Wisdom of the Young, Sin vs. Evil, Evil vs. the Sacred

Yesterday, we meditated on how wisdom flows from the young and the old.  At least we can hope so.  I ended the meditations this way: Let wisdom roll, from young to old and from old to young.  Let there be intergenerational wisdom.  Let each generation inspire the other.

Elder Doreen Spense reflects on how the traditional role of indigenous elders teaching the young was horribly disrupted due to the travesty of “Indian boarding schools.” Walrus Talks

One way to approach a spiritual term is to go to its opposite first.  The opposite of wisdom is folly.  There is plenty of folly in the air—and on the air waves—these days in this time of choosing a president.  Indeed, presidential voting has already begun in some states.  It is for this reason that I wrote my new book just released this week on Trump & MAGA as the Anti-Christ, a Handbook for the 2024 Election.

I am proud to say that I dedicated my book, as an elder, to the wisdom of the young.  It goes like this: I dedicate this book to the young leaders of the world.  And all those who are not in denial about climate and recognize our Earth as sacred and worth saving. And to those who believe that a government of the people, by the people and for the people is an aspiration worth struggling to preserve and improve upon. And who prefer biophilia to necrophilia, joy to grievance, love to hate, and justice to greed that guarantees injustice.

Allow me to exegete this dedication a little.  By “young leaders of the world,” I mean such people as David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland High shooting. Then a teenager, he has now co-founded with Kevin Lata a movement called  Leaders We Deserve . Lata is campaign manager for Maxwell Frost, the first Gen-Z member of Congress.

David Hogg, a survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, speaking against gun violence at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis. Photo by Lorie Shaull, Wikimedia Commons.

Their mission is to elect young progressives to Congress and State Legislatures across the country to help defeat the far-right agenda and advance a progressive vision for the future.   To “identify and elect more trailblazers—youthful, audacious, and charismatic,” and help train them and fund them. 

Back to my dedication page : “Those not in denial about climate change and recognize the Earth as sacred.” If there is one thing I learned in writing my major tome on Evil, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, a few years ago, it is this: The opposite of evil is not good; bad is the opposite of good.  The opposite of Evil is the Sacred.

This insight resets our understanding of Evil—and it begs for a reset because religion has trivialized evil by overselling sin and we are left almost without a language for talking about evil.  The archetype of the Antichrist is one such language that shakes up our talk about evil. 

How sacred is the Earth?  How evil are those who are in denial about the suffering of Mother Earth today and who have built an entire political party around this denial? 

Joe Scarborough calls January 6 what it is: Pure Evil. MSNBC

And how Evil is the killing of democracy, what Lincoln named as government “of, by and for the people” (not corporations).  Democracide and Matricide march together.  The killing of democracy and killing of holy Mother Earth go together.

I dedicate my book that lays bare the Biblical teaching about the Antichrist—that which is in opposition to the Christ person and message—to those who choose to preserve both Earth and Democracy.


See Matthew Fox, Trump & MAGA as the Anti-Christ, a Handbook for the 2024 Election.

And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society.

And Fox, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved.

And Fox, Original Blessing.

And Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ.

Banner image: “David Hogg (far left) and Emma Gonzalez (profile center) at the Rally to Support Firearm Safety Legislation in Fort Lauderdale on February 17, 2018. Broward Young Democrats chair Chelsea Lunn (far right.)” Photo by Barry Stock. Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons license


Queries for Contemplation

Do you see a difference between sin and evil?  How big is that difference?  Does the term Antichrist” help name the experience of Evil for you ?


Recommended Reading

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics

The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved

The Pope’s War offers a provocative look at three decades of corruption in the Catholic Church, focusing on Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. The final section in the book focuses on birthing a truly catholic Christianity.
“This book should be read by everybody, not only for its ferocious courage, but also for its vision for what needs to be saved from the destructive forces that threaten authentic Christianity.” ~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope.
“In the gripping The Pope’s War, Matthew Fox takes an unwavering look at the layers of corruption in the Catholic Church, holding moral truth against power.”   — Jason Berry, author of Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II

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 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.

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5 thoughts on “Wisdom of the Young, Sin vs. Evil, Evil vs. the Sacred”

  1. The Pope advised Americans to cast their Presidential vote for the lesser of two evils. Why do we think that he made that pronouncement? It is all about protecting the ‘sanctity of life’, is it not?
    Trump is not very supportive of a humane immigration policy. He looks not only to bring large limits to suffering immigrants and refugees into the country, is also looking to bring harm, pain, diminish rights and evict many of whom are already in the country. He is only pro-life because it wins substantial support and not what he has firmly believed in.

    Kamala is very supportive of abortion in whatever fashion appeals most unrestrictive to females and the masses. Is abortion, viewed by millions as the end of life, meant not only to protect a woman’s endangered health, deal with an injustice inflicted by a rapist or is it a larger avenue for birth control by the careless and less responsible? Where are the guardrails or is it just open season, which is not enough for many religious groups that feel ignored? This issue should not be viewed like an ‘on / off’ switch when ‘on’ means anything goes and ‘off’ means almost all is shut-down.
    The underlying evil is that ‘evil supports division and discord’ and politicians look to appeal for votes instead of standing behind what maintaining ’the sanctity of life’ would dictate. – BB.

  2. Both your books on evil, Matthew, are very important because most people are not aware of the interrelationship between personal and societal evil both consciously and unconsciously.
    Awareness of our personal shadow, as depth psychologist Carl Jung enlightens us, is essential in our personal spiritual journeys, as important as Faith, in order to become more mindfully/heartfully aware and responsible for our spiritual compassionate growth within and with others; otherwise, we contribute to continued conditioning/actions of personal and societal evil forces among us in our spiritually unbalanced, destructive, dualistic, egocentric, patriarchal, materialistic, unjust societies… causing much past and present human and earthly suffering.

  3. I am disappointed in Pope Francis. Whatever happened to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” ?! Words given to us by Him whose redemptive message was “spiritual freedom”

    So, on the matter of abortion I reference the words in Deuteronomy “…. this day I have given you choice over life and death, but choose LIFE” the basis of the battle cry of pro, lifers. Really?! When it comes to life and death, I have a choice? Really?
    No. God’s words are about life in the spirit, not about biology, and choice is of the spirit. This was established in the Garden of Eden when God gave Adam and Eve, the freedom to choose, yes way back then. The choice was left to them, even though God knew the consequences of their choice, whatever it would have been. He could have done things otherwise, but He left it up to them!!!! HE, THE ALMIGHTY LEFT IT UP TO THEM TO CHOOSE. Yet, here we today presuming to be greater than God, to know better than He.

    The argument therefore is not about who has rights over a woman’s body. It is about who on earth, can take away her right to Choose! Who on earth is more SUPREME than God?

    1. Well said. The issue is choice. It is ironic that Jesus said not a word about abortion or LBGQT+, and yet some Christians are rabid on the subjects; it has always grieved me deeply that concern is for a few cells but not for doctors who are assassinated in church! It is a very emotional issue, and I do understand the points of view of others, but I would never impose my ideas on them or require anyone to have an abortion. I trust the decisions of a woman, her care provider, and God.

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