Matthew Fox

I have been very influenced my Matt Fox. I read a number of books by him and heard him speak in person several times. He played a major role in allowing me to bridge the gap between Vaishnavism and Christianity. I used his book The Coming of the Cosmic Christ as the basis for my Christology paper in seminary.

He has a bit of an impersonalist bent, but on the whole, he is an important seminal thinker of our time. His panentheistic perspective is comparable to seeing Krishna in everything. His ability to combine the teachings of the various mystical, wisdom traditions has influenced me in my own approach to spirituality in an eclectic manner. We live in a very electic world. Why not take the best of everything and benefit from it?

Fox’s book Original Blessing provides a life affirming view which helped me become more incarnational and able to enjoy life in this world while I am here rather than trying to transcend all the time. I believe God put us here for a purpose more than just trying to leave and go to a better place. As long as we live here, let’s enjoy the blessings God has given us.

I try to live in the constant awareness of God’s presence everywhere. I live as a servant of Krishna in this world and try to manifest the mood of Krishna’s spiritual realm Vrindaban here. When we become comfortable with ourselves, our bodies, minds, intellect, surroundings, companions, etc., it is much more like the spiritual world and conducive to devotion rather than having a dualistic attitude and rejecting material existence as pure illusion. I tried the path of renunciation and found it to be artificial. I am more comfortable being in the world but not of it. I know my eternal home is in the spiritual world of Goloka Vrindaban, but this life is a great gift also and should not be rejected.

I know I have grown, matured and benefited by the study of various spiritual paths. I accept wisdom wherever it is found. I look for sanatan dharma or the eternal religion in all teachings and that is the touchstone I use to measure their truth and beauty. Try not to be too narrow and judgmental of others. There is still much we can learn. No one has an exclusive lock on God.

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