I want to bring attention to the readers of these Daily Meditations that a tragedy has befallen my friend, and a friend of many of yours, this past month. Andrew Harvey, mystic par excellence and spiritual warrior in his own right who has awakened so many to their deepest selves, underwent a Via Negativa of profound proportions.
Just after he stepped away from his apartment in the Chicago area to take a break from his writing early this month, it burned down and he lost everything in it. All his books and everything except his computer was lost. Even his beloved cat and close companion for 15 years—yes, his spiritual director, named Jade.
But to the surprise of no one, he is bouncing back and feeling lighter and even blessed. He is walking his talk and deeply mindful of what matters. I remember how his mentor, Father Bede Griffith, used to say that his stroke had “killed whatever was left of my left brain” and lived a very transcendent existence and still very engaged life teaching and traveling after that. Something similar seems to be happening to Andrew too.
This rupture or dark night seems to be a special blessing for Andrew. But he still lives in our demanding world and the Shift Network, to its credit, has started a Go Fund Me campaign for Andrew. I encourage you to contribute if you are able and so moved. Andrew has so much to continue to give to the world. To support him in his rise from the ashes, click HERE.
As Andrew wrote recently, despite everything and through the love and work of my team, I find myself in the greatest peace and joy I have ever known, surrendered and resolute to continue to give everything I am and have to you.
I have lost everything; unpublished manuscripts, books, clothes, carpets, the few treasures I have collected over a lifetime, and above all, the cat who was everything to me, the great love of my life, Jade.
I shared with Andrew, who has written extensively on Rumi, a poem that was new to him but very pertinent to the moment. Not only Andrew’s immediate moment but all of us as we wrestle with so many moments of dark nights and letting go’s that are a sign of our times.
Ah, one spark flew
And burned the house of my heart.
Smoke filled the sky.
The flames grew fierce in the wind
The fire of the heart is not easily lit.
So don’t cry out:‘ O Lord, rescue me
from the burning flames!
Spare me from the army of thoughts
that is marching through my mind!”
O Heart of Pure Consciousness,
You are the ruler of all hearts.
After countless ages
you brought my soul
all it ever wished for.*
*See Matthew Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Times, pp. 198f.
Other pertinent books are these:
Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
Fox, Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic–and Beyond.
Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ (where Andrew wrote an Afterword)
Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths.
Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance.
Banner Image: Fire-bird arising from destruction. Photo by Javardh on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
Have you undergone experiences of the Via Negativa and Letting Go parallel to Andrew’s? What has it taught you? Does Rumi’s poem speak to you?
Recommended Reading
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time
While Matthew Fox recognizes that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers throughout history, he also wants to introduce Eckhart to today’s activists addressing contemporary crises. Toward that end, Fox creates dialogues between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Rich, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and many others.
“Matthew Fox is perhaps the greatest writer on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has successfully bridged a gap between Eckhart as a shamanistic personality and Eckhart as a post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith movement, to reveal just how cosmic Eckhart really is, and how remarkably relevant to today’s religious crisis! ” — Steven Herrmann, Author of Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward
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
Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic–and Beyond
Julian of Norwich lived through the dreadful bubonic plague that killed close to 50% of Europeans. Being an anchoress, she ‘sheltered in place’ and developed a deep wisdom that she shared in her book, Showings, which was the first book in English by a woman. A theologian way ahead of her time, Julian develops a feminist understanding of God as mother at the heart of nature’s goodness. Fox shares her teachings in this powerful and timely and inspiring book.
“What an utterly magnificent book. The work of Julian of Norwich, lovingly supported by the genius of Matthew Fox, is a roadmap into the heart of the eco-spiritual truth that all life breathes together.” –Caroline Myss
Now also available as an audiobook HERE.
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
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.
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author of The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe.
“This book is a classic.” Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth.
