As I opened my email this morning, the following headlines greeted me:
“This Will Only Get Worse: Trump’s First 10 Days Have Been Nothing Short of Catastrophic.”
“Trump Shocks with Baseless, Outlandish Crash Claim”
“Top F.B.I. Officials Are Told to Resign or be Fired”
“Conspiracy Theorist Buffoonery”
“Sign the Petition to Stand Against the Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord.”
“’Go Find Another Sucker Nation’: Trump Fires Off Fresh Threat to Ten More Countries”
My theology tells me that we should “read the signs of the times.” But such reading can be very enervating these days. One has to protect oneself from excessive overload of bad news.
As I recalled in a recent DM, a lesson I learned from a Native American teacher the morning of 9/11 deserves to be heeded. She said it was dangerous to the soul to see the video of the plane crashing into the tower over and over again as was happening on TV.
The same is true today with the reportage on the newly installed administration. Yes, we need to know what is going on and what is behind the goings on. But we also need to guard our deeper self, our true self. We need to deepen our mystical lives and make room for solitude even as we learn to fight back and resist.
This is why we have been meditating together for many weeks on the archetype of the spiritual warrior, which is important in all the spiritual traditions of the world. The spiritual warrior does not only fight back and resist. He/she also takes care of himself or herself.
Find time to meditate, let go, be emptied. Get outdoors, hike, go walking and spend time in nature—the world far bigger than politics. To take in the Via Positiva even while on the path of the Via Negativa. “Walk your walk of lament on a path of praise” as Rilke put it.
Art as meditation is an important practice in hard times. It taps into our imaginations central to birthing a better world and it strengthens oneself to stand up to negativity.
I received this morning an e-mail response to a recent DM: I hear the call to be a spiritual warrior, but I’m finding myself being overwhelmed with all the stuff that is happening so quickly. I’m finding it difficult to replenish my strength and hope through meditation. Please offer in your writings some guidance on how to go deep for the strength and courage to move forward and to regain again and again a sense of hope.
Yesterday’s DM, “Community Support in Trying Times,” told the story of a gathering of the Order of the Sacred Earth wherein people shared their recent stories of carrying on important and positive work, both inner and outer.
The more the outer world needs fixing, the more our inner world needs deepening. Finding allies in community like OSE is a valuable and perhaps even necessary way of carrying on and “moving forward to regain again and again a sense of hope.”
So too is reading the mystic-prophets.
To be continued.
See Matthew Fox, The Reinvention of Work.
See Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, Jen Lustig, Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action.
And Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation.
And Fox, “Spiritual Warriorhood,” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Faith Traditions, pp. 404-422.
And Fox, “Community and Interdependence,” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Faith Traditions, pp. 80-100.
And Fox, “Spiritual Warriors” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 77-104.
See Matthew Fox, Trump and The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.
Banner image: St. Joan of Arc remained a faithful warrior for God in spite of many challenges and dark times. Painting by George W. Joy, photo by Fr Lawrence Lew, OP, on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Are you feeling overwhelmed at times with the headlines and “all the stuff that is happening so quickly”? How are you taking care of yourself for the long haul?
Recommended Reading
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time
Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.”
“Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter
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.
Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation
Authors Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox encourage us to use our talents in service of compassion and justice and to move beyond our broken systems–economic, political, educational, and religious–discovering a spirituality that not only helps us to get along, but also encourages us to reevaluate our traditions, transforming them and in the process building a more sacred and just world. Incorporating the words of young activist leaders culled from interviews and surveys, the book provides a framework that is deliberately interfaith and speaks to our profound yearning for a life with spiritual purpose and for a better world.
“Occupy Spirituality is a powerful, inspiring, and vital call to embodied awareness and enlightened actions.”
~~ Julia Butterfly Hill, environmental activist and author of The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods
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
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
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.
5 thoughts on “Sustaining Your Spiritual Warrior in Times of Darkness”
I have been experiencing a deep sense of anxiety that has led to health issues, hopefully temporarily. But it is all far bigger than Donald J. Trump and the United States. One whole world is in crisis. In this sense we are a global village. I do not especially fear for the environment: Mother Earth can handle herself. But humanity, as a species, has become too unhinged from our Higher Purpose and it seems increasingly apparent that we have entered a climactic phase. For myself, I recognize an extraterrestrial element that is, and has been, steadily revealing itself since the end of the Second World War. It is not all about little green men but more evolved species who have watched over us since we came to this world, if not even before. Humanity is being awakened to this greater Cosmic Reality and we need to embrace it with a profound sense of spiritual awakening. The revelation, I sincerely believe, is what can and will save us from ourselves.
If a few more Republican Senators and Supreme Court Justices don’t speak up and defend Democracy, especially now during the cabinet hearings of Trump’s appointees (especially Patel as head of FBI), more power will be given to him to dismantle our Democracy and turn our government into an autocratic dictatorship. Surely our democratic institutions and leadership can resist this from happening the next four years until the next presidential election when most Americans will have another chance to wake up before they may completely lose their freedom. Maybe even another attempt at impeachment will soon be necessary to save our Democracy from collapse before another national election.
I am no longer watching main stream media. If I did, I would just make myself sick, so I stick to things that will lift me up. You, Deepok, Richard Rohr, White Bison. And I have to make sure I spend plenty of time outdoors in nature.🪶🙏🏼
Beauty in the Dark Places
Today I looked out at the blue recycling can and the green compost can.
They sit under a large camellia bush, maybe two because the flowers are different colors.
The just blooming flowers startled me. One white with pink stripes sitting just above the handle of the blue can.
A few dark pink ones a bit higher up.
They were in the dark, at the bottom, where they were hidden from the sun.
The buds of others were high up, closer to the sun. They were not ready to bloom yet.
How is it that beauty blossoms first in the dark places? Thea, January 2025
Thank you for this, Matthew: “Yes, we need to know what is going on and what is behind the goings on. But we also need to guard our deeper self, our true self.” On another site this morning, I found this link. It offers help for how to navigate the continuing outrages presented by the menacing regime that believes they hold all the power. Incompetent as this regime is, they appear to know something about how to keep us all so confused, so angry, so overwhelmed that we simply cannot respond. This tactic, says psychology is “resilience targeting.” Be aware: this is a strategy of psychological warfare. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/flipping-out/202501/what-is-resilience-targeting?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email