Creation Spirituality

= spiritual tradition within the judeo-christian tradition, developed by Matthew Fox, with a focus on the relationship between humanity and the natural world

Characteristics

Matthew Fox:

"In the Via Positiva: in the awe, wonder, and mystery of nature and of all beings, each of whom is a “word of God.”

In the Via Negativa: in darkness and nothingness, in the silence and emptying, in the letting go and letting be, and in the pain and suffering that constitute an equally real part of our spiritual journey.

In the Via Creativa: in our generativity, we cocreate with God; in our imaginative output, we trust our images enough to birth them and ride them into existence.

In the Via Transformativa: in the relief of suffering, in the combatting of injustice, in the struggle for homeostasis, for balance in society and history, and in the celebration that happens when persons struggling for justice and trying to live in mutuality come together to praise and give thanks for the gift of being and being together.

Since I’ve been teaching them for forty years, I’ve had a lot of feedback from so many different kinds of people, and I find that they validate not only individuals’ experiences but the lineage. They validate the naming of archetypal religious icons that are still useful to us, whether we’re talking in Christian language about the cross or about the resurrection, or about the mystical experience that creation is, or about compassion. But I find that they work across the board, and they help to explain when our spiritual practices are just one experience of the spiritual journey—such as, for example, the process of emptying, the process of silence, and so forth—as valid and important as that is, it’s only one part of the journey. So, these Four Paths give us an integrated conceptual framework that can help us create a well-integrated spiritual life."

(https://realitysandwich.com/radical-spirituality-for-a-radical-generation/)