[Oe List ...] Fwd: [DailyMeditations] 2/4/20: Moving Beyond Evil: Wisdom from Howard Thurman

Tue Feb 4 12:51:29 PST 2020

Thanks you Judi for your balanced response to the use of Facebook. 

Seth Longacre
Sethlongacre at gmail.com
Sent from one of my iThingies, please excuse typos and brevity

> On Feb 4, 2020, at 05:24, Judi White via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi Marianne, Facebook has been a blessing, an opportunity to stay in touch around the world. It is a way to stay in touch and up to date with family especially. 
> The option of "unfollowing friends without "unfriending" is an option. When something shows up which is "evil" I report it by "hiding it" and choosing why. When a friend posts a egative response, I delete it and tell them why via messenger. AND my trump supporting friends do the same to me. Listened to closing arguments, which were all very professional, but Iunderstood how each side could find the other "evil". P.S. Does not keep me from supporting progressive ideals. May your week be filled with sunshine. Judi White
> 
>> On Tue, Feb 4, 2020, 6:31 AM Marianna Bailey via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>> Dear Colleagues,
>> This is one meditation dealing with evil. There are others on the website. I”m concerned about this country and the evil that has been set loose. I’m also re-thinking my participation on Facebook. Do you have any thoughts on that subject? 
>> Marianna Bailey
>> 
>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>> 
>>> From: "Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox" <Team at DailyMeditationsWithMatthewFox.Org>
>>> Subject: [DailyMeditations] 2/4/20: Moving Beyond Evil: Wisdom from Howard Thurman
>>> Date: February 4, 2020 at 3:32:37 AM EST
>>> To: "Marianna Bailey" <wmbailey at charter.net>
>>> 
>>> View this post on our website
>>> 
>>> The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers
>>> 
>>> Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox 
>>> 
>>> Moving Beyond Evil: Wisdom from Howard Thurman
>>> 
>>> Meditation #268, February 4, 2020
>>> Transforming Evil
>>> For two weeks or so—interrupted by several meditations on generosity—we have been meditating on Evil.  That is an important meditation for Evil is possible wherever humans gather. Evil is often in the air like a wind that brings chaos with it.
>>> It takes self-criticism and criticism of one’s institutions including government and media, religion and the legal world, agriculture and art, to begin to stand up to Evil.
>>> 
>>> Indeed, Evil is smart and loves to attach itself to power places and to do so subtly as long as possible, hiding from plain sight.  Evil happens.  And it can happen anew with each generation if we are not vigilant.
>>> 
>>> Self-Reflection of woman in mirror. Photo by Brad Lloydon Unsplash
>>> The lessons to learn from Hitler and his cult are many.  His followers were completely subservient to him.  Whatever he said or did or wanted to do was fine with him—he gave the marching orders and his followers cravenly followed.  Cowardice reigned—courage went out the door.  Fear took over souls and society alike.  Resentment reigned.
>>> 
>>> Violent riot police retaliate against protestors. Photo by Spenser on Unsplash.
>>> Hitler’s followers were not just everyday citizens responding to promises of a better life but government officials, judicial pooh bahs, university professors, fellow politicians, media experts, business men and industrialists who abandoned all conscience to participate in his cult.
>>> One person described such a movement as a cult of persons “hopelessly addicted to power.”  Yes, power was everything so it took precedence over everything else.  Truly an idolatrous goings on.  Power was god and Hitler cultists worshipped at the feet of the fuhrer who could do no wrong.
>>> One fights evil with all that one has at one’s disposal.  This includes moral outrage and the energy that accompanies such outrage—the energy to resist and to gather allies and to strategize and to interfere with lies and resentments that are being preached. 
>>> 
>>> Young Adult eco-justice activists protesting on behalf of the planet.Photo by Callum Shaw on Unsplash.
>>> We do not want to spend too much time in the room with evil.  We do not want to give it all the headlines.  Evil is itself narcissistic and wants the spotlight so we want to resist giving it all it wants.
>>> 
>>> Scanned: November 17, 2005 Howard Thurman Dean Thurman @ Marsh Chapel March 6, 1959 Historical. Photo originally posted to Boston University’s School of Theology, Howard Thurman Papers Project.
>>> We want to meditate on—and execute—ways out of evil.  We have done this frequently in our Meditations by sharing stories about people and movements who have demonstrated the courage and vision to bring good into the world. Among those people and movements are the mystics.  
>>> Consider Howard Thurman, for example, who was so instrumental as a visionary behind the civil right movement.  Among his profound questions is the following:
>>> Precisely what does it mean to experience oneself as a human being? In the first place, it means that the individual must have a sense of kinship to life that transcends and goes beyond the immediate kinship of family or the organized kinship that binds him ethnically or racially or nationally.
>>> See Matthew Fox, “Hitler as a Religious Figure,” in Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp.389-398.
>>> 
>>> See Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations, p. 210.
>>> 
>>> Banner Image: Scene from Selma movie, re-enacting the March on Washington. Photo by History in HD on Unsplash
>>> 
>>> To view Matthew's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view Comments from meditation participants and answers to questions that are posed.  In this way a kind of community is developing around the DM. 
>>> If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his YouTube channel here.
>>> Queries for Contemplation
>>> 
>>> Hitler’s movement is often called a cult.  Do you recognize in our world today movements that are also cult-like and made up of people “hopelessly addicted to power”?
>>> 
>>> Howard Thurman’s question is a big one and puts struggle into a larger context: What does it mean to experience oneself as a human being?  What is a human being?
>>> Recommended Reading 
>>> Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
>>> 
>>> Fox makes the point that religion has so often oversold the concept of “sin” that it has left us without language or power to combat evil. Through 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. 
>>> 
>>>  
>>>  
>>> Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
>>> 
>>> 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.
>>> 
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