[FROM THE ARCHIVE: MAY 23, 2020]
Along with the dramatic presidential news of this week, we have been meditating on the subject of the depression of young adults found around the world according to recent scientific studies.
In the next three DM’s we will reach back to consideration of youth and spirituality. Today’s DM concerns an encounter of this elder with a young man a few years ago who took to heart the meaning of “Original Blessing” in the story I relate below. We have stayed in touch since this original encounter and he is close to graduating with a PhD thesis in process currently.

We have been discussing art, creativity and healing in a time of pandemic in our most recent Daily Meditations. A story about my own work and creativity occurred this weekend when I had the privilege to dialog on video with Jaih Hunter-Hill.
Jaia is a 27-year-old Apple product design engineer with an engineering degree from Stanford University. We first met at a Sierra Club gathering last Fall when I was invited to speak on Pope Francis’s encyclical on the Environment, “Laudato Si” (which was written in great part by a graduate of my Master’s program in Creation Spirituality). Two scientists were also speaking on the environmental crisis and Joanna Macy, having just celebrated her 90th birthday, also showed up and offered powerful words of hope and inspiration.
During a break in the event Jaih came up to me and introduced himself as being genuinely excited about my book Original Blessing. As a writer, it is always fun to learn that someone—especially a young person–has derived some benefit from one’s work and equally fun to learn what part of one’s writing has moved another.

This weekend Jaih and I interacted in a video exchange where he went into greater depth about what moved him in Original Blessing. One topic that impacted him was “holiness as Cosmic Hospitality.” It turns out that Jaih loves to cook and create hospitality and took immediately to the teaching that this work of his was a spiritual practice. Recent scholarship reveals that it was central to the work and teaching of the historical Jesus as well.
In the book I cite Simone Weil who warns that
…today it is not nearly enough to be a saint, but we must have the saintliness demanded by the present moment, a new saintliness, itself is without precedent.
Holiness is a word worth retrieving. One of the most telling questions that can be asked about a period’s spirituality is, what is its understanding of holiness? A people’s grasp of what constitutes holiness will affect its entire way of living, questioning, celebrating.
Einzelgänger
I reject the fall/redemption definition of holiness as “perfection” and this for psychological reasons (Otto Rank called perfectionism “a disease”); and for feminist reasons–poet Adrianne Rich warns us: “Let us return to imperfection’s school/ No longer wandering after Plato’s ghost.” Patriarchy countenances perfectionism.
In nature, beauty and imperfection abound together. Every tree is beautiful–but also imperfect. Theologically, we need to realize that the Greek word in Matthew’s gospel often translated as “perfect” actually means “ripe” or “come to maturity.” Furthermore, in the parallel passage in Luke’s gospel the word is “compassion.”
Having criticized the dominant definition of holiness as perfection, I propose that holiness consists in hospitality–cosmic hospitality. Creation has been laid out for us as a banquet. God is a host; we are guests. Through the Incarnation God becomes a guest and ourselves hosts. Jesus offers an “eschatological abundance” that the prophets envisioned. (Amos 9:13-15)
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Original Blessing, pp. 108-117.
Banner Image: Grandfather and Grandson: “The Favorite.” Painting by Georgios Jakobides, 1890. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you learn and feel blessed when people respond to your work and your creativity? Reflect on those moments of interaction and the gratitude the arouse in you.
What is your definition of “holiness”?
Recommended Reading

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story
7 thoughts on “Elder and Youth Interacting on Holiness and More”
As a very long time member do Al- Anon, I, as well as many other members, have given up on the idea of perfection. Through the practice of the twelve steps, we have come to realize that it’s not enough to be kind to others but also we need to be kind to ourselves. In the being kind to ourselves we begin to forgive ourselves for being not perfect, for making mistakes.
As we learned this most difficult truth, we became kinder, more considerate people; became more able to love others, their warts and all. And we became more truly welcoming to others.
I call it more Christlike. Others have other terms. But whatever we call it, we have become, through prayer and meditation, a more generous, forgiving group of people.
Sad that this didn’t come from my church. All I learned was fear and rules and the need to be perfect. To put it mildly, it was off-putting; to put it more harshly, it was a burden too heavy to bear and I despaired of ever being worthy.
I thank the God of all mercies that I was led to those rooms because it gave me the courage to seek truth wherever it could be found. I just regret those rooms were not those of the Catholic Church.
To me, holiness is the state one is in when one is in touch with God as in meditation or serving those in need (an orchard, a child, an animal, a person), the washing of another’s feet, so to speak. As for the importance of others’ positive response to one’s creativity, it’s what keeps me going as a playwright because productions are few and far between. It’s hard for any artist to keep creating art without some positive responses from others. I keep a list of positive comments on the “Accolades” page of my website. They remind me that whether my work is produced or simply read before an audience, it has the possibility of moving someone. There’s a touching scene in an old Doctor Who episode in which Van Gogh is brought to the Musee d’ Orsay in the 20th Century, and he sees people praising his paintings—something he didn’t experience in life. It’s a lovely testament to the power of positive feedback.
Matthew, I enjoyed your enclosed video of your conversation of a few years ago with your youthful (with an ‘old soul’) friend Jaih! Both your sharing about your book “Original Bessing” was great!
Locally, I am hoping to start a Contemplative Spiritual Support Group in January 2025 with
‘spiritual email friends’ in El Paso who have shown an interest in spirituality. Before Covid over three years ago we had a Contemplative Outreach/Centering Prayer Support Group that met biweekly. Since then, I’ve mainly met my communal spiritual needs, like many people, through genuinely spiritual support groups available on the internet, and daily meditations offered by Richard Rohr (cac.org) and yourself.
My definition of “holiness” is captured in a daily mantra that recently inspirationally came to me:
‘BEING~BECOMING the Divine Flow of LOVING Healing Creative Evolving Diverse Wholeness~ONENESS in the Sacred Process of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT… ‘
One thing regarding the cynicism of youth these days: in my family I have a son and three nephews who served in the Iraq wars from 2002 onwards. Every single one has come home with severe ptsd, most of which has been unsuccessfully treated. Needless to say, their views on life in general are dismal, full of hopelessness. The existential realities of never ending wars as well as the onslaught of climate change have affected each of them with depression, negativity, hopelessness. My husband and I have found that maintaining compassionate, nonjudgmental connections and space with them makes a difference— gives them some relief and release from the terrors they suffered, as well as participating in wars that have had little to no redemptive or positive change in the world.
Often they seek isolation rather than community—to bear their burdens… which worsens their depression. Unconditional love, connection, community seem to relieve the deep angst within.
Jesus was the Mystical exemplar of “holiness.” He LIVED his MYSTICISM. He was ABSOLUTELY human WHILE CENTERED IN THE ONE/GOD/LOGOS and understood the concept of wabi-sabi. He was criticized for being laid-back about (dualistic) “cleanliness” rules and perfectionistic codes of behavior. Be good to each other, be thankful and honor God, live in equality within the sacred One, share humbly.
Plato’s interpretation of Mysticism (e.g. Timaeus) was NOT its best or most authentic version. I’m not sure if he was personally a mystic. That makes a HUGE difference.
The Western Catholic church censored its mystics and forced a dualistic interpretation into its Mysticism. Then it twisted it all into intellectualized imitation under Scholasticism. And fell in love with the shiny image it had created. It was a FLAWED interpretation, but it was SAFE (for the Church).
As for “people responding to my creativity” (of my Mystical discussions here) — only a few do. I’m never sure how many people even read my texts. I’m deeply honored and gladdened when they enjoy or find value in my writings.
I take VERY seriously the responsibility to personally share and explain the sacred Mysticism of “neo-Platonism”/”temple mysticism”/Jesus’s/Moses’s/John’s/Philo’s/ Plotinus’s/Boethius’s/Meister Eckhart’s/St. John of the Cross’s /my own — Mystical Revelation and Theology.
I always enjoy your postings, which are informative and interesting to me. I see Jesus, the real deal, whole and thus holy; he manifested and demonstrated what love is–and what it is not.
As always, I enjoy Matthew’s Daily Meditations. When someone shares with me how they are feeling about a
creative work of mine it arouses a deep sense of gratitude because I feel like the person has in some way found
their own way to see inside my heart. A connection is birthed that is almost unspeakable.
My feeble attempt to define “Holiness” would be thus: the intertwining of humility, compassion, clarity, and
courage into our DNA helix. There is much work each of us has to do in order to understand more deeply what
each of these four threads truly mean.