Week of 8/10-15/2026: Silver Linings, Exploring the Anima, “Malice toward None”

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.

August 10, 2026: Silver Linings in America’s March to Fascism, cont’d (MF)
The gallop toward fascism began a good 50 years ago when then-corporate lawyer Lewis Powell devised a plan to support corporations and the uber-wealthy. It included: inserting corporate perspectives into the media, appointing sympathetic justices to the court, and buying politicians in both political parties. He also proposed reframing the interests of corporate America as “individual freedom” and opposing any legislation related to consumerism or the environment. Democratic senatorial candidate James Talarico proposes some solutions: raising the minimum wage, closing billionaire tax loopholes, permanently expanding the child tax credit, banning super PACs, and providing down payment assistance for first-time home buyers, etc.* He also has great ideas for SCOTUS reform. The silver lining is that this fascist crisis is compelling us to join together to clean up our politics, economics, and Earth.

August 11, 2026: Remembering Martyrs for Voting Justice: Another Silver Lining (MF)
A powerful response to the SCOTUS Callais decision, which gutted the Voting Rights Act, appeared in SLATE magazine recently. There, Shirin Ali interviewed descendants of three civil rights activists who were martyred in their fight to ensure voting rights.** One was Viola Liuzzo, a nurse and mother of five who lived in Michigan and marched in Selma. Her son says that if his mother were still alive today, “she would be in the streets encouraging every eligible American to exercise their right to vote.” There was also Vernon Dahmer, a white man who lived in Mississippi and offered to pay the poll tax for any Black American who could not afford it. Andrew Goodman, another white man, traveled to Mississippi and, along with two other men, helped Black Americans register to vote. The KKK was responsible for all five deaths.

August 12, 2026: Hysteria and Men (GG)
GG very much agrees with Matthew about applying the term “hysterical masculinity” to men like Hegseth. The word “hysteria” is derived from the Latin word for uterus. Patriarchal doctors and psychiatrists widely used the “diagnosis” as a tool for the repression of women in the 19th century. Behaviors that 19th-century psychiatrists would have dubbed as hysterical are, in fact, the language of the soul. Doctors marginalized the cries of the soul of their (mostly female) patients, pathologized them, and proceeded in their infinite condescension to cure their patients’ symptoms — i.e., silence them. Hegseth, Trump, Musk, and their ilk would all benefit from taking a look at the needs and emotions of their souls.

August 13, 2026: The Feminine Core of Men (GG)
Carl Jung is known as the one who popularized the concept of the anima. However, he himself acknowledges that it was not his original idea. Gendering the soul in the opposite sense of one’s physical identity is a recurrent theme in alchemical and mystical literature. For instance, Bernard of Clairvaux, even though he was a deeply flawed human being, wrote Sermons on the Song of Songs. It was written for the monks for whom he was abbot. Bernard exhorts his male audience to transform by developing their inner femininity. Weeping, deep feeling, sighing and longing were all encouraged by Bernard. Interestingly, and sadly, Bernard was a misogynist who did not speak fondly of real women — save for exceptionally gifted ones such as Hildegard.

August 14, 2026: Melancholy in Men (GG)
If Bernard of Clairvaux had been a woman, doctors of that time could easily have diagnosed him as a hysteric. But he also experienced deep states of melancholy. This is actually not that uncommon among religious figures. As Donald Capps has shown in his masterful work Men, Religion, and Melancholia, some very important male figures who embraced God with a fiery passion were melancholics. This brings to mind the Fisher King, presented in several different versions during the Arthurian era (12th century). His job as king was to protect the Holy Grail, but his masculinity was affected by a wound to his genitals. So instead of riding into battle on a horse, he sits and fishes, becoming more and more despondent. This representation of the melancholic man is very powerful and tragic. 

August 15, 2026: “Malice Toward None, Charity Toward All”: The First vs Current Republican President
The Civil War was a war with countless tragic casualties which ultimately resulted in the end of slavery. Abraham Lincoln, in his second inaugural address, said: “With malice toward none and charity toward all, let us bind up the nation’s wounds.” What a beautiful call to unity after so much division. Can you imagine the current Republican president saying anything remotely inspiring? Instead, Trump spews hatred and malice toward foreigners, immigrants, trans people and any others who may be different. In addition, in SCOTUS, corruption and antipathy toward the average citizen as well as the Earth continues. Perhaps, if we’re very lucky, this will be the last Republican president we have in a very long time.

• *Julia Conley, Talarico Explains Infamous ‘Powell Memo’ to Texas Voters, Common Dreams, August 6, 2026
  
  **Shirin Ali, “Their Loved Ones Died to Give Us the Voting Rights Act. They Have a Message for the Supreme Court,” Slate, July 27, 2026.
  
  Donald Capps, Men, Religion, and Melancholia
  
  Banner image: Close-up of the Lincoln Memorial. Photo by Caleb Fisher on Unsplash

Related Reading by Matthew Fox

Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

WHEE! We, wee All the Way Home: A Guide to Sensual Prophetic Spirituality

Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century