Educating for Character and Chakra Development

[FROM THE ARCHIVE: 8/3/2020]

Recently, the state of Louisiana passed a law demanding that the Ten Commandments be posted in ALL public classrooms in the state—and the governor begged groups to sue them.  Which is happening since there is supposed to be a separation of church and state in education. 

I propose that instead of such a silly and provocative law, we propose the “10 C’s” for all to consider—a value system that does not represent any one religious tradition.  We employed them in a two-year experiment in an inner city public high school in Oakland to very great benefit.

Here we are discussing that “C” called character.

One fresh way to conceive of character development is to borrow language from the East which has identified the chakras of our bodies and psyches as important center points of healthy power.

I do this in my book on evil, where I contrast seven chakras of the East with the seven capital sins of the west to arrive at a new language for talking about Evil.  I think that the results speak for themselves.  The elders’ task and parents’ and educators’ task can be seen as educing authentic power and wisdom and ability from each child.  We need to educate ours and our children’s chakras, therefore for they can represent the powers we carry within us.

The modern age put all education into just the head chakra, in fact in the left hemisphere of the brain which is the sixth chakra narrowly conceived.  Rationality abounds.  Tests and exams multiply.  Values, which Einstein declared to be found in the intuition (or right brain), are excluded in rationalistic setting.  This is why Einstein said “I abhor American education.”

The pre-modern age did not restrict education to the head alone.  Monastic education, for example, incorporated working the fields and chanting and meditating along with intellectual studies.  Native American children learned in the woods, along with the animals and birds, trees and fauna.  Sitting in desks is not the sole way to learn.  We need to make room for educating all the chakras.  Consider this.

1st chakra: educating for cosmology and healthy pride (and against couchpotatoitis or acedia; and arrogance such as racism, sexism, homophobia, anthropocentrism).  The first chakra relates to the earth we walk on and to the whole universe–all vibrations of the universe (cosmology).

2nd chakra: educating for balance and the generativity that results (and against power trips that employ lust as a weapon or that preach a repression and fear of our bodies and sexuality).

3rd chakra: educating for strength, grounding and positive use of anger and moral outrage (and against violence and injustices of any kind).

4th chakra: educating for compassion and justice-making; for forgiveness and courage and magnanimity and overcoming of fear

5th chakra: educating for speaking out and telling one’s wisdom (instead of gluttony and its postmodern equivalent, consumerism that stuff one’s wisdom back down one’s throat).

6th chakra: educating for intuition and values and for intellectual analysis (and against one-sided rationalism masquerading as intellectual life and education).

7th chakra: educating for community with all beings (and against envy).

A person of character is one who has developed virtues or practices for living out one’s values.  Naming the chakras or power points we carry inside us can assist our character building.

Adapted from Matthew Fox, The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human, pp. 141-145.

See also:  Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 183-374.

And Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest, pp. 353-359.

Banner Image: Teaching character: a teacher helps students to understand what to do if a family member has cancer. Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Queries for Contemplation

Which of the seven chakras alluded to here seem to you to be the strongest in yourself?  In your culture?  Which do you think need the most attention at this time?

Recommended Reading

The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human

The A.W.E. Project reminds us that awe is the appropriate response to the unfathomable wonder that is creation… A.W.E. is also the acronym for Fox’s proposed style of learning – an approach to balance the three R’s. This approach to learning, eldering, and mentoring is intelligent enough to honor the teachings of the Ancestors, to nurture Wisdom in addition to imparting knowledge, and to Educate through Fox’s 10 C’s. The 10 C’s are the core of the A.W.E. philosophy and process of education, and include: compassion, contemplation, and creativity. The A.W.E. Project does for the vast subject of “learning” what Fox’s Reinvention of Work did for vocation and Original Blessing did for theology. Included in the book is a dvd of the 10 C’s put to 10 video raps created and performed by Professor Pitt.
“An awe-based vision of educational renewal.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.

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

Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)

Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self