Radicalization is not always geared toward violence and is not always bad. However, being radically nonviolent is a way of existing in the world that might leave you alone, or rather in search of your tribe. Because it is not just about taking sides, it is much deeper.
My mind runs to the poet Rilke who wrote these incredible two lines: My God is dark and like a clump / of a hundred roots drinking silently.
We all know what it means to take sides and argue passionately. At times, we might restrain ourselves, and at other times we might go in with full force. But that is not what I am talking about.
Radical nonviolence is something that grabs you inside and does not allow you to choose your battles at ease, or to choose them at all. You are rather chosen. You need only to accept that certain events holding a particular historic or social significance are sealing your soul and making it a “property” of the dark God whose hundred roots keep drinking silently. And feeding you too, just not your ego.
Those who are chosen by radical nonviolence might or might not bring about change, but success is not their primary concern. Those who are radically nonviolent engage, of course, in the battles of the day, but are not sucked into the spiral of mental misery that is so prevalent in evil times, and that always plays the game of the oppressors.
Those who are so chosen must look for their tribe as if their lives depended on it — in fact, they do. Nobody can remain strong alone.
Those who are so chosen have roots which are not cultural or ethnic — even though these aspects are part of one’s makeup — but sense a universal communion that begins with humankind and extends to all creatures.
Those who are chosen by nonviolence — and allow such a choice — set their priorities straight and allow themselves to revisit them from time to time. They try not to waste time with anger or with futile debates. They engage people even more than their ideas.
All of this includes social activism and might include belonging to a religious community, but goes well beyond both. The rise of nonviolent radicalism is a fruit of these very dark times that is ripening. I see it. Do you? You may want to call it the silver lining of today, but it’s a waste of time to debate such a point.
Some say that what we are witnessing is simply the last gasp of the dragon dying. In fact, human rights and human values are trampled upon and refashioned in the image of an idol. And it is in this context that nonviolent radicalism is the expression of the depths of the soul of humanity, yes, the expression of our collective soul nourished by the dark divine roots that are rising and shining.
See Matthew Fox, Prayer: A Radical Response to Life
And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the World
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
And Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation
Banner Image: Two trees standing next to each other with their roots tangled in Felsenmeer in Lautertal, Odenwald, Germany; part of “Felsberg bei Reichenbach” nature reserve. Photo by Denis Zastanceanu on Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you think of yourself as radical? What emotions arise in you when you try to answer such a question?
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
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.
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Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
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.
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
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
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
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
6 thoughts on “Roots”
Contemplatively I seem to avoid self-conscious thinking about myself and my identity. My consciousness/awareness seems to Faithfully and trustingly be more about Being and Becoming Compassionately True and responsive in my heart/body to the Loving~Wise~Co-Creative Spirit in the Flowing Sacred Present Moment of LOVING DIVERSE ONENESS…
Thank you for this beautifully articulated account of of one of the most important movements of our time, probably of any time. But of course, were we ever to become a recognised ‘movement’, our essential belonging to ‘God’ rather than any social grouping would be compromised. Made me think of Leunig’s cartoon and prayer for blessing for the ‘lone tunnelers’. Thank you.
Every morning I ask myself: Am I doing what’s required of me in a time of rising fascism? To mix metaphors, am I fiddling as the Titanic sinks? Is the sinking of America’s imperiousness necessary to end the secret (and overt) wars our country engages in to maintain economic superiority? Or to end our overuse of the planet’s resources? Every day I’m shocked at the capitulation of so many of our institutions: media, elected officials, corporations, universities?
How can it be that all these don’t realize that if they banded together in opposition to galloping fascism they could face it down?
I told my partner yesterday that as I engage in resisting fascism I refuse to let the miscreants steal my joy. As a Buddhist he agrees: Our joy must not depend on external circumstances. Republicans are fine with dismantling our Constitution. Our Democratic leaders are trying to follow it, but seem stymied and clueless.
I’m “just one citizen.” But as I try to remain sane, hopeful, joyful, and at peace, am I doing enough?
Radical non violence is not only spiritually appropriate but necessary.
The current administration would like nothing more than violent
protest to meet that with military action.
Another emergency, martial law declared, dictatorship for the foreseeable future.
I consider myself radical in the positive sense of trying to get to the roots of whatever is going on and not staying on the surface. I don’t do small talk very well and am not interested in it. I am more interested in getting to the heart of the matter and trying to see the big picture. Contemplative practices help. The question I always ask is cui bono? It usually traces to greed and money and who is benefiting financially. That is so clear in the recent actions against late night comedians. As if the media did not make enough money, they want more from huge buy outs; this is only one small example of the power of corporations over everything. And they will bow down to dictators every single time.
Radical can be plain, quiet, alone but not lonely, and still. Enough said. — BB.