This is a summary of the previous week’s daily meditations. Some are written by Matthew Fox (MF) and some are written by his colleague, Gianluigi Gugliermetto. (GG) You can click on any title to view the DM in its entirety. Also, remember that each Monday DM continues to include a video teaching by Matthew Fox. Thank you for your loyal readership.
May 18, 2026: red Shuttlesworth: Civil Rights & Eco-Justice Visionary & Activist (MF)
AS SCOTUS seeks to drag America back to Jim Crow times, it feels fitting to honor some of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. One such leader was Fred Shuttlesworth. It was he who convinced Dr. Martin Luther King to fill the jails with young people, arguing that the adults had to get back to work. He was jailed 36 times; he was beaten by the Klan three times with chains; his 8- and 10-year-old children were arrested by sheriff Bull Connor; his home was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan. When Matthew once asked him: “Where did you get your courage?” He replied: “You can call it courage; I call it trust. When they blew up my home and I walked out okay, I knew they could not kill me. Maybe my body, but not my spirit. And not the movement. And I trusted God was overseeing things.”
May 19, 2026: The Wisdom of Fred Shuttlesworth, continued…& Lies from SCOTUS (MF)
Fred Shuttlesworth invited Matthew to dialogue with him on “Racism and Ecology” in May 2004 in Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham, 72% black and 98% poor, was the most polluted county in the country. Sadly, the poor bear the brunt of environmental injustice more than any other group, not only in America, but around the world. In 2019, on what would have been Fred Shuttleworth’s 93rd birthday, the Birmingham Real-Time News published an article on “9 memorable quotes from the civil rights legend.” Here are two: 1)You have to be prepared to die before you can be prepared to live. 2) Confrontation is not bad. Goodness is supposed to confront evil. Meanwhile, now, in 2026, there is a movement to impeach Justice Samuel Alito because “new evidence shows” that he “lied in his ruling to gut the Voting Rights Act.” Research by The Guardian reveals that he copied “almost verbatim” a Trump administration claim that “the kind of discrimination that once made the Voting Rights Act necessary no longer exists.”*
May 20, 2026: Breathing – part 3 (GG)
(Please note: Breathing – parts 1 and 2 – were published two weeks ago. If you’d like, you can read them HERE and HERE.) James Reho, author of Tantric Jesus: The Erotic Heart of Early Christianity, elaborates beautifully on the breathing techniques of Christian Orthodox monks. He underlines especially the connection of such techniques with the “Jesus Prayer” and highlights the similarities with Tantrism. St. Gregory of Sinai (14th century) teaches what Reho calls the simple yoking of breath with the Jesus Prayer, which opens up an entire new field of power for the mantra. St. Gregory advised us to mentally say the basic form of the prayer many times over: the first part “Lord Jesus Christ” while inhaling, the second part “Have mercy on me” while exhaling. The point of the coupling of the Jesus Prayer with breathing is to reach a state of bliss, which Reho, as a tantric practicioner, says is very similar to the union of Shiva and Shakti.
May 21, 2026: Stephen Colbert’s Firing, the Demise of Laughter at the Hands of Tyrants (MF)
Today is Stephen Colbert’s last day hosting The Late Show. Humor and satire are so important for spiritual survival, especially in a time of rising authoritarianism. Laughing at the emperor with no clothes is part of both resistance and survival. Colbert did not choose to quit. He leaves because Paramount, CBS’s owner, sought a lucrative merger and Trump had filed a frivolous lawsuit against CBS’ “60 Minutes” program. Paramount could have easily won the lawsuit, but instead offered Trump $16 million. Colbert dared to call it on air what it was—“a big fat bribe.” A few days later, Colbert was fired. A society that censures its artists, including jesters who poke fun at the powerful, is slipping beyond democracy.
May 22, 2026: Hope for Palestine – Hope for Humanity (GG)
In the last few days we have seen a few much-needed signs of hope regarding Palestine. The ban imposed by the U.S. on Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur for Palestine, has been lifted; the international court at The Hague has indicted Israeli minister Ben Gvir and other Israelis, in addition to Nethanyau, for crimes against humanity; the European governments as a whole are finally outraged at the Israeli government after dozens of their citizens belonging to the Sumud Flotilla were kidnapped by Israel in international waters. Unfortunately, there is also continued horror. The Knesset (Israeli Parliament) has approved the death penalty for terrorists, which could possibly apply to all detained Palestinians, who are currently classified as such. And the government of Italy has refused to apply economic sanctions against Israel. GG often thinks about the position of Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, who has predicted the demise of the state of Israel over the course of a few years, maybe two decades, and in its place, the birth of a multicultural, multireligious real democracy.
May 23, 2026: Seven Steps to Untap Our Creativity (GG)
As we often say in these Meditations, tapping into creativity is especially important in times of crises such as ours. In his book Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet, Matthew shows how Taoist wisdom can help us connect with divine creativity. The Taoist masters say: If you want to follow Tao, first understand the perfection of heaven and earth. After praising the earth, we also need to praise the sky. The Sky is busy creating: it is our origin, even more ancient than the Earth. Next, water must be praised. Water is itself a metaphor for the Tao, which is flowing, powerful, profound, unafraid, balanced, nourishing, still, and pure. Each of these adjectives for water is indeed worthy of meditation. At this point, and not earlier, we are ready to trust the human mind. We only open our eyes and trust what we see. This is followed by learning to praise the rocks, the trees, and the animals.
*Sam Levine, Will Craft and Andrew Witherspoon, “Samuel Alito’s Voting Rights Act ruling cited misleading data from DoJ,” The Guardian, May 8, 2026. To take action, see Petition: Impeach Justice Samuel Alito!
Banner image: Public plaque about the Voting Rights Act, in Selma, Alabama. Photo by Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada. Wikimedia Commons.
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet
Charles Burack, editor, Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation
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