The Tao of Fierce Wisdom by Thomas Aquinas, Part II  

In the season of Aquinas’s feast day, I am sharing a poem I gathered from Aquinas’s sentences that form the chapter titles of my recent book for The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times.  The poem makes up the Conclusion to the book. Following is the second half of that poem.

Every truth without exception— 
–and whoever may utter it— 
is from the Holy Spirit. 

L. – “Saint Thomas Aquinas Reading” by Fra Bartolomeo, c. 1510. Wikimedia Commons. R. – Aristotle, detail from Raphael‘s The School of Athens (1509–1511). Wikimedia Commons.

Revelation 
has been made  
to many pagans. 

The old pagan virtues 
were from God.   

Every being  
is a name for God;  
and no being  
is a name for God. 

We are united  
to God 
as to One Unknown. 

The greatest accomplishment 
of the human mind 
is to know 
that it does not know 
who God is. 

Contemplation: clarity above the clouds. Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash

The first requirement, then, 
for the contemplation of wisdom, 
is that we should take complete possession 
of our minds 
before anything else does. 

It is a great thing  
to do miracles. 
But it is a greater thing 
to live virtuously.  

The proper objects  
of the heart  
are truth  
and justice. 

The vision of God 
is arrived at 
through Justice. 

Compassion is the fire 
that Jesus came 
to set on the earth. 

“No one should comply with an immoral law.” Mural of Monseñor Oscar Romero. Photo by Franco Folini is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Conscience is 
more to be obeyed 
than authority imposed from 
the outside. 

The prophet’s mind is moved  
not only to apprehend something, 
but also 
to speak  
or to do something. 

A trustworthy person is angry  
at the right people,  
for the right reasons,  
expresses it in the appropriate manner  
and for an appropriate  
length of time. 

Playfulness  
or Fun  
is a Virtue. 

It pertains to Magnanimity 
to have 
a great soul. 

“Cosmic Christ” by Keith English. Published with permission of Jodianne English and the artist’s estate.

Angels carry thoughts 
from prophet 
to prophet. 

There is 
a double 
Resurrection. 

God is 
a fountain 
of total Beauty,  
the most beautiful  
and the superbeautiful. 

Christ is 
a dew for cooling; 
rain for making fruitful; 
a seed 
for bringing forth the fruit of justice. 

It is impossible 
that anyone 
hide the words of God, 
when their heart 
is inflamed by love. 

Amen. 


Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas, pp. 192-196.

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

Banner Image: “Saint Thomas Aquinas, Protector of the University of Cusco.” Artist unknown. Wikimedia Commons.

Queries for Contemplation

What moves you or challenges you or touches you deeply from this second half of Aquinas’ poem?    


Recommended Reading

The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times

A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book!  Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit

Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Names for God …Including the Unnameable God

Too often, notions of God have been used as a means to control and to promote a narrow worldview. In Naming the Unnameable, renowned theologian and author Matthew Fox ignites our imaginations by offering a colorful range of Divine Names gathered from scientists and poets and mystics past and present, inviting us to always begin where true spirituality begins: from experience.
“This book is timely, important and admirably brief; it is also open ended—there are always more names to come, and none can exhaust God’s nature.” -Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, author of Science Set Free and The Presence of the Past


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11 thoughts on “The Tao of Fierce Wisdom by Thomas Aquinas, Part II  ”

  1. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
    Richard Reich-Kuykendall

    Matthew, Today you ask us: “What moves you or challenges you or touches you deeply from this second half of Aquinas’ poem?”
    “Every truth, without exception—–and whoever may utter it—is from the Holy Spirit.”
    “Revelation has been made to many pagans, and thus the old pagan virtues were from God.”
    These are truths I have always felt in my soul, and why I have been passionate about “Deep Ecumenism.”
    “Every being is a name for God; and no being is a name for God.”
    “We are united to God as to One Unknown.”
    “The greatest accomplishment of the human mind is to know that it does not know who God is.”
    “A trustworthy person is angry at the right people, for the right reasons, expresses it in the appropriate manner, and for an appropriate length of time.” It seems that I don’t get angry with people, rather they get angry with me.

  2. Excerpt – The first requirement, then, for the contemplation of wisdom, is that we should take complete possession of our minds before anything else does.
    —————–
    Now we have the opportunity to be ‘counterculture’ again in new ways. We do have the power to elect ‘poor, unifying and representative politicians’ if we learn to think for ourselves. We have the power to generate our own thoughts if we ‘turn off’ the algorithms, ads and feeds. Maybe the new paradigm should be “We are not our generation’s generation anymore.” What could be more countercultural and ‘living in the present moment’ than that.
    Do we not have to ‘shut down’ the noise that is bombarding us with “their brand messaging” and only allow into ourselves that which is selected and purposeful to us and gives our lives a richer meaning. For one thing we need to view God, the Creator and the Greatest creative presence as our liberator and not as a rule-based controller that the ‘other brands’ have convinced us that the I AM is. Do we not need to stop letting others define God and the world in which we want to live?
    “It is not our parent’s God anymore” should be the new paradigm we move forward with. We need to make ourselves better before the world can become better. New and creative ways of doing almost anything need to be sought out. Knowing the ‘true’ nature of God, how can that ever not work for us? — BB.

    1. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
      Richard Reich-Kuykendall

      Bill, you end your comment today with these words: “‘It is not our parent’s God anymore’ should be the new paradigm we move forward with. We need to make ourselves better before the world can become better. New and creative ways of doing almost anything need to be sought out. Knowing the ‘true’ nature of God, how can that ever not work for us?” These are words that we can all live by…

  3. All spiritual paths speak often of consciousness and so little about conscience. My sense however, is that it is listening and responding to one’s conscience that leads to the unfolding, evolving emergence of consciousness. In my experiential understanding, it is the Holy Spirit that speaks to one’s conscience, revealing truth without exception, regarding the virtues, wisdom, passion, compassion, love and justice of the true nature of the God/Goddess image and likeness of the spark of the divinity, seeded and sealed within the heart, mind and soul of our humanity.

    It is this conscience that is to be listened and responded to… this inner authority of the indwelling presence and essence of the Holy Spirit of the spark of the Divine within… whom is trustworthy… desiring to make fruitful the seeds of who we are created to become, bringing this forth from within our hearts inflamed by LOVE; and all the inherent beauty and goodness that this is, was and ever shall be… remembered, known and lived into being.

    It is through the spiritual pathway of the heart of conscience that we enter into a sacred relationship of communion and union with the Holy Spirit in our learning to listen and actively respond to the transformative processes of becoming and being Oned With this inflamed light, truth and way of loving consciously the all and the everything of creation.

    1. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
      Richard Reich-Kuykendall

      Jeanette, Today you write: “All spiritual paths speak often of consciousness and so little about conscience. My sense however, is that it is listening and responding to one’s conscience that leads to the unfolding, evolving emergence of consciousness.” You mention the virtues… In the Catholic Tradition there are the three biblical virtues of faith, hope and love; then there are the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance and finally the seven gifts of the Spirit:
      1. Wisdom
      2. Understanding
      3. Knowledge
      4. Counsel
      5. Fortitude
      6. Piety
      7. Fear of the Lord
      If a person lives by these he or she will be a virtuous person who lives with a clear conscience.

  4. “It is impossible
    that anyone
    hide the words of God,
    when their heart
    is inflamed by Love”

    When we truly realize that God is Love, we can’t hide God because Love is in our daily being, our actions, our compassionate relations with one another, our relation with Sacred Mother Nature/Earth, and our relation within our co-Creation~Evolution of the Sacred multidimensional-multiverse Cosmos in Loving Diverse Oneness….
    🔥💜🌎🙏

  5. The old pagan virtues are of God, and fun is a virtue, are those that strike me most today. Thank you for these beautiful, deeply meaningful poems. I realized long ago that every “religion” or spiritual understanding come from God, including and most especially perhaps, the “pagan”. Reading Matthew’s “Original Blessing” and works by Joseph Campbell helped clarify the commonalities and connections among diverse beliefs, thus, deep ecumenism. It has always rather amused me that one of the most frequently quoted sayings attributed to Paul, that in God we live and move and have our being, is actually a quote from a Roman or Greek poet.

    Including fun as a virtue is vital to help us keep some perspective and not take ourselves so seriously. Without a lively sense of humor we are not only dull and depressing to be around, but we rob ourselves of the joy of living, even in the midst of horrors.

    1. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
      Richard Reich-Kuykendall

      Sue, Thank you for you comment. I especially liked all you say about “pagans” and I have found it a privilege to be taught by Starhawk, who is a Wiccan and thus a “Neopagan.” And Starhawk has even taught with Matthew. But even more than what you had to say about pagans, I like how you joined “Fun” to the list of virtues, for you say: “The old pagan virtues are of God, and fun is a virtue…”

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