We are exploring truth which manifests itself in so many and multiple ways. Aquinas and the Jewish tradition speak of truth as being found in the heart and not just in the head. Truth is data and facts but it is also much more.
I think each of our chakras unveils a different dimension to truth. We find truth in our guts for example (third chakra)—and we find untruth there too. We sometimes feel “kicked in the gut” when we hear of lies or violence or the suffering of others.
There is truth to be learned in love making, our second chakra. And in our first chakra, the truth of connecting to the earth and to the cosmos itself which is made of vibrating atoms, which is to say music. The truths the night sky tells us about.
There is truth to be found in the heart surely. And in and through our throats. Our breath or fifth chakra of the throat takes us into silence which is so essential a way to encounter deep truth—“be still and learn that I am God.” But also the breath that is our breathing and speaking and speaking out, the prophetic truth and wisdom we share with one another and the world.
There is also the truth our minds discover (the sixth chakra)—especially when we marry the intuitive brain and the rational brain, the wonderful love-making between insight and intellect, how one feeds the other and mutuality becomes a dance of delight and truth.
The gifts of creativity come to us and in turn ignite our own further insight and sharing of our truth with one another. So much truth comes by way of music and art, dance and sports, humor and all the other ways we touch one another and are touched.
The seventh chakra connects us to the truth of our ancestors, parents, mentors, other truth-seekers and truth finders who went before us and whom we may have known personally or through the lessons and teachings they left behind in books, poetry, art or teachings of many kinds. A kind of circle of truth, a community of truth-seekers encircles us in light.
Yes, truth comes in many varieties and through many doors. Our lives are a banquet inviting us to dine and drink truth in celebration with one another. No hunger for truth, there is much to go around.
See Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 375-387.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: Deep connection with Nature: yoga instructor Cristina Ortiz in Child’s Pose. Photo (c) Cristina Ortiz; used with permission.
Queries for Contemplation
Does the naming of the 7 chakras and recognizing each as a doorway to truth speak to your experience? Which chakra do you depend on most for truth? Which the least? Is it time to pursue that way more eagerly now?
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
8 thoughts on “Our Chakras and the Search for Truth”
When I arise each morning, and make the transition from sleep-state, I seek direction and meaning for my day. Master Fox provides good food for the journey, hope and meaning wrapped in love for all Creation. Thank you for your good gifts, servant of the Living God!
I really appreciate the insightful connection expressed in today’s DM, as experiencing each of the chakras as a doorway to truth. I find it inspiring how engaging with them in this way, can expand your perception, offering oneself a much broader perspective. I can see, how when seeking your own truth, regarding something you may be dealing with… the value of working through this process in relationship to each chakra.
I tend to resonate more, with the upper 4 chakras and less with the lower 3, which I find to be common in my energy work with others. I often notice, within this energy work, that when there is a blockage of energy in one of the lower chakras it usually effects one of the upper chakras as well. I personally find working with sound, in particular tuning forks; quite effective in clearing, opening, rebalancing, realigning and harmonizing the chakras. I usually end an energy session by tying in all the chakras with the heart, merging the as above, with the so below.
Engaging with expressive arts, through painting, working with color is another avenue I use in connecting with the chakras. I tend to add journaling with the art, dialoguing with the colors, shapes and forms to be an effective way of accessing ones inner truth being revealed through this creative, reflective, contemplative, intuitive pathway.
Thank you ,Matthew, for telling your truth with beauty and wisdom.
The seven chakras are a very w(h)olistic way of understanding ourselves and others, especially our physical and energetic selves, and how they’re related to our mental, emotional, and spiritual selves. Consciously and contemplatively I try to be generally open to God’s Living Spirit of Love(Compassion/Justice)~Light(Wisdom/Truth)~Life(Beauty/Joy/Creativity) Eternally Present within, through, among us in our hearts~souls, in sacred Mother Nature/Earth, and within our ongoing co-Creation~Evolution of our sacred multidimensional-diverse Cosmos in Loving Diverse Oneness….
????
Dear Matthew, I truly appreciate today’s meditation on truth and the chakras.
The more our sense of truth becomes embodied, the better chance we having
of acting in accordance with our true values. Living inside the truth in its many
diverse expressions is such a beautiful lesson for 1st world peoples especially.
Native peoples speak of walking with beauty. That is akin to today’s meditation.
Having experienced injustices , I am sensitive to being kicked in the gut not just for myself but for all who are suffering. And I have used my voice to make “good trouble” in various places and ways. Bless the woman you described who got ADA for all of us who are disabled. My efforts have been smaller but effective in the two churches that eventually put in ramps for us wheelchair bound folks. They are often exempt from certain laws, especially if the building is old. To answer the call to serve on the Session of my church, I pointed out that I could no longer attend meetings and ZOOM had to be the alternative. I suspect they may be sorry, as I continue to gently push for truth telling and transparency. There are so many, many ways to use our voices by contacting various authorities—even if there is no discernible result, we can plant seeds.
More power to you for standing up for your rights!
We need more people to pay attention to discrimination against handicapped people, especially in the workplace. The laws that supposedly prevent discrimination must have been printed on toilet paper, because they’re easily bypassed and poorly enforced. Big business has seriously eroded them with things like forced arbitration agreements and slick excuses for bypassing requirements. They’re also often “too big to sue” and too arrogant to care.
And the “illusion of protection” also hides the widespread erosion of rights, so that the public assumes that the laws have teeth, when the truth is that discrimination against the disabled is pervasive. Disabled people are often left to fight impossible battles just to have the rights supposedly guaranteed to them by law. And disabled people are “invisibled” — erased from sight and influence — by a public that doesn’t want to deal with reminders of a body’s vulnerability. Big business takes advantage of that collective erasure of a vulnerable population.
Thank you, Melinda. We are not seen.