Page Text: “Stargazer.” Image by steve loya on Flickr .
How do we expand our minds?
One way is through beauty itself. Whether it is seeing the beauty of birds or hearing their songs; or the beauty of a blue sky or a sun rising or setting; or the ocean pounding its waves upon a welcoming shore; or the beauty of an athletic accomplishment—a last minute long basket made, a perfectly pitched game, a long pass executed perfectly, a figure skater skating wonderfully—beauty is everywhere. In babies we encounter and young people alive and ready for life to lift them off their feet, or old people serene and joyful and smiling.
In pictures of our earth from space; or of space and its wondrous goings on from telescopes and from earth itself. There is no shortage of beauty. Only of our capacity to be with it and drink it in and make it our daily food—even and especially when times are fierce. So that the awesome trumps the awful. And that we learn the difference and live lives that honor the awesome and not the awful. Lives of Gratitude and Thanks and not taking for granted.
Original trailer of Baraka, A World Beyond Words, a 1992 non-narrative documentary film directed by Ron Fricke. Recompilation by Jarrod Factor .
Lives of the mystics that we are, therefore.
And of the prophets that we are, a willingness to stand up and be counted, to say Yes (the word the mystic or lover in us speaks); And No (the word the prophet in us speaks).
We expand our minds by making our Yes yes and our No no and following through—as Jesus advised.
We expand our minds by allowing the cosmos and the cosmology stories of our ancestors and of today’s science into them, thus moving us beyond anthropocentrism of the modern era (Descartes: “I think therefore I am”) to the truth that,“the universe exists, therefore we are.”
We expand our minds by receiving the suffering of the world as a grace to open and expand our hearts even as they break. Heartbreak can expand the heart and make it green again. Tears can water the heart—and grow it. “When your heart breaks, the whole universe can pour through,” says Joanna Macy.
Using African-American traditional spirituals, the Revelations suite by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul. Video by The Kennedy Center .
Silence too expands the heart and mind. Practice it frequently.
We expand our hearts by calling on our creativity, what Hildegard of Bingen celebrated as our “greening power” that is itself the Holy Spirit at work in our imaginations and birthing our values via our bodies (“all art is bodily” says potter and painter M. C. Richards) into the body politic.
It follows that each of the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality—the Via Positiva, the Via Negativa, the Via Creativa and the Via Transformativa—expand our hearts. And in each of them, though differently, there emerges Joy. “Joy expands the heart” (Aquinas).
Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 21, 131-137, 173-178.
And Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 45-104, 189-201, 231-236.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE .
Banner Image: The Wave Trail, Kanab, United States. Photo by Christopher Ruel on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
What ways do you find for expanding your mind (and heart and imagination)? Have these ways evolved over the years?
Recommended Reading
A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
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.
“Crafting a blueprint for social change, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh points the way toward a deeper and more compassionate way to live while eloquently revealing the means to confront evil both within and without.” ~ Progressive Christianity
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