It is a good thing to celebrate the archetype of Fatherhood as a springboard to the healthy masculine. I do that in my book on The Hidden Spirituality of Men and in yesterday’s DM I reported on a rich conference on that topic. We need a lot more such conferences and open discussions on What Constitutes Healthy Masculinity.
Another way to consider a spiritual topic is to go to its opposite. Taste injustice and you know from the kick in your stomach something about justice and its importance. Consider the accosting of California Senator Padilla last week as he tried to ask a question of the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. Goons working on her behalf wrestled him to the floor and handcuffed him.
Seeing the event on video and hearing her defense of it gives one a gut check on the arrival of fascism in America. What a precedent it sets—as the senator said: “If they can do this to a sitting US senator for asking a question of a head of a cabinet, what can they and will they do to ordinary citizens?”
Let us meditate this Father’s Day season on four bad fathers.
Think of Daedalus, the father of Icarus who is in my opinion the real villain in that story. First, the reason he was banished from Athens to Crete is that he had murdered his nephew out of envy; then he and his son were imprisoned in the Labyrinth in Crete and the only escape was to put on wings and fly out. Thirdly, he communicated badly with his son about the dangers in flying too close to the sun—and we know how that turned out. (I offer this interpretation in my men’s book mentioned above.)
Let us also meditate on Hitler’s father; and Donald Trump’s father; and Elon Musk’s father. Many innocent people can pay a major price when their fathers fail them.
Regarding Hitler’s father, psychologist Alice Miller has written powerfully about how he interacted with his son daily in a most violent and sadistic way. She writes how it is up to us adults, depending on how we treat our newborn infants, either to turn them into future monsters or to allow them to grow up into feeling, and hence responsible, human beings.*
Regarding Trump’s father, we know he was an active KKK member, that he was racist in his real estate dealings with minorities, that greed was his god and that empathy and feeling were not priorities he taught his children.
Regarding Musk’s father and grandfather we know this: That he was so excited about the new and draconian laws of apartheid that the South African government passed in 1950 that he uprooted his family consciously and deliberately from Canada to move to South Africa. He felt it was a great place for white entrepreneurs to flourish, a place where racism and racist laws guaranteed a minority would rule.
When you add up all the damage done and being done by badly fathered men, it raises the stakes on the question: What is the healthy masculine?
What is healthy rearing and modeling for our boys and young men? What is missing in a culture that offers no rites of passage for young men and no open discussion of ethics and safeguards on greed? What is capitalism without conscience?
Alice Miller, Banished Knowledge: Facing Childhood Injuries, p 9.
See Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 33-42, 173-198.
And Fox, The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages.
And Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation, pp. 149-172.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, Trump & The Maga Movement as Anti-Christ.
Banner Image: Father and son sky-watching. Photo by Harika G on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
What examples can you give of what happens when fathering is devoid of conscience? And of the good that occurs when fathering is healthy? Let us be grateful for healthy fathering.
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.
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
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.
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.
