Matthew Fox ― Ash Wednesday, 2022: Why Not Give Up Patriarchy for Lent?

This is an excellent piece by Matthew Fox. Truly, Patriarchy has long been destroying life on Earth. It is possible to ground ourselves deeply into a spiritual path which empowers us to extricate ourselves in an ongoing way from the belief systems, toxic values, and harmful actions which are rooted in Patriarchy. In these times, it is my belief that this is an imperative for us all. ― Molly

Ash Wednesday. Photo by Annika Gordon on Unsplash

 Why Not Give Up Patriarchy For Lent?

By Matthew Fox

 

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, a feast day in Christianity where one is anointed on the forehead with ashes to remind us that “dust you are and to dust you shall return.”

 

It is a good thing to be reminded of our mortality and of our modest beginnings.  Mortality after all is part of our identity and something we share with all the other mammals on this planet.  To meditate on it puts things in context so that, on our death bed, we can look back and consider the many decisions we made in our lives.  This way, it also allows us to consider our decisions when they count the most—at the time we weigh them and make them. 

 

Ash Wednesday is the kickoff of the season of Lent, a forty day period in which Christians often fast and do an inner cleansing of their bodies and souls in preparation for the events of Jesus’s last week on earth that included a Passover celebration remembering the Exodus liberation and his own cruel death on Good Friday, his visiting Hades on Holy Saturday, and Resurrection day or Easter.

 

Fasting is a familiar practice for many religions of the world—one thinks of Ramadan in Islam and it is interesting that scientists today such as Rupert Sheldrake speak to what fasting can do for our health, whether physical, emotional or spiritual.

 

When we were young the kids in our family would choose what to give up for lent.  Chocolate?  Candy?  Gum?  Many options.  Would our parents give up their cigarettes?  My father his occasional drink?

 

There are many things to give up today.  Meat or anything else that endangers the planet in this critical moment of climate change and oncoming eco disasters would make sense.

 

But I propose that we might zero in on giving up Patriarchy this lent.  And then for after Lent also. 

 

Patriarchy is that view of the world, around 6500 years old, that holds men superior to women; and control superior to partnership’ and power-over superior to power-with or compassion and justice; and empire-building the purpose of society. 

 

Patriarchy also assumes that the reptilian brain should dominate the mammal brain, thus war should trump interconnectivity and empathy.  Currently, on live television and tik-tok and the rest, we are watching war in action and how Patriarchy and the faux masculinity it promulgates is currently invading Ukraine with every intention of destroying it and its inhabitants and culture. 

 

Patriarchy also believes that humans are more important than the survival of a healthy planet, thus it traffics in matricide, the killing of Mother Earth, and, believe it or not, in denial that climate change is happening.  (Bad for business, especially fossil fuel business, to admit the truth.)

 

Time to give up Patriarchy for Lent?  And fast from Patriarchy beyond Lent?  To leave Patriarchy behind and start anew with a sacred marriage of the divine feminine and the healthy sacred masculine?  Thus, redefine masculinity? 

 

Queries for Contemplation

 

What would change, do you think, if humanity were to collectively give up Patriarchy for Lent?  And after Lent?        

   

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

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

Please go here for the original article: https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/2022/03/01/ash-wednesday-2022-why-not-give-up-patriarchy-for-lent/

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