Here is a list of quotes from Matthew Fox’s WHEE! we, wee: A Guide to Sensual, Prophetic Spirituality, which I believe make clear why such a 1976 book is in fact a treasure to rediscover, while also explaining the roots or the core of his own sensual, prophetic endeavor.
A religious person tends to want to use God; a spiritual person enjoys God. (p. 77)
The living God is remembered in spiritual memory which is never of objects but of life. (p. 85)
True ecstasy is the very opposite of an ego trip — it is our forgetting ourselves. (p. 134)
If we are ignorant of pleasure we are ignorant of God. (p. 90)
The person big enough to seek a spirituality of ecstasy is also going to be plunged into the void. (p. 111)
It’s not everyday one encounters a theologian who identifies ecstasy as the center of spiritual experience and explains that true ecstatic experiences are those which destabilize the ego and its claims (see DMs for Jan 7, 8, and 9). Even more, the word ecstasy conveys also a pleasure aspect while other similar words, such as transcendence, do not.
Pleasure and enjoyment are very important to Fox because they represent a forgotten or repressed element of Western spirituality, which is found however at its very root. If God creates the universe and rejoices in all creatures, the creatures themselves — called to keep and develop a close relationship to their Source — must share in such divine enjoyment. Pleasure, in this sense, is not at the service of the ego, but rather signals that the person is being led into another time frame, away from the purpose-driven behaviors which make up our ethical actions, and even more from our everyday routine of production of goods and services.
Matthew acknowledges also the existence of ersatz ecstasies which imitate the real ones and tend to manufacture pleasure. They are often unethical, using other creatures as means, but more specifically they nurture the claims of the ego, rather than quieting them. They are, in fact, the opposite of the real thing.
I find especially remarkable that in Matthew’s proposal one cannot find the naivete of other joy-based spiritualities — the via negativa being just as important as the via positiva — and that ecstatic experiences are honored for what they are, that is, points of contact with the Sacred Source, upon which a whole spiritual life can be built, through the power of memory.
Spiritual ecstasies — whether they are especially large and unique or relatively small and common — do not remain isolated, are not islands of joy in a ocean of suffering, as long as we are able to weave a tapestry with them, in the sense of extending their ability to dislodge our egos through remembering them.
People who cannot remember, writes Fox, who have no ecstasy to recall or refer to, are a sad people indeed—a people without experience of forgetfulness of the self and, therefore, without experience of God. (p. 82) This is why passionate conversations, silent contemplations of nature, deep artistic experiences, sacred sexual encounters, folk dances, poetry, music, religious rituals properly performed, and so on and so forth, are the stuff which saves us and keeps us truly alive. Not in a survival mood, but in a real and strong sense. We cannot dispense with them or consider them as extras.
This is why I dare talk about pleasure and enjoyment in these troubled times. It does not mean taking away the time for grief, nor the time for righteous anger. And even the time for being sad. But it does mean not letting these emotions take over our consciousness.
It is especially important that we don’t yield to the temptation of sadness. We have all the right reasons to do so, except that at such a point the dragons — those spiritual forces that work inside and outside of us to kill our ecstatic memories — would win the battle, if not the war.
Banner image: Deep conversation. Photo by Warren on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
What is the place of enjoyment in your life? And how it has
been changed in recent times, or by recent news?
Related Reading by Matthew Fox
WHEE! We, wee All the Way Home: A Guide to Sensual Prophetic Spirituality
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters & Songs
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision For a New Generation by Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox
Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century
2 thoughts on “Enjoyment in Troubled Times”
To me the mystical spiritual wisdom Matthew and GG seem to be reminding Us of in today’s DM is that We’re All a part of God’s Eternal Living Loving Wisdom Just Healing Creative Joyful Compassionate… Flowing Spirit within and among in Our LOVING DIVERSE ONENESS with Our Beautiful Sacred Mother Earth/Her living creatures/Graceful abundance and Our evolving multidimensional/multiverse Sacred Co-Creation~Cosmos in the Sacred Process of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT….
The quote from Matthew’s book that especially resonated with me is, “True ecstasy is the very opposite of an ego trip — it is our forgetting ourselves.” The Via Negativa/Contemplative Silence Prayer is about detaching from egocentricity in our transformation to the unselfconsciousness of the Divine Flow of Our True Heart Self/Compassionate Cosmic Christ Consciousness….
I have promised that aI will never let these dark and dangerous times steal the joy I have in life. As I remember the joys of the past as my 90th birthday party celebrated with a fun dance party. In the present joy of an incredibly beautiful sunrise this morning and the joys of the future with a new life joining our family in July. Blessings in abundance bring so much joy to my heart!