Hanukkah is often celebrated as a time of miracles for the story tells us that following the expulsion of an invading army from the Temple, oil that was enough for one day burned for eight days. Hanukkah, often called a “Festival of Lights,” honors that miracle.
The human species today is so threatened by human folly–whether it be wars, as in Ukraine, or destruction of the Earth from climate change, or chasing after conspiracy theories, or hating on people different from ourselves. We could surely use some “miracles” and arrival of Lights to ensure our survival and that of Holy Mother Earth.
We, too, need light that burns incessantly and does not go out. Maybe the light of the ancilla animae or spark of the soul that we all carry within us that needs constant tending. Or the light of tselem, the image of God in us all. Or the light of Christ. Or the light of the Buddha.
Or the light of creativity itself which includes our powers of music and art and dance and celebration and remembrance and solving problems by inventing solutions.
We have been talking of Advent and winter as the time of repose and the Divine Feminine and the Godhead. It is also the time of creativity, for the motherly side of us and of divinity is always creative.
Says Meister Eckhart, “What does God do all day? God lies on a maternity bed giving birth.” Divinity and maternity go together. As Carl Jung puts it, “creativity comes from the land of the mothers.”
What are we giving birth to this season? This end of year 2022? What are our birthing plans for 2023?
There is some good news in the news these days. There is the story of small homes for the homeless. And there is the story of advances in fusion which, if humanity found a way to implement such power in our daily lives, would mean clean and sustainable energy for all that would set back climate change forever.
Do not count humanity out quite yet. We are a resilient and amazingly creative species. Marvelously so, miraculously so (for a miracle is a marvel).
This is the truth that stories like Hanukkah and Christmas are telling us: A divine spark is in all humans and all communities and this spark can light bonfires of hope and of healing—
provided we make choices that are
compassionate and not destructive.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond, pp. 102f.
And Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, pp. 189-199.
To read a transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner image: Lighting candles at Advent. Photo by Max Beck on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
What marvels or miracles or light-bringing surprises from the Holy Spirit are you eager for this season?
Recommended Reading
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time
While Matthew Fox recognizes that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers throughout history, he also wants to introduce Eckhart to today’s activists addressing contemporary crises. Toward that end, Fox creates dialogues between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Rich, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and many others.
“Matthew Fox is perhaps the greatest writer on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has successfully bridged a gap between Eckhart as a shamanistic personality and Eckhart as a post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith movement, to reveal just how cosmic Eckhart really is, and how remarkably relevant to today’s religious crisis! ” — Steven Herrmann, Author of Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward
11 thoughts on “Creativity and the Time of Advent, Hanukkah and Christmas”
Matthew, Today you tell us that “Hanukkah is often celebrated as a time of miracles for the story tells us that following the expulsion of an invading army from the Temple, oil that was enough for one day burned for eight days. Hanukkah, often called a “Festival of Lights,” honors that miracle.” The you tell us about the light that burns within each of us: “the light of the ancilla animae or spark of the soul that we all carry within us” and “the light of tselem, the image of God in us all.” Or the light of Christ. Or the light of creativity–with all of the various forms of art. Meister Eckhart says, “What does God do all day? God lies on a maternity bed giving birth.” The question is: “What are we giving birth to this season? What are our birthing plans for 2023?” I like how you say, “Do not count humanity out quite yet. We are a resilient and amazingly creative species. This is the truth that stories like Hanukkah and Christmas are telling us: A divine spark is in all humans… and this spark can light bonfires of hope and of healing—provided we make choices that are compassionate and not destructive.” You ask us: “What marvels or miracles or light-bringing surprises from the Holy Spirit are you eager for this season?” The marvel of the light and warmth my family brings me and that we give to each other…
This weeks meditations have been wonderful sparks. Thank you!
Holy Spirit come
breathe life upon the
spark of the Divine
embedded in all souls.
Rekindle the flames of
love, compassion and mercy
within the hearts, minds
and souls of all people.
Burn away all the illusions
and delusions of seperation,
and the destructive patterns of
dominion over each other and creation.
Black Madonna come
guiding all through the
laberythn of this collective
Dark Night of the Soul.
That all may arise from
the ashes of our own
self destructive ways
emerging transformed.
In our naked vulnerability
enfold us in Your mantle
that we may suckle from
the breasts of Your wisdom.
Cosmic Mother, Earth Mother
forgive the error of our ignorance,
and our arrogance, that has caused
all that lives, suffering, sorrow and pain.
We return unto You as Your
prodigal sons and daughters
falling into the embrace of Your
essence, in need of healing.
Great Mystery, Great Spirit awaken us
that we may consciously lift the scales
from the eyes of our forgetting, remembering the
sacredness, beauty, goodness, blessings within all.
Set us ablaze, with the fire of love, compassion,
mercy and a new found passion of carrying this
lit torch forward with the presence of the ancestors
as One soul journeying on the path to wholeness.
Amen
Jeanette, Great poem once again !!!
May God’s Spirit of Love~Wisdom~Peace~Justice~Healing~Transformation~Creativity~Beauty~
Joy~Compassion~Oneness… continue growing in our hearts and among us wherever it is needed in the Sacred Process of the Present Moment to help bring about God’s Eternal Kingdom~Queendom of Divine Love on earth as it is in Heaven, the spiritual evolving multidimensions of our multiverse Loving Cosmos….
🔥💜🌎🙏
I hope that I’m awake enough, paying attention enough to actually SEE the ongoing miracles of God that are staring me in the face, day after day. Meanwhile, I give thanks for the miracles I have, including family, the beauty of the world, and the spirituality of mysticism.
~As the last flames of the year flicker out and the smoke swirls rise, let us fling the desires of our hearts upward into the stars. May we gaze upon the specks of holy dust and ash that compose us, laying our small selves upon the sands of time. Help us release all insecure thoughts and petty grievances, reaching outward with empathy to those less agile and hurting; let us extend a hand to our elders, the marginalized, the downtrodden, the shunned, ….all children.
~Forget not the beasts of burden and the creatures that study us all: the birds, the fish, squirrels, deer, the trees, grasses, butterflies, beetles and ants. May we honor the holy spark in all beings.
I am eager to have the eyes that see and the ears that hear, that I may be able to spread some light of love and understanding to others and keep some for myself.
This is a thank you to both you Sue, and Melinda !!! And “I hope that I’m awake enough, paying attention enough to actually SEE the ongoing miracles of God that are staring me in the face” and “have the eyes that see and the ears that hear, that I may be able to spread some light of love and understanding to others and keep some for myself.”–and I mean these are my hopes as well !!!
To be light we must surrender, it’s the only way we are truly useful… }:- a.m.
Amen.