Thursday, December 29, 2005

Patience and justice

When I was in Wild Oats last week shopping for my Christmas dinner, I picked up a copy of Yes! Magazine - subtitled, "A journal of positive futures". Matthew Fox was on the cover and the issue was entitled, "spiritual uprising". I thought I'd share with you a couple of observations by Matthew Fox from his interview by Yes! editor Sarah Ruth van Gelder:

Sarah: What impact do you think Katrina has had on our national consciousness?

Matthew: ...I think we've had a revelation about the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots., and it's time that we wake up. What is injustice is not sustainable, and what is unjust will eventually break open. In the Bible there is talk about the widow and the orphan - if they are treated unjustly, the whole Earth is off-kilter. I think people are beginning to sense that something is off-kilter here.

Sarah: Have you found concern for those left behind to be universal among spiritual traditions?

Matthew: Absolutely. Buddhism is explicit about compassion, for example, although I think that the Jewish and therefore Christian traditions are more explicit about justice - but justice is a part of compassion. The Western prophets bring a kind of moral outrage, what I call a holy impatience, whereas the East brings serenity and an emphasis on patience. I think there's a time for both, but I think we are in a time now of holy impatience.

It occurs to me that my two blogs represent my Buddhist and Christian commitments using Matthew Fox's model. Child of Illusion is certainly about my passion for justice and emerges from what could be called a "holy impatience". But the meditation blog right here is about serenity and patience. I agree that justice is a part of compassion. But I know that without serenity, without deep acceptance, we will burn out in striving for justice - so meditation is essential.

Update: In the interview I blogged above, Matthew Fox refers to the 95 theses he nailed to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany as did Martin Luther some 500 years ago. The Yes! website has those 95 theses listed. Here are the first ten (along with number 78 which is of obvious interest to me):

1. God is both Mother and Father.
2. At this time in history, God is more Mother than Father because the feminine is most missing and it is important to bring gender balance back.
3. God is always new, always young and always "in the beginning."
4. God the Punitive Father is not a God worth honoring but a false god and an idol that serves empire-builders. The notion of a punitive, all-male God, is contrary to the full nature of the Godhead who is as much female and motherly as it is masculine and fatherly.
5. "All the names we give to God come from an understanding of ourselves." (Eckhart) Thus people who worship a punitive father are themselves punitive.
6. Theism (the idea that God is "out there" or above and beyond the universe) is false. All things are in God and God is in all things (panentheism).
7. Everyone is born a mystic and a lover who experiences the unity of things and all are called to keep this mystic or lover of life alive.
8. All are called to be prophets which is to interfere with injustice.
9. Wisdom is Love of Life (See the Book of Wisdom: "This is wisdom: to love life" and Christ in John's Gospel: "I have come that you may have life and have it in abundance.")
10. God loves all of creation and science can help us more deeply penetrate and appreciate the mysteries and wisdom of God in creation. Science is no enemy of true religion.

78. Inner work is required of us all. Therefore spiritual practices of meditation should be available to all and this helps in calming the reptilian brain. Silence or contemplation and learning to be still can and ought to be taught to all children and adults.

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