The Hidden Spirituality of Men — Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine By Matthew Fox

THE HIDDEN SPIRITUALITY OF MEN: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine by Matthew FoxThe Hidden Spirituality of Men is dynamite in book form — a call to awakening that will fill you with explosive energy and creativity — men and women alike. If it feels like the ground is rumbling, it’s probably the footsteps of an ancient archetype coming to visit you. In many ways, The Hidden Spirituality of Men should do for men what Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women Who Run With the Wolves did for women — and I can think of no more joyous thing than that.

This is one of those books that causes you to come alive — you can feel your body and spirit sing as the old memories of your sacred self — your true self, activate. Matthew Fox does a masterful job of storytelling, nudging, awakening and celebrating the sacred masculine in all of us. There are ancient tales, modern interviews, indigenous wisdom and historic mystical insights, and narratives of deeply personal encounters with both the light and shadow sides of the various archetypes.

Don’t think for one second that this is a book only for men — women can benefit from this as well — at the very least, they can help the men in their life to become comfortable and open about their spirituality, and that is no small thing. But at a deeper level, women can re-awaken their own masculine energy and learn to honor it. As the author points out, women tend to equate male energy with violence, greed and domination and become unbalanced themselves as a result of ignoring or stifling what they consider to be “masculine” impulses. This is as skewed a perspective in its own right, as the traditional patriarchal denigration of feminine energies that has been going on until relatively recently, and just as harmful.

Matthew FoxThe Hidden Spirituality of Men is timely in its summons to re-awaken sacred masculine energy. As Fox points out, the world is in a lot of trouble right now, in a variety of ways, and it is going to take a lot of creativity and re-directed energy to solve these problems. As the author puts it, “Indeed, how will we solve any of the great problems facing us today except through human ingenuity and creativity? Global warming, overpopulation, unemployment, world hunger, AIDS — whether the issues are moral or technological, personal or global, creativity is the only way out of our deepest dilemmas.” The Hidden Spirituality of Men may be just the ticket needed. Through the use of powerful metaphors — a kind of language that is felt at the body level — Fox is hopeful that we all can reconnect with the energy, creativity, and direction so desperately needed right now.

Merlian News Podcast with Matthew Fox

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine at New World Library

For more information visit www.newworldlibrary.com

by Cheryl Shainmark
Matthew Fox is the founder and former president of the University of Creation Spirituality. He is currently a scholar in residence with the Academy for the Love of Learning. He lectures, teaches, and writes and serves as president of the nonprofit he created in 1984, Friends of Creation Spirituality. He is the author of 28 books and lives in Oakland, California. His website is www.matthewfox.org