Note 5: The 4 Paths (quoting from Original Blessing by Matthew Fox)

The Four Paths

p. 23.

Via Positiva
Via Negativa
Via Creativa
Via Transformativa

These paths are spiral, not ladder-like.

Path 1, the Via Positiva of Befriending Creation, cannot be fully experienced without Path 2, the Via Negative of Befriending Darkness and Letting Go, Letting Be This path in turn finds its fulfillment in Path 3, the Via Creativa of Befriending Creativity, since all creativity is ex nihilo, from nothingness and darkness. Path 4, the Via Transformativa and the Befriending of New Creation, fulfills Path 3, for the direction of increased compassion as celebration and justice is the direciton our creativity needs to take us. Yet Path 4 reconnects with Path 1, just as new creation is related to creation itself.