Week of 9/4-9/2023: Cosmic Awareness

September 4, 2023. Wisdom & The Role of Cosmic Awareness East & West
Not only Aquinas, but Eastern mystics, too, call us to cosmic awareness. Richard Wilhelm, for instance, tells us: The psyche and the cosmos are to each other like the inner world and the outer world. Therefore, humans participate by nature in all cosmic events, and are inwardly as well as outwardly interwoven with them.

September 5, 2023. Ritual & Cosmic Awareness: Wicca, Indigenous & Early Christian
We are reminded that Earth-based religions are also steeped in cosmic awareness, cosmic celebration, and cosmic healing. In Wicca, for instance, there is a deep reverence for the natural world, both Earth and Sky. Well-known witch and author Starhawk tells us: In the Craft, we do not believe in the Goddess—we connect with Her; through the moon, the stars, the ocean, the earth, through trees, animals, through other human beings, through ourselves.  Early Christianity also celebrates both heaven and Earth. In Colossians 1:20, we read that through Christ all things are reconciled whether things on earth or things in heaven.

September 6, 2023. The Cosmos in Christian and Jewish Liturgy
From Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we read: “All beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld,” reverence the name of Jesus and “every tongue acclaims” him. (Phil. 2:10,11) And then from Romans: From the beginning till now, the entire creation… has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first fruits of the Spirit. (Rom. 9:22,23)  And from the book of Wisdom in the Jewish wisdom scriptures: The Spirit of the Lord indeed fills the whole world, and that which holds all things together knows every sound that is uttered to be—for this God created all. (Wisdom 1:7, 14)

September 7, 2023. The Danger of the “Introspective Conscience”
Frederick Turner, in his important study of the history of the Americas from the point of view of Native Americans, Beyond Geography, points out that ours is an “introspective” and therefore dangerous civilization. By “introspective” he means overly focused on ourselves and living without cosmos, without myth, without ritual worthy of the name. Matthew reminds us that “inner journeys are essential to get to our true selves.  But an exclusively inward one can look only at oneself or one’s culture and ignore the rest of the world.”

September 8, 2023. From Introspection and Guilt to Cosmic Awareness and Celebration
Here, we explore the fall/redemption theology of Augustine and how it ignores completely the glories of Nature and the Cosmic Christ. By focusing on the individual and the matter of “being saved,” we beome self-absorbed and lose our sense of wonder and gratitude for earthly creation and all the cosmos.

September 9, 2023. Speaking of Divinization & Cosmic Awareness: Gandhi & Bede Griffiths
In Eastern Christianity, redemption is called theosis, the divinization of the universe. Gandhi had similar thoughts, according to a student of his: “For Gandhi, to become divine is to become attuned in thought, feeling and act to the whole of creation.” Father Bede, likewise, believed in attuning with nature and the universe: In meditation, I can experience my solidarity with the universe, with the remotest star in outer space and with the minutest particle in the atom.  I can experience my solidarity with every living thing, with the earth, with these flowers and coconut trees,…with every human being.

Banner image: Honoring both the inner world and the cosmos. Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay

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.
 “This book is a classic.” Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth.

Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations

As Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take what’s in this book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless Youth.