This weekend feels sort of packed with issues of healthy/unhealthy fathering and masculinity. On Friday I was part of a 1-day conference on “Healthy Masculinity.”
And Saturday the White House occupant is celebrating his birthday, having called for a military parade down the streets of Washington D.C. to do him the honors. We are all contributing to his birthday present since we are footing the bill, which is estimated to be about $50 million (not sure whether or not that includes repairing the damage to Washington streets from heavy tank tracks). So that is one version of masculinity.
In response to it the 50501 Movement is organizing a national non-violent protest day with the declared theme of “No Kings” to stand against authoritarianism. They are expecting about 2000 such protests in every state.
What makes a healthy father? I suspect that at its base, a healthy masculinity both mirrors and accomplishes virtues that we admire. (The word vir means man.) Virtues of caring for others, thus empathy and compassion. And caring for the common good, thus justice, in all the domains of our lives whether racial, economic, gender, sexual orientation, our relationship to Mother Earth and therefore to future generations of humans and other species, and so much more.
Virtues are the true strength of manliness and the authentic power of virility. A good father teaches such things by example as much as by words. To stand up to injustice and lies and to power-over dynamics is to display important values, habits or virtues.
And to admit that we can all make mistakes and fall and fail, but to have the inner strength to judge ourselves honestly and thus regain our steps, rise up and return to trying to do and be better.
But we meet people and men today who are not the least interested in criticizing themselves. Many such people are perched in high places in our society and hold reins on very many power places and decision making that impact millions of people.
A good father and a good man know humility is not about debasing oneself but is about being real and honest with oneself and knowing deep down that we are connected to everyone and everything else and that the “web of creation” calls us to a conscience of interdependence and therefore compassion.
Working for justice allows compassion to be structured and safeguarded. And injustice against anyone is an injustice against us all.
All this is about virtue, inner strength, healthy masculinity and fatherhood. Authentic manhood is knowing we are part of something very vast we call the universe, that has birthed this home of ours called Earth. And that we are responsible for her flourishing so others may live.
All God’s people can live—the two legged and four-legged and winged and finned ones. Forests and soil and waters and all.
May we all be loving fathers, strong fathers, who operate from the inside-out.
See: Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.
And Fox, The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.
And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ.
Banner Image: Authentic, human masculinity: a father comforts his weeping son. Photo by Kindel Media
Queries for Contemplation
How are you celebrating No Kings Day on Saturday? How are you and your celebrating Fathers Day on Sunday? Were you blessed with a healthy father in your life who taught you truly virile powers?
Recommended Reading
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages
The second book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series, The Return of Father Sky helps boys and girls to celebrate a new relationship with the masculine by way of Father Sky, whose return excites joy and wonder and possibility that enlarge the soul to welcome others and all creation. Written in a rhyming Dr. Seuss-like style, this full-color, beautifully illustrated book, written by world- renowned theologian Matthew Fox weaves together modern science and classic spirituality in a whimsical, entertaining format to illustrate important truths to readers aged 4 and up. With artwork curated from illustrators around the world, this book expresses the joy and wonder of all peoples and cultures, planting seeds of respect, cooperation and hope to work together for the healing of our planet.
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox. He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
