Ten days ago a majority of Americans linked hands with Christian nationalists, neo-Nazis, and Putin–the first invader of a European sovereign nation since WWII. Now many are dancing in the streets in joy and celebration.
They linked hands too with 1,500 people in prison for having invaded the nation’s Capitol in a raging riot we all saw happen on TV that injured 240 police officers and resulted in seven deaths, two by suicide. Rioters invading the Capitol on January 6, 2021 with bear spray and handcuffs to kill the (Republican) vice president and the Democratic head of the House, intent on interfering with a valid counting of ballots for president.
The person elected president declared that January 6 was a “day of love.” Truth telling is not his strong point.
And hundreds of Republican congressmen, though cowering from the violence on the day of the riot, chose to anoint the instigator of said riot president and render him once again head of the most powerful country in the world.
All that happened ten days ago today. The world may never be the same again. Mother Earth, already hotter than at any time in recorded history, will become even hotter faster because the new president has declared that global climate change is a “hoax” and he intends to “drill baby drill” and remove laws enacted to combat climate change.
A number of persons have informed me they are contemplating suicide.
For 2000 years we have been demarcating time pretty much by the abbreviation BC and AD which for some signifies “Before Christ” and “After the Lord” and for some has come to mean “Before the common era” and after it. Historians however, if any remain say 100 years from now, may demarcate history anew as “BT” and “AT,” Before Trump and After Trump. That is how pivotal this election may prove to be.
There can be no question that a vote for Trump is a vote for ‘I don’t give a damn about climate change.” Increased hurricanes, wildfires, floods, droughts, tornados, setting of heat records every year be damned. And the melting of glaciers from which billions of humans get their water be damned.
And the melting of Greenland and Antarctica ice with the subsequent rise of sea levels up to three feet be damned. And the emigration of billions of human beings—and subsequent flooding of immigrants into every corner of the earth where there is dry land–be damned.
If you think you voted against immigration this November, look ahead to what awaits with climate change.
The beauty of the Earth, its health and the joy and hope and health of our children and grandchildren be damned.
The beauty of birds, fishes, forests, four-legged ones, finned ones and other creatures be damned.
The death of American democracy and the hope it extended to others be damned. And rule in America (and elsewhere?) by autocracy and oligarchy and crazy religious theocrats be expanded.
Why did this happen, this killing of Mother Earth and democracy and gleeful handing over the keys of presidential power to a wannabe strongman, admirer of Mussolini, Hitler, Putin, Kim Jung Un, Viktor Orban? What solutions and resistance await us?
To be continued
See Matthew Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society.
And Fox, Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
Banner Image: Following the projected 2024 election results, Democrats across Facebook blacked out their profile photos and banner images in mourning and protest. Redacted screenshot.
Queries for Contemplation
With days under your belt, and time to reflect and meditate, process your grief, listen to others, read and pray the news, what do you think happened ten days ago? What solutions and resistance do you see on the horizon?
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
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.
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.
12 thoughts on “What Happened Ten Days Ago Today?”
Why does Trump avoid the signing the required Ethics Code before his inauguration? Should his refusal be disqualifying for his role as President? Is it too late to stop him? Are we paying a price for our addiction to war and the armaments industry? How much did Reagan’s investment in Star Wars cost?
Jesus warned that to live by the sword is to die by the sword. Was Jesus crucified for his preferential option for the poor (the ‘Anawim’) and attack on the dark money barons of the Jerusalem Temple? Is Navalny a type of Jesus? Have U.S. citizens made a Faustian bargain with the devil? Leonard Cohen’s prophetic song THE FUTURE includes a warning that “you see the woman hanging upside down….you will feel the devil’s riding stick”
Let’s Hope that Our democratic institutions and leaders remain strong during the very challenging times ahead in the US, our Beautiful Sacred Mother Earth, and struggles for Peace and Justice around the world. Ultimately We’re All in GOD’S ‘Hands’ with-in Our Eternal Souls physically and spiritually in All Sacred Dimensions of our LOVING Evolving Diverse ONENESS COSMOS in the Sacred Process of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT… COSMIC CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS….
Ten days on it is overly simplistic to blame or attribute one man for the outcome of the election and the plight of the world, especially with regard to climate change. The simple answer to this election, like almost all others, is that people vote first and foremost with their pocketbook and their bellies. The urgency of addressing the dangers of climate change, global wars and gender issues is for those whose bellies are already filled and whose financial needs are primarily resolved. Bernie Sanders was right when he stated that the Democratic Party has deserted the working class. Kamala Harris does not represent them anymore than Hillary Clinton in 2016. If the finger of blame is to be pointed by those remaining historians in 100 years time, then it has to call us all out as a planetary race and most especially church leaders and politicians for their collective failure to truly grasp and embrace the Great Spiritual Values that have been given to the world by Jesus Christ, the Buddha, Sri Krishna and others who taught and demonstrated a far more enlightened way of life. We have failed to enact that universal philosophy let alone enable it to become our collective global understanding and way of life. We are all to blame, and those in authority even more so. (Rant over but the question was asked.)
Amen. Let us go forward with these understanding and do better.
Kamala’s platform had tons of policies to support and lift up the middle class. The Biden Harris administration had the largest amount of legislation to help the working class since FDR. I can list the Bills and policies for both Biden and Harriss if you like. So to help their pocketbooks they vote for the felon whose only legislative accomplishment was a huge tax cut for the top 1% and who wants to end the Affordable Care Act and end or reduce social security, medicare etc. So why vote for a principled, accomplished, intelligent, caring, joyful black woman who has fought for justice and the oppressed her whole life, when you can vote for the apricot anti-Christ fascist bag of malignant narcissist toxins, racism, ignorance, lies and hate, who wants to deport millions of people? Over 80% of well off evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics voted three times now for the orange Mussollini. Although it is true that the world over political incumbants from the covid period have been voted out no matter what the facts, in America’s case there is no denying that her original sins of racism and mysogyny are at the root of this. When these Christian Trump voters meet God, and he asks them why they chose to support a man who is the exact opposite of Christ, and why they chose hate, bigotry, racism and greed…they should be sure to mention they saved 10 cents on eggs.
All paths of non violent resistance must be explored and then formed into organized efforts. As in the example of Gandhi. No idea left unturned.
The majority of Americans wanted this Oligarchy. It will be difficult. All the Oligarchs understand is money and its power. It is their biggest weakness.
All effective action requires sacrifice and must have justice / love at its
foundation. We need people who can organize and lead.
Final thought: What would Dorothy Stang do?
I do not give up hope. I am the same person I was before the election. Donald Trump will not rob me of my joy and the last years of my life.
My heart breaks for all the people whose lives have turned upside down with the election of Donald Trump. We are originally blessed. Our Creator has given us all we need always, and will not desert us now. The only answer I have is to overcome evil, do the better good. (Paraphrased from Richard Rohr’s words).
My copy of “We Were Made For These Times”, Kaira Jewel Lingo, arrived yesterday. All of our ancestors had the tools and grit to make it through their own catastrophes…we will too.
LOVE sustains us all.
Thank you, Mathew, for your daily meditations, many books of wisdom, this platform where we can connect, and your love and compassion.
The nation, the United States of America, is in danger, especially because a majority of voters chose from short-sighted reasons. The numerical majority was not large, but the Electoral College totals were. The Confederacy lives on. The minority of voters are rightly outraged at their strongest and resigned at their weakest, with a vast middle who are just dazed, not aware of the daunting consequences. Those who do care must demand responsible defense of democracy and the rule of law from all in power. They might get it from independent politicians, moderate Republicans and committed Democrats. Lobbying, demonstrations, petitions, boycotts and letters are the recourse for most. Prayer and fasting are among the spiritual tools recommended by the biblical Jesus.
Evil and Madness are rejoicing.
I have an ache, a deep yearning to gather together in numbers to grieve and then to strategize.
In den Tagen danach habe ich in meiner Yoga-Gruppe jeden Donnerstag vor der Yoga-Stunde alle umarmt. Und als Thema haben wir das „Neurogene-Zittern „geübt. Vor der Stunde waren wir alle sehr verzweifelt und erregt und am Ende der Stunde entspannter. Meine jeweiligen Schluss-Sätze waren: „Das Zittern ist ein selbstregulierender, heilender Prozess. Andere vor sich Zittern machen, ist ein Zeichen von Arroganz und Hochmut.“ alte chinesische Weisheit — „Der Mutige ist nicht derjenige, der keine Angst fühlt, sondern derjenige, der ihr mit Würde gegenübersteht, so dass seine Knie und sein Gehirn zittern“ von Walter Riso — Ich bin so froh und dankbar, dass ich wenigstens dieses kleine Bisschen als Trost in die Welt geben kann.
Michaela aus Deutschland
TODAY A TRIGGER ALERT WARNING WAS NEEDED
(And here is also MY TRIGGER ALERT for this comment):
There should have been a prominent alert before the article: WARNING: this post mentions suicide. If you, or a loved one, are in distress, please get professional help. If this is an emergency, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, 988, IMMEDIATELY.
The casual mention, in the middle of a long description of the MAGA Horror Show, that makes use of several readers’ (apparently privately confided) imminent suicidal intent is not a “useful bit of drama” to be utilized to add flair to the litany of horrors of the current mess. People in crisis are not “useful proofs of a talking point”, nor should peoples’ suicidal ideation be sprung, out of the blue, in the middle of a long lament that only reminds people of why they’re in despair and adds to the pain.
A reminder: The voices of readers are NOT shared just so that they can be “used” without respect and permission. Readers’ messages are not a crop to be harvested.
My prayers go out to every one of those who are distressed. Please take extra care of yourself, and please, PLEASE seek immediate help if you’re spiraling down into despair.
After returning home from train- traveling, Seattle to DC, for the Women’s March (Nov 2) _ where thousands spoke in one voice _ I am exhausted. Whether our movement of hope, inclusion, & joy was set back because of a miscount in Pennsylvania, or too little time for the public to know Harris, or greed among Americans in general, the situation leaves me in shock.
This is no time to stop push-back; & I will, of course, be part of the resistance. But today, when I went to a live meditation, and failed to find a parking place, tears welled; and all I could think of was your daily meditation page.
Thank you MATTHEW!! I am so grateful that you are on this earth.