Just as smoke indicates fire, so anger indicates love. Anger has a necessary and important role to play in response to our pain or abuse. Indeed, anger is the first level of grief. Anger, motivated by love, moves us to act heartily and to persevere in our intentions. These words by Matthew Fox encompass very well the meaning of third-chakra energy, within his reconsidering of the seven deadly sins of the Catholic tradition.
How many times anger has been portrayed as a negative emotion! This is the case in every place where patriarchy has been dominant, limiting the expression of anger to some dominant males, and even giving them the “right” to exercise violence in response to their inner angry feelings. Matthew shows how, in particular, Christian theologians have been complicit in this.
Over the centuries, beginning with Augustine, embittered persons (often but not always women) have been instructed by theologians not to trust their anger. “Anger is a sin,” they are told; that is, strong feelings and passions are a sin. But the opposite is actually the case: Milque-toast-ness is a sin. Neutrality in the heat of injustice is a sin.
The crux of the matter, therefore, is that the “fire in the belly” that we feel at times — precisely in the third chakra zone — is an indicator of a perceived injustice. If we are a three-year old, it is possible that our rage is solely an expression of narcissism. But there are three-year old babies who are badly mistreated. As long as they express their anger crying aloud, they are still healthy. When they become silent and spent, something inside them has been broken.
Thus, it is not anger that is a sin, but violence. As a consequence of violence, open or subliminal, people don’t dare express their feelings when they are driven even by just a bit of “angry energy.” Therefore, they become embittered (typically women and minorities) or passive-aggressive (typically “good Christians”).
The answer to this mess is empowerment: the ability to use one’s anger as an energy for justice, both in the world and in our own personal lives. However, unless we find our own center in our bodily/mental strength, our claims to fight for others are — at best — doubtful.
There are many ways to reclaim one’s own power, but the bad energy of the message “anger is a sin” is subtle and penetrating. We may behave like victims without even knowing it. And when we are in the process of recovering our own agency and strength, we may make mistakes; for example, we may be angry at someone for the wrong reasons.
“Oh well…” as the wise say. As long as you don’t fall over to the dark side and start being violent, it is better to make mistakes and apologize than never try to find your own balance. My bottom line is: expressing my anger at something or someone is not violence; rather, it is a way to enable us together to seek the truth of the matter.
The mainstream United States culture is especially prone to the sin of hiding anger, and I can tell you that this is extremely visible and scary for an outsider. Everybody smiles and you never know who is going to stab you in the back. A few years ago anger became the subject of a satirical movie in which therapists were completely mistaken about the problem. Hopefully that was an exaggeration. But today we all can see what the traditional repression of anger has produced: a society in which violent aggressions are justified by its own leaders, while the appropriate expression of anger is still frowned upon.
The path that I am proposing in this meditation series, following Matthew Fox’s book Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh, started with suggesting that it is a big mistake not to involve the body and its movement in space within the realm of our spiritual endeavors (first chakra: fighting acedia); then it turned to examine sexual energy as a cosmic reality (second chakra: fighting control and addiction, that is, bad lust); and now it calls to move from the mystic lover to the warrior prophet (third chakra: fighting victimhood and violence).
Next week we will continue on this journey which consists in revisiting in some depth the basics of our commitment to become, each of us, that beautiful grounded fearless person that God/the Universe intends us to be.
Quotes from Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, 1999 edition, pages 234, 235, 237.
See also Fox, Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century
See also Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
See also Fox, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality
Banner Image: Focus, concentration, emotional mastery: a young woman practices the art of Kyūdō (Zen archery). Photo by Ariel Salgado on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
How do I recognize that I am behaving like a victim, or a passive-aggressive person? What are my exercises to replenish myself with energy and strength?
Recommended Reading
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics
Matthew Fox writes in Hildegard of Bingen about this amazing woman and what we can learn from her.
In an era when women were marginalized, Hildegard was an outspoken, controversial figure. Yet so visionary was her insight that she was sought out by kings, popes, abbots, and bishops for advice.
“This book gives strong, sterling, and unvarnished evidence that everything – everything – we ourselves become will affect what women after us may also become….This is a truly marvelous, useful, profound, and creative book.” ~~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism.
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox renders Thomas Aquinas accessible by interviewing him and thus descholasticizing him. He also translated many of his works such as Biblical commentaries never before in English (or Italian or German of French). He gives Aquinas a forum so that he can be heard in our own time. He presents Thomas Aquinas entirely in his own words, but in a form designed to allow late 20th-century minds and hearts to hear him in a fresh way.
“The teaching of Aquinas comes through will a fullness and an insight that has never been present in English before and [with] a vital message for the world today.” ~ Fr. Bede Griffiths (Afterword).
Foreword by Rupert Sheldrake
