Awaiting Milton, A Paradise Lost? A Letter From the Ground in Florida

We have written recently of the “Scream of Helene,” meaning the lessons to learn from Hurricane Helene.  What did Helene teach us?  That it is not time for business as usual?  For politics as usual?  For lies and lying politicians who sell their souls to fossil fuel companies and call climate change a “hoax” as usual?

And now cometh Milton. Maybe it is not a coincidence that the storm is named Milton: What first came to my mind on hearing its name and its force is John Milton, the 17th century author of Paradise Lost.  Is Milton in 2024, the Great Announcer of Paradise Lost?  

That is to say, still another hurricane to tell us not to take Mother Earth for granted any longer?  And time to shift our ways radically, especially our ways of War where we allow pseudo-masculinity and patriarchy to dominate our planet, putting pathological amounts of money and talent into war-making and war-planning in the name of our countries and ideologies.  Instead of our species getting together—ALL NATIONS—to face our common foe.  Which is Climate Change, Global Warming. 

Turn in our weapons for plough shares, that is to say, saving the soil and forests, waters and ice, waterways and oceans, plants and trees, that are what make Mother Earth a Paradise.  Before it is too late.  Which it almost is.

This is Creation Spirituality: Recognizing the radical sacredness of our planet as we have inherited it.  Do our inner work so that our outer work will bear fruit.  Literally.  “By their fruits, you will know them.” (Jesus)

Cynthia Greb is one of the team that brings you our Daily Meditations, who happens to be visiting her sister in Florida, east of Tampa where Tampa residents go to evacuate.  She wrote this wise reflection which I received at 6AM Wednesday morning before Milton hits. 

Sitting in front of my sister’s front door in the pre-dawn hours, gazing at the shining leaves of the palms, listening to the gentle rain, and praying. Praying for the animals, the people, the trees…. Praying for those who are homeless. Praying for those who don’t have a car in which to evacuate, or money for gas. Praying for those who have no friends or family to stay with and who cannot afford a motel.

Praying for those farther inland who live in flimsy homes or areas prone to flooding. Praying for all those who are afraid. Praying for those still trying to recover from the devastation of the last hurricane. Praying for those struggling to survive, all over this world. Praying for this dear beleaguered planet and all the people doing their best to ride through the challenges of their lives. Praying for mercy. Praying for kindness. Praying.

To give you an idea of Milton’s force, they’re looking at creating a Category 6. It’s pushing the limits of what this planet can produce. 

As you may have seen on television last night, one meteorologist broke down and cried as he relayed the facts about Milton.  

It does not have to be this way.  There is an alternative called Waking Up.  End the Denial.  Choose biophilia over necrophilia.  Creation Spirituality over religious narcissism—or irreligious narcissism.  Cease Greed.  Acknowledge limits to human behavior and gratefully dwell in the Original Blessing Mother Earth has afforded us before it is too late.

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See Matthew Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

And Fox, Trump & MAGA as Antichrist: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.

And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.

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

Banner image: Tampa Bay, Florida. Image by Michelle Maria on Wikimedia Commons.

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Queries for Contemplation

How were you moved and what did you learn from reading Cynthia’s reflections before Milton hit?  Do you agree that we are in a “Paradise Lost” moment?  Will you let it count in your work and choices in the upcoming election?

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Recommended Reading

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

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.

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox.  He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.

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