As boats made their way along the Seine, loaded with athletes from around the world, dance of many variations was celebrated: Ordinary citizens of many generations and ethnicities, young and old, some slim, some very large, all dancing. And professional dancers as well.
Musicians singing and playing grand pianos in the rain—I’ve never seen that before—I hope the pianos survived unharmed. A rendition of “La Marseillaise” sung magnificently by a woman singer in the rain standing alone atop the Grand Palais with rain beating down on her exposed chest. Stunning.
A runway constructed on a bridge with women and men strutting down the walkway in costumes of various colors and tastes. Replicas of famous paintings from the Louvre with sculptures emerging from the river itself, some remembering famous French women who had never been represented in sculpture before. (80% of the statues in Paris being that of famous men.)
It was a night to remember that underscored our common humanity as well as our common genius as a species. It brought us together—which is after all—as I understand it—the purpose of the Olympic Games.
Otto Rank says that only the unio mystica—which we experience “in love and art” can heal what ails humanity.
bell hooks has declared that “the next revolution” which will connect humanity and what she calls the “black underclass” will be “a revolution in aesthetics.” If she is right—and she usually is—this breakthrough Olympic Opening Ceremony—is a harbinger of a needed non-violent revolution.
I thank the French for their originality and grace and courage to undertake a unio mystica in what was, at least for me, a deeply memorable in-the-rain launch of the Olympic Games.
Am I right thinking that only the French could have pulled this off so successfully and elegantly? Au chapeau to all involved!
NOTE: There are those who have taken umbrage in a supposed scene of the Last Supper that included drag queens. Such clutching of pearls by French bishops, the majority head of congress and others is based on ignorance. The scene invoked is not about the Last Supper.
The central figure in that scene–which was not even shown on American TV—was an actor in blue body paint representing Dionysus, the god of wine. The Olympics began in Greece after all, and featuring a Greek feast is fitting since wine is notably dear to the French heart (and economy). The other actors weren’t disciples but maenads–participants in Dionysian rites.
See Matthew Fox, “Psychotherapy and the ‘Unio Mystica’: Meister Eckhart Meets Otto Rank,” in Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, pp. 139-156.
And Fox, Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human
Banner Image: A mysterious masked man hands off the Olympic flame to famed French footballer Zinedine Zidane after parkouring through the famed sights of Paris. Photo by Andy Miah on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Did you take umbrage at the scene of the Greek Dionysian rite honoring the god of wine? I hope not—or if you did, that you now understand what it was about–and not about. (One DM subscriber said she was quitting the DM because of yesterday’s affirmation of the opening ceremony.)
Recommended Reading
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time
While Matthew Fox recognizes that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers throughout history, he also wants to introduce Eckhart to today’s activists addressing contemporary crises. Toward that end, Fox creates dialogues between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Rich, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and many others.
“Matthew Fox is perhaps the greatest writer on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has successfully bridged a gap between Eckhart as a shamanistic personality and Eckhart as a post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith movement, to reveal just how cosmic Eckhart really is, and how remarkably relevant to today’s religious crisis! ” — Steven Herrmann, Author of Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward
Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet
Because creativity is the key to both our genius and beauty as a species but also to our capacity for evil, we need to teach creativity and to teach ways of steering this God-like power in directions that promote love of life (biophilia) and not love of death (necrophilia). Pushing well beyond the bounds of conventional Christian doctrine, Fox’s focus on creativity attempts nothing less than to shape a new ethic.
“Matt Fox is a pilgrim who seeks a path into the church of tomorrow. Countless numbers will be happy to follow his lead.” –Bishop John Shelby Spong, author, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, Living in Sin
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
The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human
The A.W.E. Project reminds us that awe is the appropriate response to the unfathomable wonder that is creation… A.W.E. is also the acronym for Fox’s proposed style of learning – an approach to balance the three R’s. This approach to learning, eldering, and mentoring is intelligent enough to honor the teachings of the Ancestors, to nurture Wisdom in addition to imparting knowledge, and to Educate through Fox’s 10 C’s. The 10 C’s are the core of the A.W.E. philosophy and process of education, and include: compassion, contemplation, and creativity. The A.W.E. Project does for the vast subject of “learning” what Fox’s Reinvention of Work did for vocation and Original Blessing did for theology. Included in the book is a dvd of the 10 C’s put to 10 video raps created and performed by Professor Pitt.
“An awe-based vision of educational renewal.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
6 thoughts on “The Olympic Opening Ceremony, the Unio Mystica & the Next Revolution”
I also agree that the Paris Olympic 2024 Opening Ceremony was a celebration of the ‘unio mystica’ which we experience “in love and art,” as Otto Rank says. Along with the nomination of Kamala Harris, there have been hopeful recent signs that the Spirit of the Divine Feminine is ALIVE and PRESENT with-in humanity and Our Beautiful Sacred Mother Earth in Loving Diverse Wholeness~ONENESS….
It never occurred to me that the skit would be assumed as a sacrilege of the Last Supper—only someone who embraces victimhood and whose life is spent, moment by moment, looking for something to be offended about could have come up with such nonsense.
Thanks for the explanation of the opening of the Olympics; not being familiar with Greek myths, I didn’t know about the feast of Dionysus. But neither did the opening scene of the feast remind me of the Last Supper, with which I am very familiar. It looked like a Greek feast with weird-costumed people celebrating.
I can’t understand how the Dionysian scene could possibly be mistaken for the Last Supper! What extraordinarily rigid and narrow thinking!
I have to thank you, Fr. Fox, for your explanation and description of the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. I didn’t see any mockery the Last Supper. The various articles I read from Catholic circles made me wonder how they came up with that. You, Fr. Fox, are the voice of reason! Keep on keeping on!
Bravo, Matthew Fox!!! You’ve tied it all together so well. Now I understand even better why I was so entranced at the opening. The French left no stone unturned. The spirit does captivate, doesn’t it!?