Each Sunday, we are offering a brief summary of the meditations from the previous week, as a kind of “index” inviting you to return to a previous meditation which may call to you.
October 10, 2022. Mirabai Starr on the Order of the Sacred Earth. Mirabai, in her essay for the book Order of the Sacred Earth, shares with us an extremely powerful dream symbolic of needing the help of young men to remove the dying patriarchal order.
October 11, 2022. Animals, Our Sacred Earth, and Upcoming Elections. While acknowledging the very real concerns about the upcoming election and all the lies that continue to be told about the last presidential election, we take a moment to remember the animals who bring us so much joy and teach us so much.
October 12, 2022. A Letter to Chief Justice Roberts on Voting Rights. Matthew Fox reminds the chief justice of the Supreme Court of all the hard work and martyrdom that went into creating the Civil Rights Act and chastises him for sabotaging these rights and the foundation of our democracy. He asks, “Is there remorse in your soul?”
October 13, 2022. On Florida’s Endangerment. Matthew Fox shares the dire predictions of the loss of Floridian land over the course of the next 20 years as global warming and intensifying hurricanes continue to take their toll. We are encouraged to vote for politicians who care about the future of the Earth.
October 14, 2022. Denial as Practicing Atheism (with apologies to atheists). Matthew Fox shares his thoughts on those who deny the reality of climate change and those who still believe the election was stolen, resulting in the terrifying assault on the U.S. Capitol. Can these deniers call themselves Christians? Or are they actually practicing atheists?
October 15, 2022. Cataclysms and the Good Fruit They Bear. We explore the question, is there anything that can be learned from cataclysms and catastrophes? Is there any good that can come from these sad disasters? We meditate on a quotation from French playwright Antonin Artaud: “It is good that from time to time cataclysms occur that compel us to return to nature, i.e., to rediscover life.”
Banner image: Protest! Photo by Alex Radelich on Unsplash
5 thoughts on “Week of Oct. 10-15: Saving our Earth and our Democracy”
Matthew, On October 10 you shared with us the essay which Mirabai Starr wrote for the book: Order of the Sacred Earth. She shared with us an extremely powerful dream symbolic of needing the help of young men to remove the dying patriarchal order. Well, I’m not a young man anymore but I am doing all that I can to destroy patriarchy . I just wrote and published a book which in part argues the case that the Catholic Church’s stand prohibiting women to be priests is definitely part of the “good ole boys club.” The three main reasons that they and other denominations will not ordain women as priest or ministers is because (1) Jesus and the Apostles were all men–which is actually NOT true! There are named four women apostles: Mariamne, Irene, Nino, and Thecia–and another named Junia in Romans 16: 7. (2) Paul in Corinthians says that women are not allowed to speak in the church, and in 1 Timothy 2:12 it says “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, rather, she is to remain quiet.” It is my view as well as many other biblical scholars that these statements in the scriptures should be taken in context with the culture of the time, where women were held subservient. Men did not even speak to women in public then. Its time to let go of those threadbare ideas about women being inferior. (3) The book of Leviticus says that a woman is unclean when she is menstruating, making unclean anything she touched. So how could she possibly serve at the altar ? We now know that mensural blood doesn’t make women unclean. SO GIVE IT UP PATRIARCHY !!!
Heirarchal patriarchy within the Christian religion has been given an opportunity to see some of the true teachings of its earliest movement, from the hidden Gospels, that have been rediscovered over the past 50 years, yet rejected in the man made creation of the Bible. These denied teachings, found in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Gospel of Phillip and the Gospel of Thomas, just to mention a few; offers the Christian church, its religious leaders and followers, a much truer and broader vision, which does not carry within its message, the heirarchal patriarchy structure that it has been promoted and fostered for centuries. With this knew knowledge discovered, the whole body of the Christian church has been given a gift of healing, and a pathway for reformation and restoration to unfold, evolve and emerge; rather then grasp tightly to its heirarchal patriarchal, imbalanced man made religion. Rather than seeing these rediscovered lost gospels as a threat, the Christian church could choose to see this as a blessing of truth to be received, for their own salvation. This truth, revealed in these so called lost gospels, which is accessible to all, is already setting many souls free from the heirarchal patriarchy within the institutional Christian church and its falsley taught man made religion. As Jeshua stated, the truth shall set you free!
Jeanette, Thank you for your comment. And in reply, I want to comment on something that you said: “Rather than seeing these rediscovered lost gospels as a threat, the Christian church could choose to see this as a blessing of truth to be received, for their own salvation.” They are a part of our lost Christian history and many of these writings are more mystical than the books that the “church” settled on. I say “church” because it was only one kind of Christianity that was even considered by the majority (which I am calling the “church.” They decided what books were the “word of God,” they decided which Christian group was heretical and destroyed their writings, but just as some unknown person saved what are know as the Dead Sea Scrolls, so, thankfully another unknown person hid gnostic Christian’s writings in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. What if the “Patriarchal types” of what I am calling the “church” was not the best form of Christianity–maybe the group that was responsible for writing the Gospel of the Hebrews was the closer match to what Jesus was about. He had disciples or students, who became his Apostles or the ones he sent forth, but he never ordained or even suggested that he wanted to ordain priests. The Hebrew Christians saw Jesus as the Last High Priest. And some of these groups were even more open to the role of women. Just what if the Church, which has lasted for 2,000+ years and spawned so many more was the wrong version of what Jesus wanted ??? Just what if ???
I wanted to take this opportunity to add a few words within the text of my Comment after the DM of October 14, 2022, “Denial as Practicing Atheism (with a apologies to atheists)”:
“… the roots of our current existential world problems such as climate/environmental catastrophe, social/economic injustices, authoritarianism, ignorance/denials and destruction of Mother Nature/Earth being the historical culmination of unbalanced, toxic, ignorant, racist, egocentric, sinful patriarchal societies in our human institutions and behavior… Of course these historical patriarchal societies have always been made up of the behavior, thinking, and choices of individuals, primarily men, with the consequent destructive, unjust, and cruel behavior inflicted on humanity, primarily women/Indigenous/people of color, and Mother Nature/Earth to the present day…”
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I believe that deniers are anti-any true faith. I believe that many atheists are just reacting against the hypocrisy of so many Christians and other entrenched religions that are based on toxic masculinity and power over. Someone on FB a few years ago coined (or maybe repeated) the phrases anonymous Christians and anonymous atheists. The first were people who did not claim any religion but who acted kindly toward others. The second were mean spirited Christians. As Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
Richard, regarding the portrayal and treatment of women, you will know better than I, but in my bible study group years ago, the possibility was offered that the anti-women statements attributed to Paul may have been in letters written by a follower. And I agree that they must be taken in the context of the times. And, my tradition sees Mary Magdalene as the first apostle.