We are exploring the implications of today’s science that has intellectually slain the dualism of spirit and matter that has haunted much of Western history. How light = matter = Spirit.
And how the modern era, suffering a regrettable amnesia about the archetype of the Cosmic Christ (Buddha Nature and Image of God) that renders all beings full of doxa and splendor and the divine presence among us. And how recovering this almost lost archetype can–if it is not too late already–save the Earth and our own species along with it.
Let us consider some teachings from the creation spirituality mystics of the Middle Ages about the Cosmic Christ.
It is God whom human beings know in every creature. (Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1179)
All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made,
And first my Lord Brother Sun,
Who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.
How beautiful he is, how radiant in all his splendor
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness. (Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226)
Each creature’s beauty is a witness to the divine wisdom…Every creature participates in some way in the likeness of the Divine Essence….The Incarnation accomplished the following: That God became human and that humans became God and sharers in the divine nature. (Thomas Aquinas, 1224-1274)
Each of us is a mirror of eternal contemplation, with a reflection that must surely be that of the living Son of God with all his works. (Mechtild of Magdeburg)
God is constantly speaking only one thing. God’s speaking is one thing. In this one utterance God speaks the Son and at the same time the Holy Spirit and all creatures. (Meister Eckhart, 1180-1329)
Christ is the one in whom we are all enclosed. (Julian of Norwich, 1342-1415)
Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, pp. 75f.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: “Carolina Wren singing her little heart out.” Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated. ― Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice. Photo by Ryk Naves on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
Take one of these meditations and sit with it for a while. What is it telling you? What do all of them as a whole say to you and to our times today?
Recommended Reading
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author of The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe.
11 thoughts on “Medieval Mystics on the Cosmic Christ & Sacredness of Nature”
Matthew, Today you begin by telling us that the modern era is suffering a regrettable amnesia about the archetype of the Cosmic Christ, and how recovering this almost lost archetype can–if it is not too late–save the Earth and our own species along with it. Then you share with us the words of a number of medieval mystics:
“It is God whom human beings know in every creature” (Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1179).
“All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made,
And first my Lord Brother Sun,
Who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.
How beautiful he is, how radiant in all his splendor
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness” (Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226).
“Each creature’s beauty is a witness to the divine wisdom…Every creature participates in some way in the likeness of the Divine Essence….The Incarnation accomplished the following: That God became human and that humans became God and sharers in the divine nature” (Thomas Aquinas, 1224-1274).
“Each of us is a mirror of eternal contemplation, with a reflection that must surely be that of the living Son of God with all his works” (Mechtild of Magdeburg, 1207-1282).
“God is constantly speaking only one thing. God’s speaking is one thing. In this one utterance God speaks the Son and at the same time the Holy Spirit and all creatures. (Meister Eckhart, 1180-1329).
“Christ is the one in whom we are all enclosed” (Julian of Norwich, 1342-1415).
Then you ask us: “Take one of these meditations and sit with it for a while. What is it telling you? What do all of them as a whole say to you and to our times today?” The meditation I chose was the one by Hildegard of Bingen: “It is God whom human beings know in every creature.” What this tells me is that the same ambivalence I face when I ask the question in terms of the Problem of Evil is, if it is God who is know in “every creature,” then God is not all good if we look at creatures like sharks, poisonous snakes, lions and tigers and bears (O my!), black widow spiders and brown recluses, wasps, parasites, viruses, cancer cells, etc. etc. What do these creatures tell us about God or the Cosmic Christ ???
What would happen should God cast us into the lion’s den, or hot furnace as were disposed Daniel and his men in several instances? (See Book of Daniel). Love of God, faith, obedience, petition, courage and more are all pulled together by them as they relied upon God’s saving grace. They did not know if they were to be eaten by lions or burned in the fire, but they did know that they would never be abandoned by God as God’s love for them, and their love of God knows no bounds of physicality.
Fear of anything then can be surpassed by our interrelationship of love with God. Are we not beyond just physical matter itself? How can we say ‘Light = Matter = Spirit’, if we only consider our worthiness and ‘reflection in the mirror’ as primarily one of matter alone? Are we not soul and soul consciousness itself before physical earthly conception and after earthly death? God surely does not leave sons and daughters made in I AM’s image as orphans and cast-offs. Did Jesus Himself not demonstrate to us that love is eternal and survives human suffering and death? And not for just Himself alone?
Daniel and his three friends surely saw the ‘light’ of their true nature when their faith was being tested. What is the ‘mirror in which we are looking’ reflecting back to us? Do we see as Daniel and his friends saw, being the ‘light of God’s countenance’? Or do we choose to live alone, apart from God in fear? — BB.
Bill, Today after writing about Daniel and the fiery furnace and in the lion’s den, you ask: “How can we say ‘Light = Matter = Spirit’…” Because at the subatomic level, light, matter, spirit is all ONE–in fact, physicists would say that ultimately all is energy, and the first law of Thermodynamics has to do with the conservation of energy, and states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So at one level we see matter and light but from another level we see only energy, or what we, as panentheists, see as Spirit…
Seek to know, that I AM… and you will find me in all creatures.
See each creatures BEAUTY… unfolding, evolving, emerging… for each one gives witness to that which I Am… every creature is participating in this. Every creature… is the likeness of My Divine essence… each one sharing something of My Divine nature. Every creature is a mirror… an eternal reflection… of the living God that I AM. I AM with and within all… every creature is enclosed in all that I Am. Contemplate upon this, and the door of all that I AM, all that I WILL BE… will be open unto you… within you… and all around you… a sacred, blessed, divine gift given of Myself… broken open and poured out for all.
❤️
Beauty, purpose and meaning in Creation…
Mitákuye oyàsin, hozho naashadoo, beannacht.
}:- a.m.
Sophia~Christ — the Divine Loving Flow of Diverse Loving Oneness Present in All ongoing co-Creation~Evolution….
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I am 77 yrs and have always had a sense of the Devine and sacredness of nature so it is not a surprise to learn of creation spirituality, rather a validation of my experiences and beliefs. I never cease to be amazed and blessed by the Divine. It surrounds us continually and everywhere and flows through us. amen
God speaks all into existence, but even more basically, God breathes us into existence, since speech depends on breath. God breathes out, let there be light, let there be……..everything —–and the universe itself. God’s exhale is the baby’s first breath, and God’s inhale is the dying person’s last breath. God/Christ/Holy Spirit sustains and shines forth from everything, if only we can see it. Our stubborn and persistent blindness will destroy us, if we refuse to see this truth.
Sue, Your comment today is very beautiful and a very fitting metaphor !!!
The words I choose to mediate on were the words from the banner image because they touched my heart so deeply. “—-to sing——was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.” I am so happy with the daily presence of birds, their song their beauty, their joy in living.