I learn a lot from our readers who post in the Comments section of the DM daily. And I invite others to join in. Recently a reader named Daniel, who offers regular and thoughtful comments, informed me that my celebrating the “wisdom” of Arthur Brooks was deeply tarnished.
I had focused exclusively on a long article in big.think.com where I was struck by the facts he shared about the explosion of depression among young people today, including students he knows. I liked questions Brooks posed about where the depression is coming from and possible remedies including searching for meaning and transcendence and honoring the left brain/right brain reality.
Of course, I jumped on the latter point since I am in agreement with Einstein that American academia fails at honoring the “intuitive brain” putting all its eggs in the “rational brain” basket. Having spent close to five decades fashioning pedagogy for adults and youth that incorporated both the rational and intuitive brains and witnessing dynamite results, Brooks and I share common ground there.
Our Cosmic Masses bring new life to ritual that too easily succumbs to reading prayers from a book or being preached at rather than celebrating with. Plus other practices like the Stations of the Cosmic Christ and recovering the mystics to nurture the mystic and prophet in ourselves–all this has been my life’s work and incorporates the right brain along with the left.
What I did not know about Brooks and where I am indebted to Daniel for informing me, is that he flunks the Via Transformativa. As president of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank funded by the Koch brothers and other far-right influencers and climate deniers, he is part of the Republican lead-up to MAGA. In his book in 2010 called The Battle, which Rush Limbaugh endorsed as a “must read”, he pits “free enterprise” against social democracy. His supporters included far right-wing leader Newt Gingrich, who paved the way for MAGA.
All I can say is, “YIKES!” and “I apologize to our readers.” But there are lessons to learn here.
The most valuable is that I find the whole experience to be a very strong lesson in understanding the full rigor of the Four Paths taken as a whole.
I was moved by Brooks’s commitment to the Via Positiva and his search for Joy and what holds us back. And the role of awe and wonder and a sense of transcendence.
He treats the Via Negativa by endorsing silence and the positive side to boredom and shouts about letting go of addictions to the screen, whether large or small, and how to go about that. There too we are on common ground.
But the deal-breaker is the Via Transformativa. While attending daily Mass, he appears to turn his back on the teachings of Pope Francis about care for our common home as laid out in Laudato Si. Does he consider climate change a “hoax” as the head of his party does? Does he countenance locking immigrants up in concentration camps (many of whom share his same faith as Catholics)? Does he oppose Christian Nationalism and racism in the highest levels of government? And budgets that give billionaires tax breaks while taking $1 trillion from health care? Does he put limits on capitalism?
Maybe he should read my new book on St. John of the Cross and the Triple Dark Night of Our Times as well as my book on the antichrist and learn the full scope of the mystical tradition including its prophetic dimension which dares to see evil and injustice and call it out. Hildegard’s and Signorelli’s paintings of the Antichrist are a very good start.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image: The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. Photo by Ajay_Suresh. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
How important is it that we incorporate all four paths into our spiritual awareness and life practice and work?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Times.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessing of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.
Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ.
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Times.
The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human.
Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint For Our Times.
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance.
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times.
Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet.
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved.
.jpg){kind=link}
_Office_of_the_Secretary_-_AMERICAN_ENTERPRISE_INSTITUTE_(40_CFD_OS_2002_1201_89_119.JPG_-_DPLA_-_03d77e5fb32d99aa37b184f6098b8e37.JPG"){kind=link}
_(53821618777).jpg){kind=link}
8 thoughts on “Lessons Learned from a Serious Gaffe re. Arthur Brooks”
Thank you for clarifying this. I must admit my heart sank when I saw Arthur Brooks. I did not even read the piece. I was disappointed and pushed it to the back of my awareness… I was too busy to put together a comment.
Plus I was feeling beaten again by the powers that be…
So… thank you so much Daniel, for taking the time to respond and raise the shadow side of Arthur… it’s very dark…
Chogyam Trungpa’s book “Cutting through Spiritual Materialism is a great reckoning on this sort of thing and it helped strengthen my intuitions when I read it first in the mid 90s.
Borrowing from Orwell’s Animal Farm in which “Four legs good, two legs bad” is the slogan of the pigs proclaiming the Republic of Animal Farm, “Three legs good, four legs bad” could be the slogan of the “devout nationalist Christians” who invite us to sit at their free-enterprise banquet after chopping the Via Transformativa leg off each chair and table and deleting 1 Corinthians 13:2 from the menu. Please be seated, Mr. Brooks, I will stand up and fast.
Everyone can make mistakes! We are all human after all. I am just getting an understanding of creation spirituality and I like how you framed this guy as lacking Via Transformativa. I didn’t research him on your original post, but I did find myself disagreeing with most of the stuff coming out of his mouth. Now I know why. (Also I found him to be insufferably smug. Yuck.)
I also admire your interest in young people and their experiences in the world. I have an M.Ed. and have experienced first hand how the “industrial education complex” treats children. It’s not good. Even in the “good” schools. Education today serves capitalism and knowledge is useless unless it results in money. Just this week I’m seeing proposals for putting elementary kids on a track for the trades! And accessing a student loan is being measured against the earning potential of the degree. Madness.
Anyway – I’ll be sending Mr. Brooks lots of healing energy and love with hope that some of his thoughts might be transformed.
The four paths are to be understood collectively, so yes it’s vital.
What I saw in the expressions of Brooks are what is common in those who actively participate in total self centered Christian culture.
Emphasis on the individual path to well being and spiritual development.
Some of which is essential, but it never extends to societal responsibility or the true common good. The only correct action is what you do personally.
Dear Matthew,
Thank you for your message about Arthur Brooks. I, too, had reservations about Brooks, because he had been President of the very conservative American Enterprise Institute, which has been aligned with the Tea Party and MAGA movements. I am a spiritual progressive and have opposed the positions of AEI over the years.
However, I read Brooks’ 2019 book, Love Your Enemies, and got a whole different perspective on him. His book deals with dignity and respect, and finding common shared values. He criticizes coercive leaders for their cruelty, chaos and culture of contempt. I am a hugger. Page 121, he recommends hugging. “A hug unifies. “We are both people with dignity capable of love.” I think Arthur Brooks has evolved and moved on from where he had been in the past. That is what life is all about and should be appreciated. You might want to read his book. Your admirer, Joyce in Florida
Very spiritually important! I found the enclosed video, “You can’t ’happiness hack’ your way out of systemic oppression,” by Visionary Organizing Lab very enlightening about the history of toxic patriarchy and capitalism that continues to destructively and unconsciously (societal shadow/evil) influence our modern societies with its materialistic values, capitalism’s greed economy, wars, racism, ecocide, and many forms of social injustices…
Our personal and communal spiritual journeys of Human Evolution on Our Living and Sacred earth/Cosmos continues to be very important in Our awakening and transformation (as witnessed by our many ancestral and contemporary mystics/saints/Light workers/Indigenous peoples) by Our Source~Co-Creator’s Spirit of Divine Love~Wisdom~Healing~Creativity~Compassion~Loving Diverse Oneness…within and among Us, including All physical/non-physical spiritual dimensions/Beings, in the Sacred Process of the Eternal Present Moment….
I am glad someone else had trepidation about some of what Arthur Brooks had to say. I did love most of it but was alerted to his emphasis on “family” and how he might define that and especially his suggestion of how important having babies is.
Thank you Matthew for considering some of his stance.
Matthew, your question got me to thinking about the importance of the Via Transformativa in Christianity and Buddhism. My partner is Buddhist and I am Christian. I’ve often thought that a difference between Buddhism and Christianity is not different goals, but different emphasis. The Christian path bends more toward social action while Buddhism focuses more on inner transformation. The core Five Precepts of Buddhism say nothing about social action, but I know social action is implied in the focus on compassion. What does that mean in Buddhism? The following piece speaks to the importance of the Via Transformativa in Buddhism. It concludes like this:
“Right Action is the art of living ethically through the physical dimension of our existence. It is the practice of weaving wisdom and compassion into the very fabric of our daily movements, choices, and interactions.
“This practice builds a life of trust; first, trust in oneself, as one becomes a person whose actions align with their values. It creates a refuge of safety and respect around you … the principles of Right Action provide a clear, reliable compass. They guide us toward a life that minimizes the suffering we cause, maximizes the care we contribute, and leaves a legacy of peace in its wake. It is, in the truest sense, the foundation for a happy life and a liberated mind.”
https://buddhistlearning.org/1-what-is-right-action-the-full-embodiment-of-ethics/