Week of 6/30-7/5/2025: Violence, Evil, & Resistance

This is a gentle reminder that authorship of the Daily Meditations is now shared by Matthew Fox (MF) and Gianluigi Gugliermetto (GG). Meanwhile, Matthew will continue to record a video for each Monday.

June 30, 2025: More Ways to Resist the Billionaire Welfare Bill & Honoring Bill Moyers (MF)
In what ways can we resist the current regime and all its evil behavior. We all know about contacting our congresspeople, but we can also contact our clergy. Are they protesting? Are they demanding to visit ICE centers? If not, why not? This is especially important in the LA area. Also, we can contact our media. We can demand that they cover the protests and the illegal and horrific actions of ICE agents. Speaking of the media, let’s remember and honor a beloved and very fine journalist, Bill Moyers, who died recently. His dialogues with Joseph Campbell on the Power of Myth reached many people hungry for the spiritual.

July 1, 2025: When Animals Pass On: A Rare Gift from Andrew Harvey (MF)
As was mentioned in a recent DM, spiritual luminary, Andrew Harvey, recently lost most of his possessions as well as a dearly loved cat in a fire that erupted in his apartment. An animal communicator friend was able to touch base with Jade, on the other side. The wisdom and love that came through is profound. First, Jade assured Andrew that she did not suffer. She also spoke of her great love for Andrew and how it was an honor to embody the sacred feminine as his companion. She also said that the fire came, not as destruction, but as a cleansing, a restart, a consecrated moment of passage…. She said that the sacred White Lions are with her now and that she will remain by Andrew’s side.

July 2, 2025: The Great Tragedy of Humanity (GG)
We continue to explore the concept of evil, which is clearly so present in our world right now. GG defines evil as “violence carried to the extreme.” Are human beings violent by nature? Piero Giorgi, research affiliate at the National Centre for Peace & Conflicts Studies, believes it is not. He is convinced that the species Homo sapiens has not always been violent and, therefore, can return to being nonviolent. It is likely, he concludes, that Homo sapiens lived without violence from its inception as a species, around 300,000 years ago, to about 6,000 years ago. The invention of violence can be called the great tragedy of humanity, but it need not be considered fixed and immutable.

July 3, 2025: Violence and Human Nature (GG)
GG reports that “in Europe we are still reeling from the shock of all the EU governments but Spain’s bowing to Trump’s demand of doubling their military expenses.” Pope Leo immediately responded with: How can one continue to betray peoples’ desires for peace with the false propaganda of rearmament, in the vain illusion that supremacy solves problems instead of fueling hatred and revenge? Piero Giorgi, a neurobiologist, explains: During the early childhood the newborn constructs his own brain to become a human being, that is, establishes the basic nervous circuits to walk, talk, use hands and interact empathically with other human beings. That predisposition for empathy can change if children are deprived of loving touch in the early stages of life, or if they are later taught to be competitive and suspicious of others.

July 4, 2025: Fourth of July, 2025 (MF)
Today is a complex holiday indeed. One wants to celebrate America’s independence, but the reality is that many are grieving today. As Matthew says, “Much of the American government has been hijacked by forces utterly contrary to democracy.” The undemocratic horrors include, of course, the big, bad budget bill, shamefully passed on July 3rd. It also includes the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” which Thom Hartmann calls “a political prison engineered not merely to detain but to humiliate and broadcast terror.” It also includes the daily terror ICE inflicts on our Latino brothers and sisters—a situation bound to get worse considering the $170 billion allocated in the bill to new funding for immigration enforcement and detention. One thing is sure: these horrors will continue to inspire us all to resist until this regime finally falls.

July 5, 2025: The Scope of Our Hope (GG)
Early in his career, Matthew Fox named one “unholy” or “demonic” trinity made of competition, compulsion, and dualism, all virulently opposed to compassion, which is the true name of God. Creation Spirituality, under Matthew’s leadership, has consistently sought to address and redress this situation at its root. Overcoming dualism includes the overcoming of competition and compulsion. Matthew insisted early on that we humans as mammals have the possibility to be compassionate instead of being hostile, because the portion of the brain that is overly developed in mammals is naturally geared toward compassion. Piero Giorgi, as a neurobiologist, confirms that hostile behavior is connected to certain neurological circuits which are being built in the very first years of the infant’s life. A lack of maternal love can initiate this hostility. Patriarchal norms and dysfunction can further trigger these violent responses.

Banner image: The Minnesota State Patrol estimates 25,000 gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol this afternoon as part of the nationwide “Hands Off!” protests. Wikimedia Commons.

Related Readings by Matthew Fox

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics

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.

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