We are meditating on our most powerful wish for humanity in this upcoming year, 2025. I named mine in yesterday’s DM this way: “That we could rediscover our relationship to the cosmos.” Why? Because it is from that that our generosity, our gratitude, our wonder, our sense of reverence and of the sacred are rediscovered and energized anew.
And because a dream told me years ago that there is only one thing wrong with our species, that we have lost the sense of the sacred. And connecting to the cosmos is how we reawaken that sense. I closed yesterday’s DM citing both Einstein and artist Robert Henri on what Einstein himself called “the most important function of art and science, namely to awaken the cosmic religious feeling.”
Let us invite Henri into the discussion again. Says he: Everything that is beautiful is orderly, and there can be no order unless things are in their right relation to each other. Of this right relation throughout the world beauty is born. Of course “right relation” is another term for justice and balance and fairness. And ultimately, for compassion.
Henri continues: Art is the noting of the existence of order throughout the world and so, order stirs imagination and inspires one to reproduce this beautiful relationship existing in the universe, as best one can.
Does the Webb Telescope feed us today and stir our imaginations by its discoveries of order through 13.8 billion years of cosmic happenings in the universe beamed into our living rooms and onto our computers and arousing new scientific debates?
Henri continues. Everywhere I find that the moment order in nature is understood and freely shown, the result is nobility—the Irish peasant has nobility of language and facial expression; the North American Indian has nobility of poise, of gesture; nearly all children have nobility of impulse. This orderliness must exist or the world could not hold together.*
Nobility is key to Jesus’ teaching of the coming of the kingdom/queendom of God and of democracy, according to Meister Eckhart.
If the world seems not to be holding together—if greed and envy and power-over is taking priority over the search for beauty and orderliness and justice–maybe we have to reconnect more fully with our origins, the cosmos.
Maybe we need a civilization that begins with the cosmos and not with us.
This is the primary meaning of ritual, ceremony or liturgy: To connect the community to the Whole. Connect psyche to cosmos. And the cosmos, with its inestimable beauty and creativity, to the psyche. To bring heaven and earth together as Jesus prayed in his “Our Father-Mother” prayer. And as Mahatma Gandhi observed, “earth and heaven are in us.”
*Robert Henri, The Art Spirit, p. 144.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Chapter 4: Cosmic, Universalist: Harmony, Beauty, Justice as Cosmic Energies, in Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality, pp. 79f., 68.
And Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations, p. 361.
See Fox, “Jesus and Democracy,” in Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, pp. 31-51.
See also: Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance.
And Matthew Fox and Bishop Marc Andrus, Stations of the Cosmic Christ.
And Fox, The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human.
Banner Image: Envisioning the spirits of creation: “Blue Winter Kachinas.” Painting by Navajo shaman/artist David Paladin. Published with permission.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you agree that Nobility is the result of rediscovering the order of things and the proper relationships of humanity to the cosmos? How important is it to rediscover a sense of nobility in self and others including those different from ourselves? How might that change history for the good?
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
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.
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.
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author of The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe.
“This book is a classic.” Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth.
Stations of the Cosmic Christ
By Matthew Fox and Bishop Marc Andrus.
This is a book of meditations on the Cosmic Christ, accompanying the images of 16 wonderful clay tablets by Javier Ullrrich Lemus and M.C. Richards. Together, these images and meditations go far beyond the traditional Stations of the Cross to inspire a spirit awakening and understanding of the cosmic Christ Consciousness, Buddha consciousness, and consciousness of the image of God in all beings, so needed in our times.
“A divinely inspired book that must be read by every human being devoted to spiritual and global survival. It is cosmically brilliant.” — Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human
The A.W.E. Project reminds us that awe is the appropriate response to the unfathomable wonder that is creation… A.W.E. is also the acronym for Fox’s proposed style of learning – an approach to balance the three R’s. This approach to learning, eldering, and mentoring is intelligent enough to honor the teachings of the Ancestors, to nurture Wisdom in addition to imparting knowledge, and to Educate through Fox’s 10 C’s. The 10 C’s are the core of the A.W.E. philosophy and process of education, and include: compassion, contemplation, and creativity. The A.W.E. Project does for the vast subject of “learning” what Fox’s Reinvention of Work did for vocation and Original Blessing did for theology. Included in the book is a dvd of the 10 C’s put to 10 video raps created and performed by Professor Pitt.
“An awe-based vision of educational renewal.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
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7 thoughts on “A Wish for Humanity in the New Year 2025, continued”
If you were to offer every one in mankind a choice between a one and only gift what would they choose: (i) their one and only car/truck/SUV that will be exchanged for another new one annually; or, (ii) their own personal Webb telescope. The overriding majority would choose the vehicle as it is what will get them around in this life ie to go to work, drop off kids, go on vacation, trip to get groceries, etc. As for the stars and the cosmos, the trade-off would be to look up to the sky at night and reserve that time for awe and wonder if desired.
The point being, most people don’t get carried away by the awe of the cosmos if their own personal world is on fire and if they are struggling. This is the same as Jesus telling us not to bless/pray for the starving and turn them away, when we should be feeding them. My intention for this year is to keep my / our ‘feet on the ground’ and care for those around us, being ‘the sea of humanity’. — BB.
Hi Bill, I think when one really sees God in all things, Christ’s peace (the peace Jesus promises) really does replace the anxieties you talk about, even as one deals with those difficulties in life that you mention. One way to gain that awe is to learn from the great quantum physicists/cosmologists that every atom of the universe, including what we are made of and every piece of matter that we touch and feel and eat- is packaged energy from the initial big bang. We are made of the same energy as our world and universe! That is how amazing God is and all that God has created. I didn’t start having immense respect for our environment until I meditated on this. Now my whole life is lived differently. The Webb telescope shows us how God creates and can convert hearts! That is worth everything.
Making some connections in my mind: a pbs documentary on Leonardo DaVinci and how he always looked to nature for inspiration; the picture in today’s meditation- seems like all in nature is curved and circular. Recently I saw a picture of my own eye in an exam, a beautiful orbital shape with curved lines, and another
One that struck me as looking like a planet. Mars, to be exact. The ability to appreciate all these things and connect them is a treasure to me.
I watched an interesting presentation by biologist Daryl Domning to the American Teilhard Association based on the 2018 paper entitled: “Teilhard de Chardin, original sin, and the Six Propositions ” by theologians/researchers, Grumett & Bentley. (https://teilharddechardin.org/resources/videos/) In the presentation, Domning fills in the gap on Teilhard’s work on the general theory of evil. Domning shows his diagram of evil explained, which is the breakdown of matter – similar (and opposite to) as you write in your DM on beauty and order. It goes something like this (and I am just a lay person so may not be completely accurate here and welcome correction): Physical Evil = [Particulate Nature of Matter —> Breakability of Matter (e.g., mutation, destruction of materials through war or our planet through enhanced climate change)] God’s process of evolution = [natural selection + selfishness] using human intelligence and free will, naturally incorporates sin = [Moral Evil]. In other words, physical and moral evils (physical and moral breakdowns and death) and rebuilding (rebirth) to greater beauty and order are necessary and natural parts of the evolutionary process of our Cosmos as we all move towards (as Teilhard terms) the Omega.
Yes! The Sacredness of every human being’s Eternal Soul is our unique integration of our human and Divine natures with the corresponding awareness/consciousness of Our Wholeness~Loving Diverse ONENESS with-in All of Our Sacred Living Evolving Cosmos — DIVINE LOVE of COSMIC CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS….
Serendipity:
I happen to be reading Elif Shafak’s novel, The Island of Missing Trees. It is a mystic exploration that gives trees and birds (Mother Nature) a fulsome voice while exploring the root of human disfunction that divides families and leads to wars: the feud between Turks and Greeks in Cyprus (1970s) which reminds of the current ongoing Israel and Gaza debacle. It is described as a “A wise novel of love and grief, roots and branches, displacement and home, faith and belief…. a balm for our bruised times.”
Decades ago I purchased a copy of “The Golden Verses of the Pythagoreans”. I have never forgotten the opening lines, “Pay honour first to the Immortal Gods as Order hath established Their choirs.” Cosmic Hierarchy and order are all around us but we have to have eyes to see. In 1984, I came across “The Twelve Blessings”, a text delivered, it is claimed, by Jesus on twelve consecutive Sundays in 1958. Most people would dismiss the book as sacrilege or else as laughable, but the Blessings caught not only my eye but my heart and imagination. When we sincerely seek it is indeed true that we sincerely find, but we have to put ourselves out on a limb and look beyond the orthodox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvKlDTWnQ4k