The Scream from Helene & the Denial of Denial

We are talking about Evil and the Sacred. How preserving our Sacred Earth so it remains hospitable to our and millions of other species, is grounded in a sense of the sacred. How sacred is Mother Earth?

It is the task of healthy religion to awaken us to the sacred. As Thomas Aquinas put it, “the first and primary meaning of salvation is this: To preserve things in the good.” Goodness is everywhere on earth and in the universe that brought us here. Another word for “good” is blessing. As in original blessing.

We have been meditating on how Hurricane Helene has done immense destruction to the order and blessing of vast swaths of American towns, cities, countrysides, and human constructs of roads, bridges, homes, businesses, and so much more.

How much of the destruction of this hurricane and others, along with droughts, wildfires, flooding in other parts of this land and the globe today, are due to climate change? And therefore, to the denial by some of global warming? And our refusal to look starkly at what Earth is undergoing in our time?

Brian McLaren’s new book, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage For a World Falling Apart, speaks to that stark and dark reality. So too do the daily reports from the apocalyptic-like destruction that Helene has brought about. McLaren is addressing the need to face the bad news of our time and to not settle for denial.

I say something similar in my recent book on the Antichrist—that surefire evidence of the antichrist in our midst is Lies in abundance and Denial of important realities such as Climate Change.

Of course, abundant lies are antichrist-like—isn’t the Christ pictured as saying, “I am the truth”? Of course, denial about important truths like the state of Mother Earth, are antichrist-like. As Meister Eckhart puts it, “God is the denial of denial.” 

If God is the denial of denial, and we have an entire political party in America today denying climate change is real (calling it a “hoax” as a certain presidential candidate does), God is entirely absent. Where denial reigns, God is absent.

There are causes behind the immense devastation of Hurricane Helene, including lies from media and politicians in denial as well.  We must listen to what Helene is shouting to us, and go about the business of deconstructing and reconstructing a failing civilization. And time is short.

As McLaren puts it: Immersing myself in the climate-skeptic literature plunged me into a new depth of doom….If you told me that facing the future really scares you, here’s what I’d say: I’m scared too. It’s going to be a bumpy ride to an unknown ultimate destination. We can’t expect it to be smooth. We’re all going to have to face dimensions of reality we don’t want to face, namely, that we humans aren’t as rational as we think we are, and even at our best, our rationality is limited. *

To be continued.

* Brian McLaren, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage For a World Falling Apart, p. 195.

See Matthew Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 45-52.

And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.

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

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

Banner Image: “The Scream” (detail) by Edvard Munch, 1893. From the National Gallery of Norway, Oslo. Wikimedia Commons. 

Queries for Contemplation

Do you agree with McLaren that we can’t expect the future to be smooth? And this is one of the lessons of Hurricane Helene as well as the political struggles (hurricanes?) we are embroiled in? How can spirituality assist us during this “bumpy ride?”

Recommended Reading

The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times

A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book!  Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit

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

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

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.