In Saturday’s DM, we meditated on the lessons of Extravagance, Generosity, Magnanimity and Expansion that the universe teaches us.
Today we want to reflect on a few more important “habits” or “laws” of the universe that translate to our survival as a species, and to our commitment to biophilia, the love of life, that alone can save us from our small-mindedness and greed. Practices that can expand our souls therefore.
First among these is the habit or law of the universe championed by mystics the world over, but now named anew by today’s science. I am speaking of interconnectivity or interdependence.
Today’s science tells many stories that are all about interconnectivity: The molecules of blood in our bodies are identical to the chlorophyll in green plants, save for one atom of iron substituting for an atom of magnesium. The gravity that keeps me sitting in my chair is also moving planets and galaxies in the farthest distance of the universe, two trillion galaxies away. Spend twenty minutes in a room with others, and you are all breathing in one another’s water vapor—breathe deeply and you are inhaling at least one molecule of air that Jesus or Mohammed or Abigail Adams breathed while living on earth….
How does this translate into a moral law for humans? Catholic monk Thomas Merton, in the last talk he ever gave three hours before he died, said this: The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living things which are all part of one another and all involved in one another.
Compassion is the moral law of interconnectivity, the cosmic law of responding to another’s pain and suffering as well as to another’s joy and celebration. As Meister Eckhart put it: What happens to another, whether it be joy or sorrow, happens to me. How amazing that science and the mystics are now on the same page: Compassion matters and we all have it in us.
Hildegard of Bingen said: Everything that is in the heavens on the earth, and under the earth is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness. And: Creation blooms and flourishes when it remains in right relationship and keeps to its assigned tasks.
Meister Eckhart said: All creatures are interdependent. And: Compassion means justice. And: The first outburst of whatever God does is always compassion.
The Dalai Lama says: We can do away with all religion, but we can’t do away with compassion. Compassion is my religion.
And Jesus said: Be you compassionate as your Father in heaven is compassionate. (Lk 6:36) Many of his teachings and parables are about compassion, such as Matthew 25: Do it to the least and you do it to me.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth, pp. 45-47.
And Fox, “Creation-Centered Spirituality from Hildegard to Julian: Three Hundred Years of an Ecological Spirituality in the West,” in Fox, Wrestling with the Prophets, pp. 95-99.
See also: Fox, “Service and Compassion” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths, pp. 377-403.
And Fox, Original Blessing, pp. 277-292.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image: The intricate interlacing of Celtic art conveys the interconnectedness of all things. Photo of a portion of a cross in the Bishopwearmouth cemetery in Sunderland, by Dave Webster on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
What does it mean to you—and to humanity’s future—that today’s post-modern physics and the mystical traditions of the world are on the same page regarding the truth that interdependence, and thus compassion, are baked into the universe itself?
Recommended Reading
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.
Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life
In one of his foundational works, Fox engages with some of history’s greatest mystics, philosophers, and prophets in profound and hard-hitting essays on such varied topics as Eco-Spirituality, AIDS, homosexuality, spiritual feminism, environmental revolution, Native American spirituality, Christian mysticism, Art and Spirituality, Art as Meditation, Interfaith or Deep Ecumenism and more.
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
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
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
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10 thoughts on “Further Lessons from the Universe: Interdependence & Compassion”
Wow, thank you Matthew. Yes – compassion!
yes, this is about feeling compassion which is important but interdependence is a fact. There is only one, consciousness is all including who we think we are
Set against your messages, which to my mind are just plain common sense (but maybe not reaching enough people?), is a “dark enlightenment” movement promulgated by the likes of one Curtis Yarvin. Maybe podcasters like Thom Hartmann need to host debates between you and Yarvin, or between you and Nick Fuentes (another “Catholic” influencer). Throw down like Elijah did in the Book of Kings. See who wins the argument on the merits. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/01/05/curtis-yarvin-is-a-major-influence-jd-vance-and-steve-bannon-his-ideas-are-nonsense/
Thank you, Matthew.
What does it mean to me that compassion is “baked into the universe”?
Embracing this Truth into my soul and mind strengthens me into the knowledge of the essential power of the Universe of which I am connected. I surrender to that truth and the message of Jesus that He came that we may have abundant life.
I live that truth and contribute its strength into my actions in the universe in whatever ways I am led — I am strengthened in that path with love. Each of our connections is strong and important.
Blessings to all. 🧡
The word Jesus used at the beginning (of the Our Father) was the Aramaic word Abwoon. Abwoon does not translate as a gender specific parent. It literally means the birthing principle of the cosmos, that which brought all of manifestation into being.
When Christ is addressing it, and it’s a deeply personal way of addressing it. It is not like he’s talking about some kind of cosmic principle of creation. It is the kind of the daddy-ness, or the Abba-ness or the father-ness of this force. It is that which brings all that exists into being it is both mother and father, ‘It is that which brings all that is into being.’
It’s interesting that when you read in Aramaric, there’s a great statement in the gospels where Jesus says, “You must be compassionate as Abwoon is compassionate.” The word that he is using in Aramaic is the word Rachamim.
Rachamim that we translate as compassion, is actually the plural of the Aramaic word for a womb. What Christ is saying, is you must be womb like, as Abwoon itself is womb like.
What does this mean? It means a womb is that which can conceive, and carry, and nurture, and give birth to New Life. Christ saying that is what Abwoon is like. Abwoon is the principle of conceiving, carrying, birthing, a new life forms into being, that is how you’re meant to be.
10/9/22 – The Mystical Message of the “Our Father” – Fr. Seán ÓLaoire, PhD
Interconnectiveness is easy to see once we move beyond small-mindedness. Following the thread “Abwoom” connecting father (abba) and woom (womb), I found this lovely parallel reading of the English and Aramaic “Our Father.” Source: https://readsuzette.com/lords-prayer-original-aramaic/
Our Father who art in heaven
O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos, you create all that moves in light.
Hallowed be thy name
Focus your light within us — make it useful: as the rays of a beacon show the way.
Thy kingdom come
Unite our “I can” to yours, so that we walk as kings and queens with every creature.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Create in me a divine cooperation — from many selves, one voice, one action.
Give us this day our daily bread
Grant what we need each day in bread and insight.
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
Forgive our hidden past, the secret shames, as we consistently forgive what others hide.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
Deceived neither by the outer nor the inner — free us to walk your path with joy.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
From you is born all ruling will, the power and life to do, the song that beautifies all from age to age it renews. Amen.
Thank you Matthew for helping us become more aware that modern science/cosmology is catching up or reinforcing the truths of the mystics and our mystical traditions of humanity, including Indigenous Spirituality, that we are all compassionately interdependent and Sacred intimate parts of one another — DIVINE LOVING DIVERSE ONENESS — within Our Beautiful Sacred Mother Earth/Nature and With-In All Spiritual Dimensions Our Evolving Ongoing and Present Co-CREATION~COSMOS : COSMIC CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS of Our SOURCE~CREATOR….
So. My friend Ken addressed me’ Hello God’. It’s not me, though l am about, l said. Have a word with him, he asked. So l did. He said tell Ken’ there is a God and you are not it. So l said there is a God and l am not it. However, the spirit of God is in action through and by means of us. It’s not what you think. It is a process, action-effect.
Yesterday, I sadly learned that Rev. Dr. Barbara A. Holmes, African American theologian, Black Church Mystic, and activist, passed on Oct. 15, 2024. In your Daily Meditation (12-10-2021), you introduced me to Rev. Holmes, and I am so grateful. Her book, JOY UNSPEAKABLE: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church, has enlightened my spiritual journey. In the 2nd edition of JOY UNSPEAKABLE, in “Afterword: Toward a Future Together,” she writes of her conversation with Brian Swimme in 2002 (p.201). In RACE AND THE COSMOS, she discusses so much that resonates with teachings that you and Brian Swimme offer us in “The 4 Paths of Creation Spirituality;” e.g., “At the intersection of ethics, cosmology, and physics, a new view of human life is emerging—a view not neatly divided along lines of race, ethnicity, class, or sexual orientation.” She suggests we embrace that vision to overcome the isms that divide us. Matthew, if I missed your commentary on her passing, my apologies. If you haven’t commented, please do and/or repeat your 12/10/2021 Meditation. Thank you.
❤️🙏