The Hidden Spirituality of Men: A Word to My Brothers, Part III

I am sharing a letter I wrote 17 years ago on the publication of my book, The Hidden Spirituality of Men.  This because one of the lessons from the recent election is that men are often their own worst enemies.

We ended the last DM speaking of the archetype of the “Hunter-Gatherer.”  Our species was full-time hunter-gatherer for 90% of its existence.  So we have it in our DNA.  But what are we hunting and gathering for today?  Is it a parking space?  A better paying job?  A mate?  A shopping sale at the mall?  

And might we take this powerful energy and use it for more useful and indeed noble purposes such as finding alternative energy, creating jobs for the 40% unemployed men in so-called third world countries, re-imagining education in our inner cities so that kids there go on to learn instead of to jail?

Another archetype to consider is that of “Father Sky.”  Modern science taught us the sky was dead and inert, full of mechanical parts that were cold, dead and pretty much complete as they also headed into oblivion and entropy or death.  

Today’s science says just the opposite: The sky is ALIVE, a new star is being born every 15 seconds!  Galaxies themselves live, die and resurrect as do supernovas and stars and all beings.  What a reversal this is.  The sky itself beckons men to open our hearts and minds and expand, grow, stretch, become.  

I believe much of the excessive violence of the past few centuries can be attributed to the shut-down of Father Sky.  We men had no place to invest our deepest passions of anger, moral outrage, pain, grief or joy and love and hope.  So we hunkered down into the tiny box the industrial revolution left us.  And we were set up for war.  For violence.  For following the most violent leaders.  For a deadening of soul at work.  Which is why we watch so much television when we drag ourselves home from a deadening job that emasculates the soul.  An escape. Any escape.

Another archetype for our time is that of the “Green Man” who stands for our intimate relationship with nature and for our generativity and creativity.  The last time he played a key role in western history was when he came, along with the goddess, into the twelfth century and helped reinvent education, religion and community.  

In a time when the earth is being attacked by global warming and the demise of so many beautiful and ancient species and beings, what is more powerful than for men to stand up and say: I have found my vocation.  It is to defend mother earth.  I will put all my efforts into doing that—as teacher, as citizen, as politician, as businessperson, as mechanic, as artist, as pastor, as father, as grandfather….

These are just a few of the metaphors of the healthy masculine that can feed and nourish us at this critical time in human and planetary history.  There are others, such as Blue Man and Spiritual Warrior and Fatherhood and Grandfather/Elder. Let us not fail to act.  Let us not be hoodwinked into wasting our lives as coach potatoes.  We have to throw off the toxic messages about being male that society has been feeding us for centuries, messages that confuse the reptilian brain with manliness.  Let us be lovers.  As in our Order of the Sacred Earth, we all take a common vow: “I promise to be the best lover of Mother Earth and the best defender of Mother Earth that I can be.”

The women in our lives will thank us for it and love us all the more.  And the men also.  And other creatures.  And the young will emulate us and become the men and women they were destined to become.  And we the fathers and elders we were called to be.

Fraternally,

Mathew Fox

See Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.

And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.

And Fox, Skylar Wilson, Jen Listug, Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action.

And Fox, The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages.

And Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations.

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

Banner Image: The offering of Father Sky: Awe, wonder, and perpetual creation. From Matthew Fox’s The Return of Father Sky.

Queries for Contemplation

Do you agree that masculinity needs a shake-up today and that these archetypes or metaphors can assist in the healing of men?

Recommended Reading

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature,  to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God

A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice

In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register

Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
By Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jen Listug

In the midst of global fire, earthquake and flood – as species are going extinct every day and national and global economies totter – the planet doesn’t need another church or religion. What it needs is a new Order, grounded in the Wisdom traditions of both East and West, including science and indigenous. An Order of the Sacred Earth united in one sacred vow: “I promise to be the best lover and defender of the Earth that I can be.”
Co-authored by Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Berit Listug, with a forward by David Korten, this collection of essays by 21 spiritual visionaries including Brian Swimme, Mirabai Starr, Theodore Richards, and Kristal Parks marks the founding of the diverse and inclusive Order of the Sacred Earth, a community now evolving around the world.
“The Order of the Sacred Earth not only calls us home to our true nature as Earth, but also offers us invaluable guidance and company on the way.”  ~~ Joanna Macy, environmental activist and author of Active Hope.

The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages

The second book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series, The Return of Father Sky helps boys and girls to celebrate a new relationship with the masculine by way of Father Sky, whose return excites joy and wonder and possibility that enlarge the soul to welcome others and all creation. Written in a rhyming Dr. Seuss-like style, this full-color, beautifully illustrated book, written by world- renowned theologian Matthew Fox weaves together modern science and classic spirituality in a whimsical, entertaining format to illustrate important truths to readers aged 4 and up. With artwork curated from illustrators around the world, this book expresses the joy and wonder of all peoples and cultures, planting seeds of respect, cooperation and hope to work together for the healing of our planet.

Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations

As Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take what’s in this book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless Youth.

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