Leonardo Boff: Hope from Brazil re Kamala Harris for President

This weekend I received the following article from my friend in Brazil, theologian Leonardo Boff. I have cut it some to fit our format, and include the remainder in the video accompanying this DM. Boff called it: “A Female President of the United States: A Hope?”

The real possibility that a woman, Kamala Harris, will become president of the imperial power, the United States of America, would represent a novum in the history of that country, and perhaps a step forward in the new relationship between genders.

The USA, independent since 1776, has had 44 presidents, all men and none women. Many see the president exclusively in military terms, more as the head of the Armed Forces—the one who holds the red telephone and the button to launch a nuclear war—than as the promoter of the common good.  

That’s why they keep fighting wars everywhere. Virtually all presidents, including Obama, are imbued with “manifest destiny,” the belief that the United States is anointed as “that new people of God with a mission to bring (bourgeois) democracy, (individual) human rights, and peace (of the market) for the world”.

Under the patriarchy that has lasted for ten thousand years, since the Neolithic era, with the formation of villages and agriculture, women have always been relegated to the private world. Even knowing that a historical era existed, twenty thousand years ago, of matriarchy forming egalitarian societies that integrated with nature and was deeply spiritual.

Patriarchy, the predominance of the male (machismo) was one of the greatest mistakes in human history. The type of State we have is attributed to patriarchy, including war and violence as a way of solving problems, the private appropriation of land, and the generation of inequalities and all types of discrimination.

In capitalism, in its various forms, it gained its most expressive configuration, with the rate of social inequity it brings with it.

Throughout this process, the main victims were women, along with those deprived of strength and power. Since then, the destiny of women, in historical-social terms, has been defined based on the man who occupied every public space.

But slowly, starting in the United States, in the 19th century, women became aware of their autonomous identity. The feminist movement grew, became active in practically all countries and occupied public spaces. Entering universities and then into the job market, women brought their unique (non-exclusive) values as women: more given to collaboration as opposed to competition from men, more care, more flexibility, more ability to deal with complexity, more human sensitivity and heart, finally, more open to dialogue against sexist and patriarchal authoritarianism.

In a word, they brought more humanity to a rational, rigid, competitive, efficient world, marked by the will to power as domination: the world of men. They, by their nature, represent rather the will to live and to relate.

Even so, the fight for gender equality is far from being fully won. It was only in 1920 that women gained the right to vote in the United States. In Brazil only in 1932.  Today 52% of the electorate is female.

Empowering women’s identity and relational autonomy will generate a new paradigm: that of reciprocity, of cooperation between men and women….

Politically, the best way to express this civilizational advance would be participatory, socio-ecological democracy, in which man and woman cooperatively and in solidarity would build a dream world that responds to the deepest desires of the human psyche.

See Matthew Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Prophet for Our Times, “The Divine Feminine: Meister Eckhart Meets Adrienne Rich,” pp. 57-76; and “Liberated and Liberating Sisters: Meister Eckhart meets Dorothee Soelle, the Beguines Mechtild of Magdeburg and Marguerite Porete, and Julian of Norwich,” pp. 77-96.

And Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.

And Fox, Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond.

And Fox, Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint For Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21^st Century (Forward by Sr. Joan Chittister)

And Fox, Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality.

To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.

Banner Image: A diorama of Neolithic people in the Sanmenxia City Museum of Henan, China. Note how the women are in the foreground, and one of them appears to be invoking Spirit. Photo by Gary Todd. Wikimedia Commons. 

Queries for Contemplation

Sometimes we forget that the world watches American presidential elections, which hold implications for the whole world.  How does it feel to know that a renowned theologian in Brazil is watching the American presidential election closely, and is inspired by the possibilities of a first American woman president?

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

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature,  to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God

Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic–and Beyond

Julian of Norwich lived through the dreadful bubonic plague that killed close to 50% of Europeans. Being an anchoress, she ‘sheltered in place’ and developed a deep wisdom that she shared in her book, Showings, which was the first book in English by a woman. A theologian way ahead of her time, Julian develops a feminist understanding of God as mother at the heart of nature’s goodness. Fox shares her teachings in this powerful and timely and inspiring book.
“What an utterly magnificent book. The work of Julian of Norwich, lovingly supported by the genius of Matthew Fox, is a roadmap into the heart of the eco-spiritual truth that all life breathes together.”  –Caroline Myss
Now also available as an audiobook HERE.

Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century

Matthew Fox writes in Hildegard of Bingen about this amazing woman and what we can learn from her.
In an era when women were marginalized, Hildegard was an outspoken, controversial figure. Yet so visionary was her insight that she was sought out by kings, popes, abbots, and bishops for advice.
“This book gives strong, sterling, and unvarnished evidence that everything – everything – we ourselves become will affect what women after us may also become….This is a truly marvelous, useful, profound, and creative book.” ~~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism.

Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an Introduction by Charles Burack

To encapsulate the life and work of Matthew Fox would be a daunting task for any save his colleague Dr. Charles Burack, who had the full cooperation of his subject. Fox has devoted 50 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship.  His more than 40 books, translated into 78 languages, are inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and have awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. Essential Writings begins by exploring the influences on Fox’s life and spirituality, then presents selections from all Fox’s major works in 10 sections.
“The critical insights, the creative connections, the centrality of Matthew Fox’s writings and teaching are second to none for the radical renewal of Christianity.” ~~ Richard Rohr, OFM.