T.S. Eliot on the Mystics as Drugs For Despair

There’s appreciable despair within the air lately. And for apparent causes that don’t want renaming right here.

T.S. Eliot provided the mystics as drugs for despair when he stated, “the mystics—or else despair.” Why did he say that? What’s he telling us? Clearly he believed that the mystics deliver hope. What I imply by that’s the mystic in all of us brings hope and drugs that combats temptations to despair. Why is that? 

First, as a result of the mystic in us is the lover, and love brings each pleasure and hope. The mystic goes to the sting and doesn’t faint, the mystic faces the fear of Pleasure (the Through Positiva) and of Darkness (the Through Negativa) and doesn’t flinch. He/she “launches out into the deep,” as John of the Cross places it. 

That is a part of the religious warrior archetype. As Sufi trainer Hafiz put it, the mystic doesn’t “hightail it out of city” when God comes alongside and “turns us the other way up to shake all of the nonsense out.” In different phrases, when the darkish night time strikes.

Moreover, the lover or mystic pays consideration to ardour and the fireplace it ignites, the fireplace inside to dwell absolutely and courageously. 

One instance is John of the Cross, the 16^th century Carmelite who was working with Teresa of Avila to reform their Order. He was thrown into jail by his brother Carmelites, and was overwhelmed every day and virtually starved to dying. He had the integrity to not deny his ideas. 

He made a brave resolution to flee in the midst of the night time and, because of it being a darkish night time, succeeded and wrote about his expertise in his poem on the Darkish Evening. He tells us,

There within the fortunate darkish,
none to watch me, darkness far and extensive;
no signal for me to mark,
no different mild,
no information aside from my coronary heart—the fireplace, the fireplace inside!* 

Thus the lover or mystic in us can be the spark that lights the fireplace that ignites the warrior in us, the prophet, the one who interferes, the one who fights for justice which is the structural basis for love. 

What Meister Eckhart calls the “divine spark” inside all of us catches fireplace, and turns into a conflagration that makes us robust lovers and robust warriors. 

Rumi, one other Sufi mystic, reminds us that “the fireplace of the center shouldn’t be simply lit.” However when “one spark flew and burned the home of his coronary heart,” his entire life modified and he encountered the “Coronary heart of Pure Consciousness” or Divinity, “the ruler of all hearts.”  

T.S. Eliot was proper: The mystics do problem despair.  

To be continued.

*The Poems of St. John of the Cross, translated by John Frederick Nims, pp. 19-21.

See Matthew Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Occasions, pp. 193-199.

And Fox, Trump and The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ.

And Fox, “Religious Warriors” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 77-104.

And Fox, “Religious Warriorhood,” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Knowledge Springing from World Religion Traditions, pp. 404-422.

To learn the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click on HERE.

Banner Picture: Racks of lighted votive candles. Photograph by Thomas Bormans on Unsplash.

Queries for Contemplation

Do you are feeling a coming alive of the mystic-warrior in you at this perilous time for democracy and for the survival of Mom Earth? Are you discovering allies and group to steer your fireplace of affection (and anger) to avoid wasting what you cherish?

Really helpful Studying

Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time

Whereas Matthew Fox acknowledges that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers all through historical past, he additionally desires to introduce Eckhart to at this time’s activists addressing modern crises. Towards that finish, Fox creates dialogues between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Wealthy, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and lots of others.
“Matthew Fox is probably the best author on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has efficiently bridged a niche between Eckhart as a shamanistic character and Eckhart as a post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith motion, to disclose simply how cosmic Eckhart actually is, and the way remarkably related to at this time’s spiritual disaster! ” — Steven Herrmann, Writer of Religious Democracy: The Knowledge of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Ahead

Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had at all times shied away from utilizing the time period “Anti-Christ” as a result of it was so typically used to unfold management and concern. Nevertheless, given at this time’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables on this ebook using the archetype for the reason for justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a second, for analyzing the archetype of the Antichrist, it’s now…Learn this ebook with an open thoughts. Good and evil are actual forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, writer of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For instant entry to Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE. 
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white photographs, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To obtain a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for instant obtain.

The Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he reveals ten metaphors, or archetypes, starting from the Inexperienced Man, an historical pagan image of our basic relationship with nature,  to the Religious Warrior….These timeless archetypes can encourage males to pursue their larger calling to connect with their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Each man on this planet ought to learn this ebook — to not point out each girl who desires to grasp the struggles, typically unconscious, that form the boys they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, writer of The Left Hand of God

One River, Many Wells: Knowledge Springing from World Faiths

Matthew Fox calls on all of the world traditions for his or her knowledge and their inspiration in a piece that’s way over an inventory of theological place papers however a brand new strategy to pray—to meditate in a worldwide religious context on the knowledge all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes which can be foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all of the world religious traditions supply knowledge about every.“Studying One River, Many Wells is like coming into the wealthy silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you learn this textual content, you replicate, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Really no phrases can absolutely categorical my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to modern spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, writer of Anatomy of the Spirit