We all need frames of reference. Human life — all animal life, in fact— cannot thrive without knowing its surroundings, and thus by adopting frames of reference with which one can analyze, anticipate, predict, and mostly importantly understand.
Understanding a situation does not bring about change in the situation immediately, but brings about a very important factor in life: a sense of ease and liberation from mere chaos. We all know how many times we have understood something incorrectly, and yet we can’t simply stop trying to understand, lest we fall into a stupor.
Such a risk of stupor is very much real today, as each and everyday the frames of reference that were agreed upon are challenged and upset. We hear, for example, that empathy is a bad word, or that it is entirely acceptable that vessels are attacked in international waters. And so on and so forth. Chaos is lingering behind the doors not only of our communities, but even of our own minds.
This is also a time in which our cherished frames of reference are put to test. It is also a time, therefore, to become more conscious about which frames we adopt and truly cherish. Maybe we can dust them off, study them, and dare to test if they indeed still help, or if a change is needed.
There a number of frames that we use daily but subconsciously. Authors such as Freud and Newton have changed our perception of reality much more that we think. Unearthing their influence might be too deep of a job, however, while I believe it is possible for most people to reflect on the frames of reference they hold consciously.
The Four Paths of Creation Spirituality — as rediscovered by Matthew Fox through his studies of the Western mystics — are the main frame of reference that I expect the readers of these meditations to know. But you, the readers, might have gotten here by any kind of route. Picking up more consciously the CS frame might be, therefore, very helpful to some of you, while it could constitute a good refresher for the others. The main exposition of the Fourth Path is found in Original Blessing, but a solid summary is also offered in Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
In my personal life, I integrate the CS frame with other frames which emphasize this or that aspect, or even challenge some of its presuppositions. Mary Daly and her concept of “sadofascism” help me dig deeper into the cruelty we are presently experiencing on a global scale. (See DM October 3.) René Girard explains to me better the mechanism by which victims are made into scapegoats, also on a global scale. (See DM July 16.)
Each of us hold frames of reference. Not caring about what they are, or if they function well, means living an uncritical life which falls short of one’s potential for wholeness and happiness.
It is of the utmost importance, of course, to counteract the forces of evil that are maiming children, starving entire populations, encroaching essential habitats… but meaningful action can only proceed from critical understanding. Which begets a global awareness. Which helps us stay strong and act compassionately while the most heart-wrenching tragedies are acted out.
See Matthew Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Also Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
And Fox, The Spirituality of Compassion” Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
And Fox, Trump and the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Banner image: “Equal rights are human rights.” Sign at protest in suburban Pennsylvania. Photo by Cynthia Greb. Used with permission.
Queries for Contemplation
What are the frames of reference that you adopt? Have you changed them in the course of your life? How do you criticize and integrate your own understanding?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
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
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.
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
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.
3 thoughts on “Understanding and Awareness”
My main “frames of reference” has been my growing mystical Faith and conscious openness
in my Eternal Soul to the Presence of Our Beautiful/Joyful and COMPASSIONATE Source~Co-Creator’s Spirit of Divine Love~Wisdom… With-In All physical/nonphysical Beings and spiritual dimensions evolving in the Sacred Process of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT in LOVING DIVERSE ONENESS….
I can’t delve into the totality of my Neoplatonic Mysticism (it would take WAY too long).
I “became” a “Neoplatonic mystic” first at about the age 20, when it was opened and revealed to me, but I wasn’t ready yet to search. That happened after about 10 years, and then gradually after that. I was shocked by it as I found out more and more of its messages. I read many, MANY texts and found it revealed in several religions: Greek/Roman, ancient Judaism, some Hindu, Christian, Kabbalah Judaism and Sufi texts.
I’ve been a “Mystic” for more than 45 years.
There’s SO MUCH in this Mysticism that it can’t be completely covered in a short text.
Some of my messages are in old texts. A few are in other forums. Most are just my private thoughts. It’s a Totality, a complete and complex system that’s too big to be shared in this “extremely short form”.
My frame of reference comes from a simple Congregational/UCC tradition of trying to follow Jesus, trying to follow the great commandment, using his guidelines of “by their fruit, ye shall know them” and “judge not, that you be not judged” in relationships, knowing that love is a verb and not a noun, and that justice is love in action. It is a lifelong process that relies on contemplative practices and community to inspire and give strength to continue the work toward the beloved community/kingdom of God.