Cosmology, Spirituality, & the Power of the 4 Paths to Awaken Humanity

One of the many gifts I have received from the teachings of Thomas Aquinas is his observation that experience is not enough for teaching spirituality: One also needs concepts. 

Concepts give us common language, thought patterns, maps, and guides to what we are talking about, especially in the arena of spirituality which addresses the ineffable—that which is greater than words. Indeed, William James in his iconic book, The Variety of Religious Experience, says that ineffability is one of the important marks of a mystical experience. 

Words alone do not cut the mustard. This is why silence is so important a dimension to spiritual experience. (The via negativa). And also art. (The via creativa including art as meditation).

When I look at my own writings and pedagogy designs teaching creation spirituality over the past 55 years, I see many efforts on my part to share concepts. I have witnessed some significant responses to them. For example, the concept named succinctly in the title of my book, Original Blessing. OB is a concept that people get, and respond to quite passionately. 

Certainly the Vatican of the time (it came out in 1983) deeply mired in patriarchy as it was, saw it as a direct challenge to a previous concept that they were, I learned, heavily invested in: that of original sin. (Even though Jesus, who was Jewish, never heard of original sin as it was a concept named by Augustine in the fourth century, the century the church inherited the Roman empire.) 

Indeed, Cardinal Ratzinger, then head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith (formerly known as the Sacred Inquisition), misread my book and said I had denied his esteemed doctrine of original sin, whereas what I said was that Original Blessing must come first (check out Genesis chapter one—it’s all about the goodness and “very goodness” of creation, i.e. blessing). And 13.8 billion years preceded human sins.

I actually proposed some contemporary meanings of original sin such as “dualism.” But he was so upset by the very concept of original blessing that he couldn’t read straight. Which shows the power of concepts when we dare to challenge or deconstruct them.

Another shift in concepts that attracted the ire of the then-inquisitor was that of the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality which I proposed substituting for the three paths of purgation, illumination and union, as a way to name our spiritual journeys. The Four Paths are Jewish and therefore biblical. The three come from Plotinus and Proclus, who did not know the Bible at all.

I speak of these Four Paths today because tomorrow, I am excited to say, cosmologist Brian Swimme and I launch a 7-week course (three classes in December and four in January) on the Shift Network (we meet each Tuesday at 4-6 pm PT) on The 4 Paths of Creation Spirituality: Embracing Awe, Chaos, Creativity & Transformation With the Universe as Your Guide.

I am excited because humanity must dig deeper, as Julian puts it, into the depths of our souls and our society, if we are to survive as a species. And the Four Paths assist us to do so. Integral to our search for wisdom today must be the bringing together of science and spirituality. That is what Brian and I will be doing, by exploring the Four Paths from both a scientific cosmogenesis perspective and our spiritual lineage. 

I hope many of you join us and tell your friends—and enemies too. The Four Paths are a concept that can deepen our life journeys and help save Mother Earth. Guaranteed.

See Matthew Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer on Creation Spirituality.

See also Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest.

And Fox, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Hs Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved.

And Fox, Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality.

And Fox, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality.

And Fox, Meditations with Meister Eckhart.

To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.

Banner Image: The Hyades Cluster and dust clouds surrounding the bright star Aldebaran in constellation Taurus. Photo by Neven Krcmarek. Wikimedia Commons.

Queries for Contemplation

What concepts in creation spirituality have you found sustained you in your life challenges and work for justice and wholeness?

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

Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)

Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self

The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved

The Pope’s War offers a provocative look at three decades of corruption in the Catholic Church, focusing on Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. The final section in the book focuses on birthing a truly catholic Christianity.
“This book should be read by everybody, not only for its ferocious courage, but also for its vision for what needs to be saved from the destructive forces that threaten authentic Christianity.” ~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope.
“In the gripping The Pope’s War, Matthew Fox takes an unwavering look at the layers of corruption in the Catholic Church, holding moral truth against power.”   — Jason Berry, author of Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II

Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an Introduction by Charles Burack

To encapsulate the life and work of Matthew Fox would be a daunting task for any save his colleague Dr. Charles Burack, who had the full cooperation of his subject. Fox has devoted 50 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship.  His more than 40 books, translated into 78 languages, are inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and have awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. Essential Writings begins by exploring the influences on Fox’s life and spirituality, then presents selections from all Fox’s major works in 10 sections.
“The critical insights, the creative connections, the centrality of Matthew Fox’s writings and teaching are second to none for the radical renewal of Christianity.” ~~ Richard Rohr, OFM.

Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality

Matthew Fox renders Thomas Aquinas accessible by interviewing him and thus descholasticizing him.  He also translated many of his works such as Biblical commentaries never before in English (or Italian or German of French).  He  gives Aquinas a forum so that he can be heard in our own time. He presents Thomas Aquinas entirely in his own words, but in a form designed to allow late 20th-century minds and hearts to hear him in a fresh way. 
“The teaching of Aquinas comes through will a fullness and an insight that has never been present in English before and [with] a vital message for the world today.” ~ Fr. Bede Griffiths (Afterword).
Foreword by Rupert Sheldrake

Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book

A centering book by Matthew Fox. This book of simple but rich meditations exemplifies the deep yet playful creation-centered spirituality of Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart was a 13th-century Dominican preacher who was a mystic, prophet, feminist, activist, defender of the poor, and advocate of creation-centered spirituality, who was condemned shortly after he died.
“These quiet presentations of spirituality are remarkable for their immediacy and clarity.” –Publishers Weekly.