Page 248 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring
P. 248

t he sev en  ch akra s
           passes the ability to be still in the midst of threats and chaos, to discern
           power struggles of illusion versus insight within a greater picture of
           the divine order of the universe and our connection to it.
              The primary fears embodied in this area include an unwillingness
           to look within, fear of inner exploration, and fear of one’s shadow
           side and its attributes. The challenges include being stuck in predeter-
           mined mind-sets and beliefs, fear of releasing illusions of the external
           world, and an unwillingness to explore one’s shadow side with equa-
           nimity and forgiveness. The primary strengths include cultivation of
           deeper self-awareness, insights, wisdom, creativity; higher conscious-
           ness for intuitive reasoning; and emotional intelligence: in summary,
           becoming a more evolved human (Myss 1996).
              The color associated with the sixth chakra is amethyst violet.
              The  Carative  Factors/Caritas Processes  associated  with  the  sixth
           “third eye” chakra include numbers 1: humanistic-altruistic value sys-
           tem/practice of loving-kindness and equanimity; and 10: allowing for
           existential-phenomenological-spiritual dimensions in one’s own life,
           evolution; opening and attending to “mystery,” deeper truths behind
           illusions—“allowing for a miracle.”*
              7. Seventh chakra: “crown chakra”—spiritual transcendent connec-
           tor. This energy source is our connection to our spiritual nature, our
           capacity to bring Spirit into our lives and world. It invites grace, mercy,
           Love, and surrender to enter our lives, allowing for an intimate rela-
           tionship with the Divine. This chakra opens us to our quiet, inner soul
           source for alignment with the universal energy of Cosmic Love (Watson
           2005), whereby our inner awareness, awakening, and practices of medi-
           tation, prayer, and spiritual sacraments allow us to transcend our ego-
           physical self. The location for this chakra is the top of the head.
              This chakra is considered the entry point for the human life force,
           which pours endlessly into the human energy system from the greater
           universe, from the God/Godhead (Myss 1996:265). According to Myss
           (1996), as depicted in the artwork of Hildegard of Bingen (see Figure
           19, Chapter 15), “this life force from the universe nourishes the body,
           the mind, and the spirit. It distributes itself throughout the physical


           *  From interpretation by Resurrection Health in Chicago.


           220
   243   244   245   246   247   248   249   250   251   252   253