In his major work The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Matthew Fox explains the six principles that he has adopted for planning and leading rituals:
- Reset all worship in a cosmological context.
- Bring the body back.
- Bring play back.
- Make room for the via negativa — darkness, silence, suffering.
- Awaken and nurture the prophet.
- Bring participation back.
In addition to these basic principles, Matthew acknowledges the lessons he has learned from worshiping with native people. Essentially, he tells us that he learned that authentic ritual always includes sacrifice, gratitude, and bravery.
The following is my interpretation of these three terms in the context of ritual, elaborating on Matthew’s ideas. Sacrifice might mean letting go of cherished forms of worship in order for more authentic forms to emerge. But essentially sacrifice in worship means letting go of the ego, which always tries to control and show off, in order for the sacred and the divine to emerge.
Gratitude is the essence of worship, yet not in the simple sense that people are invited to thank God verbally, but in the much deeper sense that the whole ritual with its bodily involvement represents an act of deep praise of existence itself.
Bravery means daring to experiment — and let go immediately of failed experiments! — but also making space in the ritual for the expression of greatness. This means that the relevant abilities of both individuals and the group such as singing, painting, reciting, playing an instrument, etc. should be included and honored as an expression of the dignity and the beauty of our common humanity.
Moreover, in The Reinvention of Work, Matthew dwells on the notion of ritual as remembrance, so well expressed by Abraham Heschel. Much of what the Bible demands — writes Heschel — can be can be comprised in one word: Remember. But what does this mean? Heschel explains: It is a recollection of how we have once been blessed by the manifestation of the divine presence in our lives.
Matthew’s attraction to this notion is represented by his using “we” for the entire human species, not just Jews. This, in turn, means including in our praise “all our relations” — the terms used by Native Americans to describe the whole of creation.
Heschel himself, however, presents a cosmic image of ritual and explains that Judaism in its origins is not anthropocentric at all, as all the festivities in its calendar were originally linked to cosmic events — seasons of the year and times of the day — and not just to historical events. Thus, while in appearance Jews and Christians celebrate only great moments in history such as the exodus from Egypt or the resurrection of Jesus, in reality their celebrations have “nature” and the cosmos in their background.
Most importantly, Heschel talks about the perpetual brightness beckoning our souls. Such brightness is nothing other than God searching for us. Ritual helps us making contact with such ineffable reality. Again, we could be busy with this thought alone for some time.
In the end, sacrifice, gratitude, bravery, and remembrance appear to make up true ritual. In our troubled days, may these be the four guides for each of us who are waking up to our mystical and prophetic vocation, and help us become ritual makers of the finest kind.
Banner Image: Bravery: a poet/activist recites during a Cosmic Mass on racial justice. Photo by Katy Gaughan, Washington National Cathedral; published with permission.
Queries for Contemplation
What is your experience with ritual making? How might these reflections on ritual help you to imagine yourself as a ritual leader?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance, p. 212
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
7 thoughts on “Making Rituals for Our Troubled Days”
Despite my profound agreement with what is said about rituals in this DM, I found myself uncomfortable looking at the photographs that illustrate the text, and this idea from the Daodejing came to mind: “The spiritual discipline on display is like a fish out of water.” Somehow, rituals are experiences that have an inside and no outside. Or maybe I should say that they are no longer rituals when seen with the eyes of an outsider. This peculiar feature of rituals may explain, at least in part, the secrecy of the Eleusinian rituals.
A meaningful thought to contemplate. Thanks, Daniel
Gianluigi, thank you for this. Your words add to my perspective on the rituals in which we engaged in Sardinia: “The whole ritual with its bodily involvement represents an act of deep praise of existence itself.” Thank you also for the reminder of Matthew’s principles six principles.
Daniel, many spiritual traditions allow their rituals to be photographed and even filmed. Photos and videos of spiritual rituals can open possibilities to people who wouldn’t otherwise know where to start. One may be drawn to a distant spiritual tradition yet not visible where they live. Spirit offers various paths to Source because different practices appeal to different people. I live in a small town, and sometimes to remind myself that there are Christian rituals I don’t get to engage in here, I watch services from All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, CA. As I believe in deep ecumenism, I can also watch rituals from Gaden Shartse Monastery (the Dalai Lama’s monastery) in India on their Facebook page or here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm7Mb6xiiSc
These things are among the reasons I believe we who are scattered throughout the world benefit from displays of spiritual rituals.
Point taken, thank you Michelle. I also watch familiar and less familiar rituals on line. The funeral march for Queen Elizabeth was a particularly unforgettable example, but I could mention many others of much more intimate proportions. I simply wanted to stress my belief that watching a ritual is never quite the same as being bodily engaged in one. I have no doubt either that some participants in a ritual may be less engaged than some who witness the ritual, and I totally agree with Matthew 6-1: “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them.”
I have been ‘doing’ spiritual work for so many years, that the doing has become more a matter of BEING! But in this spiritual walk (I am 83 years old) – I have found daily ‘ritual’s that have nurtured my body and my soul: the practice of YOGA (with mantras for each pose: lessons: that appeared from my Inward Teacher), exercising – MOVING my body to Classical MUSIC to keep it healthy and able to keep up with my grandchildren; playing the piano; listening to music and joining in with castanets or drum. But the most important ritual is the practice of Stillness and Silence: Centering Prayer: becoming the “Beholder” and then surrendering to ‘being held’ by the Great I-AM: by the Source of Life itself! This is a daily practice of Meditation and also sitting with my Quaker Friends in Meeting for Worship. All of these support my ability to “walk in the Light” – to make that shift in what I call “Sabbath Moments” to BE in G*D’s Presence Here and Now as I walk through my day. THANK YOU for your Daily Meditations (which I read along with Daily Word from Unity; Daily Bread; and Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations) – these too support my journey. LIFE IS GOOD as I stay open to its many BLESSINGS!
In shifting from the history of one culture to the divine cycles of nature, we move out of the Judeo-Christian tradition and back into the insights of paganism. On a certain level I see those pagan instincts as more valid than our culturally restricted perspective within the Abraham traditions. The divine source of all things visible and invisible far transcends any single cultural tradition and is, in fact, the source of all cultural traditions. The cycles of the day and the seasons; the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, etc; are far transcendent to the vicissitudes of one small group of people and the far distant past. It’s very hard for me to see why Abraham would be revered. He didn’t really do anything that any other man in his situation would’ve done. His treatment of his first wife Sarah was reprehensible. His progeny, particularly Joseph, did precisely the things that we would not admire, such as weaseling his way into a highly developed civilization structure and turning the wealth of that structure toward his brothers. It’s very hard for me to see this as anything other than conniving. I think that Matthew leans into some deep truth when he shows respect for the indigenous traditions and their relationship to the mystery of being.
Deep Faith, Mysticism, and Deep Ecumenism teaches Us that every breathing moment is a personal ritual to Open Us to the Sacredness of the Present Flow/Spirit of Divine Love~Wisdom~Creativity within and among Our Eternal Souls guiding, healing, strengthening and transforming Us towards awareness/consciousness of our interconnectedness and Loving Diverse Oneness with-in All Beautiful Co-Creation and evolving Living Sacred Cosmos, including All physical/nonphysical spiritual dimensions/beings….