful ways, as I’m sure you know, Richard.
Thanks for your comment, and for inspiring me to chime in.
Blessings onward!
March is the month for Chapter 3 Icarus and Daedalus of The Hidden Spirituality of Men.
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