Today is a big day in American and very possibly human/earth history. Might Americans wake up and throw off years of barbaric politics based on hatred, projection and violence and reject a cruel and debased government?
Might conscience once again play a major part in our politics, displacing greed, envy, revenge, and power for power’s sake?
Might our long, national nightmare begin to give way to new directions and smart answers to weighty moral issues such as: “When is enough enough?” And “How do we tame human avarice and move it to serve the common good? And “What constitutes a healthy democracy in the twenty-first century?”
I was moved several months ago when David Morris, publisher of Lake Drive Books, began an interview with me about my book on the antichrist as archetype of evil by citing the opening pages where I cite Thomas Aquinas on tyranny and tyrants.
David, an ex-evangelical, does not regularly have Aquinas on his tongue—but that he chose to begin with Aquinas demonstrated to me how important it is to reinstate ethics into American politics. So stark is the current situation, that we invoke a thirteenth-century theologian who in turn invokes Aristotle, a fifth-century BC philosopher, on the essential roles justice, good law and the common good play in holding civil society together.
Instead of getting entirely caught up in the journalistic punditry of our day, it helps to call on wisdom far older than John Roberts’ SCOTUS’ Citizens United declaration that corporations are people that opens the door to amoral billionaires and the world’s first trillionaire pouring endless dark money into elections.
How do real people and real voters compete with that corruption? Voting is a start.
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has spent $466 million on this election to ensure he loses none of his privileges in the next Congress. He plus his fellow billionaire bros.
Is this democracy? Is this how to run a democratic republic? For Mr. Roberts, the richest man on the Supreme Court whose wealth runs from $25 to $36 million, this seems to be a sweet decision indeed. For 95% of the country, it has proven to be urgently sour.
May today’s voters begin the process of turning such nonsense inside out and take back the republic that is in grave danger of becoming an economic and political tyranny.
Companioning the scenario playing out at the voting booths today, I am launching a 24-week course on the mystics. It begins this evening just before polls close on the East Coast.
The two events are sharply related. How? Authentic mysticism is about becoming deeper and better lovers–of life and children seven generations from today. Of Earth and animals, water, soil, forests, oceans, healthy skies and air and one another–all the gifts bequeathed to us over the 13.8 billion years of creation itself.
“Existence is a miracle!” declared poet Maria Rainer Rilke. Can humanity recover its sense of awe and wonder, gratitude and reverence at existence? Such constitute the Via Positiva, the first stage of mysticism.
Why did Carl Jung say, “it is to the mystics we owe what is best in humanity”? And “only the mystics bring what is creative to religion itself?”
In a time when religion is in decline and ever more people are declaring, “I am spiritual but not religious,” a time when bishops bless the man intent on dismantling democracy in America, it is good to return to our spiritual origins, our mystical selves, to reinvent self, society and religion.
We can do that by becoming the true mystics and prophets we are. By bringing love and purpose to our work, relationships and communities. A class like this is eminently timely! See you there!
CORRECTION: Yesterday’s DM incorrectly spelled Dolores Huerta’s first name as Delores. We regret the error.
Banner Image: VOTE: One person can make a difference, and everyone should try. Manipulated design template from PlaceIt.com
Queries for Contemplation
Are you voting and assisting others to vote? Do you recognize among mystics from Jesus and Paul to Mary Oliver and Thomas Merton, guides to elicit and nurture what’s best in you and best in humanity?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: Recognizing the Archetype of Evil in Our Time
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic Warrior for Our Time
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation
3 thoughts on “Election Day 2026: A Great Day For Democracy? And For Spiritual Renewal?”
Today, a VOTE must also be a VETO. Then, a long and painful recovery may begin.
Yes! Yes! Humanity is slowly evolving personally and communally towards more Justice, Truth, and Compassion in the world. May the US follow Brazil and Serbia in this period of growth in spiritual democracy to continue building God’s Queendom~Kingdom on earth as it Is in Heaven…
Albert Bates is an internationally renowned environmentalist and indigenous peoples rights advocate who has been, for decades, promoting the “return to our spiritual origins, our mystical selves, to reinvent self, society and religion.” After reading my article titled The Catholic Church’s Coming One World Religion, subtitled, “A One World Religion With A Worldview Around the Native Word Wahkon,” Albert said it is a “good article.” Bates argued environmental and civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He authored the book “Climate in Crisis” (with a foreword by Al Gore). He was a co-founder and president of Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), a Network that connects 6,000 grass-root communities in 114 countries. He is GEN’s representative to the UN climate talks. He received the Right Livelihood Award for working to preserve the cultures of indigenous peoples. My article is located at https://www.towahkon.org/HippyOneWorldReligion.html. Albert Bates and Matthew Fox are in my article.