An Evening with Matthew Fox - 21st Century Spirituality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKXd7qiLBdI&feature=youtu.be

Some notes: This lecture took place in Ireland. 
The intellectual life in the Celtic perspective is important, but what we do with it is just as important! The importance of spiritual practices, finding one's center must be integrated into education. 
Celtic people integrate mind, heart and spirit! 

Two Questions: 
Are we destroying the earth as we know it?
Are we honoring the souls of our young people?

We are part of a whole, we are related to all the other creatures.
Authentic spirituality needs to inspire the young. 
Awe is the beginning of wisdom.
We must shift from knowledge to wisdom.
We must awaken to something greater than ourselves, into the realm of the Sacred.
Paul thinks that all Christians should be mystics.
Now that would shut down most of our seminaries! 
We need to know about nature based mysticism that fed Jesus and the rediscovery of the Cosmic Christ.
We need to get to know our own tradition better.
Ever place you go in the Celtic tradition, we find the Cosmic Christ.

AWE:
Ancestral Wisdom Education: AWE

Knowledge can be dangerous. Thomas Berry said that 95 percent of the destruction of the planet comes from people with PhDs.
Wisdom brings heart and mind together. Wisdom is feminine.
An educational system committed to patriarchy has neglected Wisdom and denigrated the feminine.
Ancestral embraces 14 billion of years of life. 
Begin education with awe! Education is lighting a fire! We are set up for mystical experiences. Sadly, mysticism was ridiculed by the Enlightenment. In the East, salvation meant divinizing the universe, not staying out of hell. 
Contemplation: our capacity to be still, take ten minutes a day to "make silence," calm the reptilian brain, goes from action to reaction. Important to learn how to meditate to bring compassion to our planet.
Community,
Creativity: Rap began in the ghetto. Celts have profound capacity for creativity. "Soul is a place where the imagination lives" as John Donoghue said. In the U.S. focus is on preparing kids for exams. 
Chaos: All nature has chaos, chaos is messy and a prelude to birth. We need to recognize the positive role of chaos in the creative process.
Role of Ritual: Liturgy means the work of the people, not a canned system. Ritual should empower. We should be imaginative about ritual. 
Real ritual should include the body and the imagination. Matt Fox and others have been doing the Cosmic Mass!
Spirituality is about lighting a fire! New alliance of young and old.
The fate of ritual, music and reinventing education is to fall in love with existence and all of life!