This is a weekly summary of the previous week’s Daily Meditations. Three of them are penned by Matthew Fox (MF), and three by Gianluigi Gugliermetto (GG). You can click on the title of a DM in order to view the original piece in its entirety. Also, please note, we will continue to offer a video teaching by Matthew each Monday.
August 18, 2025: Healthy & Unhealthy Shame and Healthy & Unhealthy Masculinity (MF)
Matthew continues the conversation that GG began about shame. He explored the topic in his book Hidden Masculinity. In a study about the murders of black men, mostly by other black men, we find that in prison, “the meanest rise to the top.” One convicted killer says, “Violence defines you as a man.” The importance of belonging is key. Shame occurs when one feels one does not belong. How can this be resolved? The killers say that a mentor might have made all the difference. Matthew interviewed Mark Nicholson, a therapist who grew up in England in the shadow of the First and Second World Wars. Another aspect of toxic masculinity is that men are often shamed for grieving. Thus learning to grieve can help to heal the shame.
August 19, 2025: Shame, Fascism, Healthy & Unhealthy Leaders & Father Figures (MF)
In our culture, men are taught to feel shame if they seek help from others. Instead, the ideal is the rugged individualism of someone like John Wayne. Dr. James Adams lived through Hitler’s fascism, Decades ago he predicted the rise of fascism in America. He warned of an all-knowing father who would preach resentment and aggression and wrap it in religion. Conversely, A healthy fatherly figure encourages belonging. An unhealthy one derides and attacks the stranger or underdog, sowing seeds of hatred and division.
August 20, 2025: Prayer as Openness to Life (GG)
How do you define prayer? To GG, it’s the conscious effort to be in relationship with the Divine present in everything. In his book, Prayer: A Radical Response to Life, Matthew defines prayer as a radical “yes” to life — which includes also the prophetic “no” to injustice. Matthew points out that, too often, modern consciousness has treated the soul-God relationship as a subject-object relationship. 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 shares a sentence by Tolstoy: To know God and to live are one and the same thing: God is life. Therefore, at its core, prayer is a kind of openness to life.
\August 21, 2025: Praying with Queen Esther (GG)
In this time of rising fascism and cruelty, it can be offensive to see people dancing and having fun while people are being abducted and deported or sent to camps. In the biblical book of Esther we read the identical story: the powerful decided a date by which all Jews must be gone from the Persian empire, or else they would be slaughtered. (Esther 3:7) Queen Esther responded by immediately beginning to fast and foregoing all pleasures. Esther risks her life by interfering with the king’s decision of expulsion/extermination. Through skillful diplomacy and sheer luck, she is pivotal in reversing the situation and saving all the Jews. Can we learn anything from Queen Esther’s courageous example?
August 22, 2025: Ecstasies (GG)
There has been a resurgence of interest regarding the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on the brain, and particularly on its connection with spirituality, prayer, and mystical experiences. On August 21, Matthew addressed this topic in the online magazine Progressing Spirit. He urges us to differentiate between natural ecstasies from tactical ecstasies. Natural ecstasies include: Nature, art, music, study, friendship, lovemaking, sports, travel, etc. Tactical ecstasies constitute more elaborate practices, which are ways that human tribes have found for facilitating transcendent experiences—including the use of LSD. Matthew first urges us to employ natural ecstasies. If we choose to try tactical ecstasies, he urges us to consider the risks. Matthew, in his essay, gives a cautious blessing on the regulated use of LSD in spiritual settings, primarily because people seem to really need it at this time. You can read his essay HERE.
More Talk on Ecstasies (MF)
Continuing the conversation about LSD and other “tactical ectasies,” Matthew shares a memory. In the 1960s, Matthew was part of a movement of about 80 young Dominicans from all over Europe who gathered to critique the order. During a break, a free-spirited young Dutch Dominican stood on his hands with a rose in his mouth. Matthew asked him if he did drugs. He replied, “No. I get high on life.” This is Matthew’s position exactly. We are here to get high on life. Another story: A therapist who counseled teenagers about drugs brought ten of them to a Cosmic Mass in Oakland. On the way home they all said to her, “This is the first time in our life we’ve gotten high without drugs.”
Banner image: Man with child enjoying the natural world. Photo by Derek Thomson on Unsplash
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
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
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
Whee! We, Wee All the Way Home: A Guide to Sensual Prophetic Spirituality
Years ahead of its time when first published in 1976, this book is still bold and relevant today. Perfect for anyone who thinks mysticism needs to get out of the head and into the body. Matthew Fox begins the Preface to this book by stating, “This is a practical book about waking up and returning to a biblical, justice-oriented spirituality. Such a spirituality is a way of passion that leads to compassion. Such a way is necessarily one of coming to our senses in every meaning of that phrase.” One of Matthew Fox’s earliest books, this title explores the importance of ecstasy in the spiritual life. Fox considers the distinction between “natural” ecstasies (including nature, sex, friendship, music, art) and “tactical” ecstasies (like meditation, fasting, chanting); he goes on to consider that a truly authentic mysticism must be sensuous in its orientation, so to cultivate the maximum amount of ecstasy for the maximum amount of people.
The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science & Spirit Meet
By Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake
When was the last time a scientist and a theologian discussed angels together? What are angels? Many people believe in angels, but few can define these enigmatic spirits. Now visionary theologian Matthew Fox and acclaimed biologist Rupert Sheldrake—pioneers in modern religious thinking and scientific theory—launch a groundbreaking exploration into the ancient concept of the angel and restore dignity, meaning, and joy to our time-honored belief in these heavenly beings.
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.
