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.
October 5, 2026: Annie Dillard & St. Francis of Assisi: Dual Creation Mystics (MF)
As we celebrate St. Francis of Assisi’s feast day, we also learn about Annie Dillard’s recent passing. St. Francis was a mystic from the early 13th century and Annie was a mystic celebrator of holy creation in our time. Matthew loves her sassiness and wildness in responding to Nature and science and her irreverence in attempting to name the Creator. How she weaves nature, science, religion and humor into a single whole. Annie once said: I think the dying pray at the last not please but thank you, as a guest thanks his host at the door. St. Francis’s greatest poem balanced the masculine and feminine in nature—“brother sun and sister moon,” “sister water and brother fire.” He unites the masculine and the feminine, the yang and the yin. He talked of “Mother Earth” as indigenous peoples do, urging us not to take creation for granted, and preferred praying in caves to praying in churches.
October 6, 2026: Music & Art as Resistance to Christian Nationalism & Theocracy (MF)
Pete Hegseth is “weaponizing religion” According to The Guardian, he is “imposing his own brand of religion on the Pentagon, framing the war on Iran as a modern crusade and instituting monthly prayer services.” He has called for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” Clearly, Jesus’s admonition to love one’s enemies goes right over his head. Meanwhile, there was recently a “Power to the People Festival” in Columbia, Maryland that lasted ten hours. Organized by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Tom Morello, it gathered rock, alternative, “and hip hop royalty” on two stages “to remind Americans of their agency to change the future and reclaim American democracy.” A report from Heather Cox Richardson** called it “Art as Meditation in Action!” If art as meditation is the “way of the prophets,” we need artists to enlist the people into action.
October 7, 2026: Susan Neiman on Bringing Back the “E” Word (MF)
Philosopher Susan Neiman has written a succinct but powerful and needed book on Evil titled Call It Evil: Understanding the Trump Era. She begins this way: How to describe these days of nightmare, when each morning brings another infamy that, not long ago, could have shocked us senseless? She says: Evil is the most explosive word we have...Evil is what you say when your jaw begins to drop if you sense that a line has been crossed. Also: Evil isn’t cruelty but something much worse: the ideas that allow cruelty to become ordinary. Says she: Since few Americans “favor bombing fishermen, shooting protesters, or invading foreign countries, why aren’t more of us in the streets?***
October 8, 2026: The Trauma of Life (GG)
One book raising consciousness about the pervasiveness of trauma in our lives is The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté and Daniel Maté (Gabor’s son). The book is long and filled with true stories of suffering and healing, as well as references to contemporary scientific literature on trauma. GG says that we are called to work on our individual inner situation, expressed externally through our body, as it has been shaped by our individual trauma. In order to heal, we all need to recognize that our typical responses to stressful situations are directly dependent on our childhood experiences. Caring for others without working at healing ourselves is a mistake. Perhaps unheeded and unhealed trauma is the principal reason for the cruelty that seems to be taking over the world. Maybe when we work properly on our personal trauma, we can be at the center of the healing activity that the world needs so badly right now.
October 9, 2026: Healing from Trauma (GG)
Gianluigi believes that the road to healing our individual and collective trauma must be spiritual, meaning that it must include attention to both our body and our psyche, yet transcend our bodymind into a higher unity or communion with the divine. Gabor Maté, a medical doctor who has spent his entire career helping people heal from trauma, describes the main obstacles to trauma healing: crippling guilt; self-loathing and its close cousins, self-rejection, self-sabotage, and self-destructive impulses; and blocks in our emotional memory. Maté has worked for most of his life with Western medicine. He did not care at all about spirituality, yet by pushing the boundaries of the disciplines he worked in and remaining devoted to healing his patients, he discovered the unexpected. Today, Maté quotes Leslie Marmon Silko, saying: The only cure I know is a good ceremony.
October 10, 2026: Counseling as a Spiritual Practice (GG)
Gianluigi shares what he’s learned offering his services as a spiritual counselor. He says: Listening to somebody’s deepest concerns, anxieties, and dreams is one of the holiest activities for a human being, something to be approached with reverence. GG has also become aware that all the wisdom needed is already in the person who comes to the session. His motto before the start of a session is: “I know nothing, I am just showing up.” It is presence that matters the most. GG’s fundamental theme is wholeness and integration. Matthew Fox talks about becoming the midwife of midwives. The best we can do for others is help them give birth to their truer self.
*Arwa Mahdawi, “Pete Hegseth just took his personal crusade to a new level,” The Guardian, October 3, 2026.
**Heather Cox Richardson, “October 3, 2026.” Letters from an American.
***Susan Neiman, Call It Evil: Understanding the Trump Era.
Banner image: Make art, not war. Seen in Bonn, Germany. Photo by the blowup on Unsplash
Related Reading by Matthew Fox
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic Warrior for Our Time
TRUMP AND THE MAGA MOVEMENT AS ANTICHRIST: Recognizing the Archetype of Evil in Our Time (Available for pre-order)
The Beloved Will Guide You: St. John of the Cross and the Triple Dark Night of Our Times
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
2 thoughts on “Week of 10/5-10/2026: Dillard, St. Francis, Art as Resistance, Evil & Healing”
Hello. I appreciated the remarks about the sacredness of listening. I am an 82 year old priest and have listened to many people over the years. In working in retreat centers, I found that listening was more important than preaching. I appreciated the comment about “knowing nothing” as one begins a listening session. More serious listening to each other would make our world better.
I wanted to support a book that a DM follower recommended this past week by David Nicol,
“Subtle Activism: The Inner Dimension of Soul and Planetary Transformation.” This is a quote from the back cover of the book:
“Can awakened consciousness contribute to social change and, if so, how? David Nicol introduces the concept of “subtle activism” to describe the use of consciousness-based practices like meditation and prayer to support collective transformation, such as global meditation directed toward peaceful resolution of a conflict. Subtle activism represents a bridge between the consciousness movement and the movements for peace, environmental sustainability, and social justice. It is not a substitute for physical action but rather a potentially
crucial component of a more integrated approach to social change. Although ancient lore is rife with tales of shamans and adepts intervening on spiritual levels for the benefit of humanity, this book is the first comprehensive treatment of this topic. Nicol grounds his consideration in the available scientific research and in dialogue with a broad range of thinkers in the fields of consciousness studies, transpersonal theory, and New Paradigm thought.