In a meditation a week ago we considered how Fox News is opposed to the Buddhist teaching of “Right Speech” and the Christian teaching of Love of Neighbor and Love of Truth and how truth is necessary for building a society and democracy.
Fox News may also be an affront to Right Livelihood.
The Buddha teaches that speech can be wrong and bad for the soul, and so too can be the way we make our living.
Here is how Thich Nhat Hanh puts it:
To practice Right Livelihood, you have to find a way to earn your living without transgressing your ideals of love and compassion. The way you support yourself can be an expression of your deepest self, or it can be a source of suffering for you and others….Our vocation can nourish our understanding and compassion, or erode them.
These are wise and foundational teachings about good work. It is echoed in Christianity by Thomas Aquinas’s admonition to “always rejoice in the good work that you do.” The good work–not the bad work. The work of making every effort to find the truth and spread that as opposed to settling for lies and falsehoods if you are a media organization and spreading that. The work that leads to compassion, not to more lies and insurrections and violent movements to tear apart a society striving to be a democracy.
Thich Nhat Hanh advises us to find work “without transgressing your ideals of love and compassion.” How can it be said that anyone is spreading love and compassion if they are selling lies? Lies that result in violence.
Even Murdoch, the head of Fox News, admitted in our previous DM on “Right Speech” that the lies led to the January 6 violence. And surely much that has followed since. His organization, his “livelihood” was a principle propagator of such lies.
Thich Nhat Hanh warns us that our work can be a “source of suffering” for others. According to Murdoch himself, 25% of the population are suffering from lies and untruths that result in resentment and rage toward neighbors and truth.
Thich Nhat Hanh warns us that our work can “erode” our understanding and compassion.
Fox News is involved in lots of eroding. And all workers there—including its sponsors—should heed Thich Nhat Hanh’s guidance, that we “should be awake to the consequences, far and near, of the way we earn our living.”
See Matthew Fox, The Reinvention of Work, pp. 91ff., 309-312.
To read a transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: “The eight-spoke Dharma wheel symbolizes the Noble Eightfold Path.” Wikimedia Commons
Queries for Contemplation
Is your livelihood a right livelihood and a practice of good work that makes you rejoice in the good you are doing? Can others rejoice because of your good work?
Recommended Reading
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time
Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.”
“Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter
7 thoughts on “Right Livelihood and Good Work vs. Fox News”
All of humanity can benefit, if we learnt to practice what is taught in the noble truth of Right Speech. This practice is not easy to do, as often our speech is not in harmony and alignment with the wisdom ways of Right Speech. As I listened to these teachings in today’s DM of this noble truth, I realized the unconscious subtle ways I miss the mark and how much I still have to learn in relating nobly with others, through Right Speech. Awareness of this fact, is the first step in developing the practice of this noble truth.
This practice also takes a radical willingness to be vulnerably honest with oneself and others, in the ways in which we relate in our speech, with ourselves and each other. I’ve discovered over the years that the negative self-talk that takes place internally, is often projected externally and outwardly onto others. This negative inner dialogue, for me personally, has been the main area to work on in practicing the noble truth of Right Speech… which I try to keep tethered to my practice of self-compassion.
It is through this daily practice that I am learning to hear that inner voice that speaks a deeper truth of who I AM. As I learn to respond to these noble truths inherent within me, I slowly find myself evolving, emerging and converging with the natural essence of being in right relationship with… present to that deeper truth, often hidden, yet there to be seen within myself, others, Spirit, and the all and the everything of creation.
My simple prayer/mantra:
LOVE(Compassion, Peace, Justice)~LIGHT(Wisdom, Truth, Transformation)~LIFE(Beauty, Joy,
Creativity)… in the Eternal Presence and Divine Flow of Loving Diverse Oneness….
🔥💜🌎🙏
Thank you, Damian.
Since I don’t know any way to contact Matthew Fox except through this, please forgive me if the topic is not on topic. But this morning I was looking at a page of Stations of the Cosmic Christ when this poem appeared and I wanted to share:
Experiencing the Cosmic Sense
Who experiences it? When?
The ethical atheist
The artists with their Muse
The athlete in the zone
The mother whose river of love flows through
The healer who invites the healing
The gardener learning the dance of growth
The ecumenist diving deeply into all faiths
The scientist wondering what we don’t yet know
The peace activist for justice
The justice activist for Mother Earth
The ecological activist for peace
At the light in their student’s eye
the teacher is thrilled
With passionate love for mystery,
the hermit’s solitude is filled
The mountain climber at his height
the scuba diver at her depths
All of us are capable.
Thank you, Carmen, for sharing the poem “that appeared!” So Good!
Right speech is also described in the letter of James, one of my very favorites. In the old words of KJV, after noting how small a member of the body is the tongue : “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity; so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire from hell.” (James 3:6) This seems to describe the consequences of wrong speech not only to the individual but also to those who are damaged by it–and comes from “hell”, i.e. the hatred in one’s own heart. Sometimes the bible gets it right, and the wisdom is deep. Regarding gossip, an old friend and I used to say that if we provided some fodder for the gossipers, we were doing them a service. One has to maintain a sense of humor, after all.
Right livelihood reminds me of Frederick Buechner’s definition of vocation as the place that God calls you to where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger. And this does not have to be some lofty, exalted work. Menial work does not have to be meaningless if the worker does it with spirit and the work is received with gratefulness. Even if it is not rewarded with thanks, the work itself and the doing of it well can be sufficient. We should never overlook those who are behind the scenes and are working to keep machinery or anything else in good order.
Thank you,Sue, for this important reminder: Each of us called, All are needed. Reminds me of a poster I read years ago:
Grow Where You Are Planted! Yep, I feel green! Yep, I feel routed! Yep, I feel one with the Universe! I’m washing the dishes! So good to know I am called to exactly where I am: NOW!