Prayer as Openness to Life

When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3). “The righteous” meaning the seekers after truth and the Divine; “foundations” meaning both the pillars of the earth and the bases of society, i.e. true values.

This anguished cry of the Psalmist echoes today in our hearts more than ever. What can we do? The regular answer “Pray!” seems utterly inadequate. It is inadequate to the extent that prayer takes the place of action. But let’s assume that we are activists in an utterly serious way: must we still pray?

How do you define prayer? To me, it’s the conscious effort to be in relationship with the Divine present in everything. In one of his earliest works, which I take to be foundational to Creation Spirituality, Matthew Fox defines prayer as a radical “yes” to life — which includes also the prophetic “no” to injustice. I believe these two definitions to be the same, though expressed differently.

In his book, Prayer, Matthew fights against the widespread misunderstandings of the meaning of prayer before being able to reach its truer definition. He says, for example, that prayer is not primarily saying words, or asking for things, and it is not the equivalent of liturgy.

You can, in effect, say words when you pray; you can even formulate requests or express desires; and effective rituals are imbued with a spirit of prayer. But Matthew was searching in his book for the essence of prayer itself, which had gotten lost for so many people because it had been confused with things which are the husk but not the kernel of prayer itself.

The confusion today is even worse than in the recent past, as we are witnessing the substitution of mere words — called “prayer” — for social responsability and action, even making such uttering of words mandatory in schools and at political meetings. But prayer which is not spontaneous and free is, of course, the very opposite of prayer itself. Watch this video HERE.

The cover of the Italian edition of the book Prayer, which I translated a number of years ago, shows the picture of an onion. This seems a strange choice until one realizes that only by peeling the onion, layer by layer — i.e. peeling away the superficial meanings of prayer — it is possible to reach its kernel.

Essentially, in its kernel, prayer is a kind of openness to life. To all of life. An attitude of attention, welcoming, and acceptance. So what about God? As Matthew points out in his book, modern consciousness has treated the soul-God relationship too often as a subject-object relationship (plus, which is not a small thing, excluding the cosmos entirely from the equation). It is necessary, therefore, to access a new understanding of the Divine.

Those of us who want to keep using the name “God” must understand that God does not “exist” like objects exist in the world. Matthew reports a sentence by Tolstoy: To know God and to live are one and the same thing: God is life. But also Thomas Aquinas and Hildegard of Bingen knew and stated that God is life, life-in-itself.

Praying means to place oneself before life in its entirety and variety, perceiving and honoring its mystery. Those of us who insist that there is a Source of all life, which is beyond life, should not make the mistake of reducing the mystery and falling back onto a subject-object pattern.

We can perceive the continued presence of God to all life — if this language is important to us — only if we allow ourselves to plunge into the mystery of life, otherwise we are just uttering a statement.

We can be closed off to events and reality that we perceive as external and unrelated to us. Then, we are not praying. Or we can be attentive and open to all that is happening around us, in the understanding that those events are happening to us as well. In such openness resides the kernel of prayer.

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By Mathew Fox, Prayer: A Radical Response to Life

See also Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion

And Fox, Christian Mystics:

And Fox, A Way to God

And Fox, One River, Many Wells

Banner image: Prayer and Wonder. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

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Queries for Contemplation

How do you define and practice prayer?

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Related Readings by Matthew Fox

Prayer: A Radical Response to Life
How do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? Fox defines prayer as a radical response to life that includes our “Yes” to life (mysticism) and our “No” to forces that combat life (prophecy). How do we define adult prayer? And how—if at all—do prayer and mysticism relate to the struggle for social and ecological justice? One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, originally published under the title On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style, Prayer introduces a mystical/prophetic spirituality and a mature conception of how to pray. Called a “classic” when it first appeared, it lays out the difference between the creation spirituality tradition and the fall/redemption tradition that has so dominated Western theology since Augustine. A practical and theoretical book, it lays the groundwork for Fox’s later works.
“One of the finest books I have read on contemporary spirituality.” – Rabbi Sholom A. Singer

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

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.

A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey

In A Way to God, Fox explores Merton’s pioneering work in interfaith, his essential teachings on mixing contemplation and action, and how the vision of Meister Eckhart profoundly influenced Merton in what Fox calls his Creation Spirituality journey.
“This wise and marvelous book will profoundly inspire all those who love Merton and want to know him more deeply.” — Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism

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