One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths

Rating:
Summary: The Universal Church of God.
Review: Fox is giving the hounds of the status quo a run for their money with this near encyclopedic outline about fighting the good fight. Those with an open mind and heart will find much food for thoughtful contemplation here. Fox admits his book is in no way complete. That it is meant to be suggestive of what future Scriptures will and must contain; wisdom from all Wisdom traditions, a bias in favor of what we have in common; a religious humility that lets traditions other than our own speak for themselves; a use of primary sources; God as experience, not doctrine... Fox succeeds in his stated goal.

This book is an encouragement for fighting the good fight. For becoming a spiritual warrior. Anyone can be a soldier telling the Emperor or their Priest or their Boss what he or she wants to hear. Being a warrior means taking a stand. A warrior has a dignity a soldier never realizes. The warrior fights his holy wars with internal enemies before going on any external jihad. The enemies of personal pride and greed and such. Anyone can be a brute, or a terrorist, in the name of God or Country. Fox points out that even in Islam there is a distinction between a lesser and a greater jihad. The greater jihad being that struggle against one's own demons. As the Sufi mystic Hafiz states, battle without love, can render a person mad. As I like to say, it does not matter what a person believes if they don't have love in their heart.

With that said, One River, Many Wells is well worth the read. It is a very good outline to work from regarding one's own spiritual journey. Fox brings to light what Meister Eckhart said 700 years ago, "God is like a great underground river." Thus One River, Many Wells, is short for One Underground River (Source, God), Many sacred Wells-religious traditions. Again, as I like to say, God speaks to anyone that will listen. To meditate is to dig one's own sacred well. Be still and know that I am God. There are no atheists in Foxholes.



Rating:
Summary: FINDING IT ALL IN ONE PLACE
Review: I had a difficult time getting started in this book. I'd picked it up and put it down several times. But once into it, it was a pleasant surprise. I read about spiritual matters and paths of every religion and each reading talks of it's own spicific area of knowledge and experience. But Matthew Fox picks a subject and covers it from all angles, Jewish, Catholic, Islamic, Hindu, Buddist, Native American, African American, even the Celtic and the Goddess. It's a great book and a great read. And then you know why you like to study them all.

Rating:
Summary: What is he thinking
Review: It's hard to tell where Matthew Fox is and where he is going. His books have been a trail of hit and, mostly miss, wanderings.

He recognizes a common source for spiritual reality. And yet he pushes an ecumenical (and even New-Age) agenda to try and mold all existing beliefs into a vision that it cannot be. 'Only if the religions of the world would stand together...' These religions are organizations with their own agendas and systems. Perhaps Fox should listen to the Dali Lami who said that ultimately there is no reconciliation between the *religions* of Buddhism and Christianity. There may be one spirit, but not a single religion or even meaningful coordination of them. (Vivikenanda says that would be very boring.)

Mysticism is the root of all real spiritual experience and Fox knows this. But each religion is an outgrowth (and hence not true development) of the founder who had the mystical experience. The goal of any true (spiritual) path is personal experience. Fox keeps attempting to join all religions (forms) into a great ecumenical mandala and this cannot be done. Personal experience is always unique. It is wisdom that we can see from other beliefs. But Fox keeps on pushing in yet another book.

To be perfectly clear, his inclusion of various spiritual and mystical source in this book is commendable. Everyone else is realizing wisdom of many sources so why not M.Fox. However his approach is always one of 'Look how great what I am saying is'. He claims great visions and breakthroughs for humanity if we will just believe what he is saying. Check his past books. He always does this.

The inclusion and recognition of various sources does not, in his writings, yield meaningful synthesis. This is because there is no coherent meaning to be achieved through shallow or 'deep' ecumenism (joining of outward forms). Neither by dancing, or having estatic sex, or by bringing in ethics or spirituality to work (all themes of his). Neither volumes of writing nor diversity of inputs has meaning on its own. There is no substantial vision presented in his works that rises above religion (form) and beyond his own (elevated) concepts of how things should be. His previous books have not resulted in major changes to society and it does not appear this one will have much effect either.

Rating:
Summary: As complete a tome of spiritual knowledge possible
Review: Matthew Fox has outdone himself with this work, taking similar themes from the works of mystics spanning diverse traditions. To those who are regular consumers of Fox's writings, this compellation provides a "Bible" for his idea of "Deep Ecumenism". It is as complete a tome of humanity's spiritual knowledge that I have seen on the bookshelf. The best part- Fox has included sources not just from typical religious sources, but from science and literature as well.