I write this on the eve of the vice-presidential debate, and you will receive it on the day thereof. Hurricane Helene has spoken—no, screamed—to our world about what really matters in this presidential election and in the spiritual and moral life of our nation and species today.
Democracy Now!
As I wrote 35 years ago in the opening chapter of my book on the Cosmic Christ, our mother Earth (as we know her) is dying. And our species and Western culture and religion and economic system and media and education and narcissism (Pope Francis’ word) is largely responsible for it.
Now people from Florida to Virginia are paying the price for our neglect and denial and perversely narcissistic politics. Here are some of the ways Mother Earth is trying to get our attention.
The Scream from Helene includes the reality that at least 130 people are dead and up to 1,000 people are missing. Hundreds of people from six states are trying to find their loved ones and piece their lives back together, while at the same time, a new storm is developing in the Gulf of Mexico and two more in the Atlantic.
I hope that the moderators of the vice-presidential debate will ask authentic questions of both candidates and the presidential nominees they speak for, about this pressing issue. Anything less is to participate in the lies and cover-up and folly (as opposed to wisdom) that the antichrist is famous for.
The number one question to pose is this: What are the presidential actions they and their running mates will take to respond to the Scream of Helene?
And I do not mean the incalculable amount of money that will be needed to clean up the disaster. I mean the rethinking of our time and place on Earth—our attitude toward Mother Earth—that can prevent more and more and more frequent Helenes.
How much more screaming must Mother Earth do in order to wake our species up? To move from war against our fellow humans and war against Mother Earth to making peace with Earth and our limits as a species?
The only answers I recall hearing from candidate Trump are these three:
1. “Climate Change is a hoax.”
2. “Drill, baby, drill.”
3. Leaked from behind a closed door session with CEO’s of fossil fuel companies is the pledge made by Mr. Trump: “Give me $1 billion and I will gut all the current laws from the Biden administration about defending the environment.”
Perhaps vice-presidential candidate Vance can improve on this response to the most important moral issue of our time.
To be continued.
See Matthew Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.
And Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ.
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Banner Image: NOAA charts Hurricane Helene’s path across the central US. Learn Project 2025 plans for NOAA services HERE.
Queries for Contemplation
What is humanity’s attitude toward Mother Earth that you think needs most changing the world over so that climate change can be slowed down or reversed?
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.
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.
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
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
4 thoughts on “The VP Debate & The Scream from Helene”
Consumption, marketing and influencers need to be changed by simplicity, ‘marketers’ and influencers. We can only live by example and in the meantime, the earth will continue to run ‘its destructive course’ and we all reap the pain. — BB. —
Do we believe that 70 million voters wearing red caps are all or mostly all evil. Is that the messaging that will ultimately get turned or flipped to say same of Democrats?
Previous Comment – 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?
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 09 17 24.
Not only the attitude towards Mother Earth needs to be changed, but humanity needs a deep spiritual realization and transformation that We’re All Unique Sacred Eternal Parts/Fractals of Mother Earth and one another in LOVING/Compassionate/Just Diverse Wholeness~ONENESS in the Sacred Process of the Eternal Present Moment With-in Our Evolving Creative COSMOS and SPIRITUAL REALMS…
COSMIC CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS….
We are many parts of one body. As the consciousness of the earth, we are experiencing a collective struggle as happens within individuals. Mother Earth bears the brunt of the battle as does Father Sky. As individuals can commit suicide so can the collective.
Dear Fr. Matt,
All 3 of the infamous quotes you mentioned from DT were used again by JD Vance last night. in his defense of Trump. And also, he was unable to tell the truth that Trump lost the election. Tim Walz gave a good defense, and an attempt to deal with reality, being a person who wants to be of SERVICE in our country in the best possible way.
This morning I read “Move to Trash” in this week’s New Yorker, and recognized another important thing, in the first paragraph by Louis Menand:
“All republican governments live in fear of the man on the white horse. A republican government, like ours, is a system of rules designed to prevent any one person or faction from hijacking the democratic decision-making process, is not a product of that process, and has no stake in its survival. The person on the white horse rides into town and says, Who needs rules? Let me take care of everything. And the public, glad to simplify life, or possibly dazzled by the possibility of a glorious future, lets the rider take charge. RULES THAT NO ONE ENFORCES ARE JUST SO MUCH PAPER.”
(emphasis mine)
Being a “product of the process” is to have served in various roles, so that the process is understood. Someone for instance, who worked as a district attorney, then Attorney General for a large and great state, and then Senator for that state, and then Vice President for the nation. That person is steeped in the process. That person understands how to protect the republic.