I might be able to drive up next week in the nearby Alps, just to lie on the grass and watch the clouds. Though I am not rich by Western standards, I am surely privileged. I am not under siege, hungry, or in any way at risk. I care though for those who are, and whose children are killed or maimed daily. I wonder daily about what more I could do for them.
To the young Westerners who care, Nigerian musician Seun Kuti has recently brought a powerful challenge during a performance in France:
I know you want to free Palestine, you want to free Congo, you want to free Sudan, you want to free Iran… there is a new one every week… Free Europe! Free Europe from right-wing extremism, free Europe from fascism, free Europe from racism, free Europe from imperialism! As soon as you do this job, Gaza will be free, Congo will be free, Sudan will be free, Iran will be free… Forget about us, don’t worry about us! Free Europe!
To my dismay, I have seen an avalanche of negative comments posted to the video of his message, the most recurring being “Go back to your country!”
Those comments, ranging from hateful to stupid, certify to me that Kuti is right, that the problem resides not so much in Palestine, Congo, Sudan etc. but mostly in the Western countries.
It has been said, but needs to be repeated, that Netanyahu could not do anything of what he does in Gaza if he was not backed up by the U.S. government. In Europe, some governments are taking strong stances, such as Ireland and Slovenia, by instituting boycotts against Israel, but most speak good words while they keep sending weaponry to Tel Aviv. Weapons that kill the children whose death the same governments will lament the next day.
The problem is the West, who has become so willfully blind in order to protect its interests, to the point of being a scourge to the rest of the world.
Neo-imperialism and neo-colonialism, which are the true names of the forces at play, are words ignored by the Western masses, who both profit and are enslaved by those same forces.
The ICE raids in the USA are an expression of the same Western violence as the Israeli colonies in the West Bank. They only look different. It would be good to see more Palestinian flags at the ICE protests. That would mean that people understand that it’s one and the same fight.
So what I am doing by going to a mountaintop to watch the clouds?
I don’t do it for putting my heads in the clouds, but for the opposite reason: to get perspective, to see what happens from a vantage point where my anger is soothed before it becomes violence, and thus is redirected into understanding and projects.
It has become a habit of mine to do cloud-watching in the mountains around the time of the Feast of the Transfiguration (see yesterday’s DM). For a long time I have known that my job in this world is that of helping people reconnect with their mystical side. So I hope next week to get counsel from the clouds, again, on how to go about it.
See Matthew Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
Also see Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation
Also Fox, Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
Also Fox, Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book
And Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
Banner Image: Cloud-watching from the heights. Photo by Ilia on Unsplash.
Queries for Contemplation
What do you do for gaining a deeper perspective? And for putting into a larger perspective your job in this world?
Recommended Reading
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation
Authors Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox encourage us to use our talents in service of compassion and justice and to move beyond our broken systems–economic, political, educational, and religious–discovering a spirituality that not only helps us to get along, but also encourages us to reevaluate our traditions, transforming them and in the process building a more sacred and just world. Incorporating the words of young activist leaders culled from interviews and surveys, the book provides a framework that is deliberately interfaith and speaks to our profound yearning for a life with spiritual purpose and for a better world.
“Occupy Spirituality is a powerful, inspiring, and vital call to embodied awareness and enlightened actions.”
~~ Julia Butterfly Hill, environmental activist and author of The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods
Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
By Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jen Listug
In the midst of global fire, earthquake and flood – as species are going extinct every day and national and global economies totter – the planet doesn’t need another church or religion. What it needs is a new Order, grounded in the Wisdom traditions of both East and West, including science and indigenous. An Order of the Sacred Earth united in one sacred vow: “I promise to be the best lover and defender of the Earth that I can be.”
Co-authored by Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Berit Listug, with a forward by David Korten, this collection of essays by 21 spiritual visionaries including Brian Swimme, Mirabai Starr, Theodore Richards, and Kristal Parks marks the founding of the diverse and inclusive Order of the Sacred Earth, a community now evolving around the world.
“The Order of the Sacred Earth not only calls us home to our true nature as Earth, but also offers us invaluable guidance and company on the way.” ~~ Joanna Macy, environmental activist and author of Active Hope.
Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book
A centering book by Matthew Fox. This book of simple but rich meditations exemplifies the deep yet playful creation-centered spirituality of Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart was a 13th-century Dominican preacher who was a mystic, prophet, feminist, activist, defender of the poor, and advocate of creation-centered spirituality, who was condemned shortly after he died.
“These quiet presentations of spirituality are remarkable for their immediacy and clarity.” –Publishers Weekly.
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
As Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take what’s in this book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless Youth.
