In the middle chakra, the energies of the other chakras converge. This notion is not peculiar to Matthew Fox, nor is the idea that the fourth chakra, the chakra of the heart, is connected to compassion. What is specific to him is the pairing of the heart chakra of the Indian tradition with the capital sin of greed/avarice in the Western tradition.
There is no other era in the history of the world but ours in which greed has triumphed so blatantly. Today the disparity between average salaries and the heaps of money accumulated by a very small percentage of people is higher than, for example, that of the Roman Empire. Business Insiders calculated that in the Roman Empire about 1% of the population owned about 16% of the total wealth, while in 2011 America the 1% owned about 40% of it.
Greed is scourged by Jesus in the Gospels more than any other vice, and is the most cited in patristic homilies, that is, in the preaching of bishops and theologians of fame between the 3rd and the 6th centuries. Yet the West, despite often priding itself in its Judeo-Christian roots, seems to be deaf to their call.
In his book Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh, Matthew shows how greed is connected to several other soul illnesses. To self-pity, which is typical of men wrapped up in a patriarchal world. To resentment, which festers and rots and seeks expression in hatred and violence. To the refusal to forgive and let go, which keeps one’s heart too small.
Ultimately, greed is rooted in fear, which can result in social hysteria, including scapegoating, blaming and hate. Greed, in other words, is not so solely about money. It’s about the closure of the heart, it means being greedy with one’s love. We grow up with the delusional idea that accumulating money — beyond what we need for a simple life— is a responsible action. But it is just a smokescreen for all these other terrible diseases.
The medicine for greed is compassion, which results from the continued fostering of one’s empathy, but sometimes also from a heartbreak. When the heart breaks open, it is a gift: a painful and expensive one, but it allows compassion to happen.
Matthew wants to be very clear: compassion is not just about feelings, and should not be confused with pity. It comes from identification with another, and the identification that suffering and tears bring can be grasped only if one has faced one’s own pain too. When this breaking-open happens in an individual, a new kind of love flows from the inside. It is no longer the love of the breast of the mother nor or money nor of power or fame. It is “the love of a vast and oceanic heart” says Clarissa Pinkola-Estes.
In a recent Daily Meditation, Matthew has expounded on motherhood as compassion. Motherhood is the most needed quality of all souls at this time, regardless of gender. The interdependence that finally post-modern physics recognizes as the gist of the structure of the universe, can be translated as compassion. And compassion is the feminine capacity for interdependence. What is more interdependent than mother and fetus?
We can see this in many creatures, and most clearly in all mammals. All religions of the world agree that compassion is not only a good virtue, but resides at the very center of the Godhead, hidden in the mystery and yet revealed by people’s acts of mercy. So what are we waiting for? What keeps the world on the brink of destruction, while such an ocean of mercy is available for all those who desire to bathe in it?
Even though — in Matthew’s rewriting of the seven deadly sins — acedia is the root of the problem, greed is the core of the problem. Once we are able to get off our couch (1st chakra) and we start taking tender care of our loves (2nd chakra) and we learn to transform our anger appropriately into strength (3rd chakra), we get confronted with the core of the matter, the heart chakra.
In short, we get confronted with our fear of a love without borders. We must make good use of the energy that we gain from the purification of our lower chakras to face such fear with courage. I cannot think of any greater blessing in life that being brought face to face to the Divine Compassion, even though it means to confront our ultimate fears.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shefftim/Quotes from Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh, pp. 250, 251, 260.
See also Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
And Fox, Trump and the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner image: An apparent homeless man sits in front of a sign which says: “For the rich the poor are simply another asset to be exploited for money.” Photo by Tim Dennell on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
What do you think keeps the world leaders and their people away from compassion? And what keeps you?
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
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
