Saturday, September 18, 2004
More on Kundaini and Evolution
More on Kundalini and Evolution
Evolution as a general concept typically refers to physical evolution (Darwin) or else mental development (brain function). The next stage (as Teihard affirmed) will be spiritual evolution, a new way of being in the universe. Kundalini is, I believe, the mechanism by which this new state will be attained.
Of course, there have always been persons among us who were highly "spiritually evolved." Certain saints and seekers of all times and places have sometimes reached impressive heights in their spiritual development.
But frequently these "high achievers" in the spiritual realms have discounted or ignored the body (including the energetic body) in their efforts toward holiness. Indeed, often the central purpose of their exertions has been to transcend or overcome all physical or emotional needs.
Now, a problem arises here when we speak of the "body." There is the material body (often condemned for its "impurities") and the energetic body, sometimes called the body of light. This radiant shell encloses and enfolds the other, more substantial self. They exist in tandem, and are a close knit unit, yet many are unaware of the light body's very existence.
Kundalini acts as a switch or trigger to awaken the light body and bring it into consciousness. For the first time, one realizes that there is a way of knowing, of comprehending, of feeling which goes well beyond the limits of the five senses. Accepted concepts , familiar world views crumble or explode before the new revelation. One opens to the embrace of the divine in an unimaginable way. It is as if all one's atoms and cells are suddenly lit up, bringing ecstatic bliss of union to every particle of the being. The atom of self is flung into a new orbi, the ultimate quantum leap.
One realizes that he/she has been living in half a world, or perhaps a world of half truth. That what one previously accepted as "reality" was fundamentally skewed, that there are ways of feeling, of being, of connecting far beyond what anyone had dreamed. Now consciousness is more than mental activity (though one does not abandon mind.) Awareness is extended, as if an unsuspected door had swung open to reveal a "secret garden" within.
One senses at a deeper level. One feels both pain and pleasure as these originate at the cellular level. What before was coarse perception is now subtle, what was previously unknown now becomes one's habitual mode.
And the hallmark of the experience is bliss. Bliss comes not as a one night visitor, but a familiar beloved who arrives again and again, perhaps stirred by music, perhaps by the beauty of a natural setting, perhaps by the presence of a similarly awakened one. A sacred text, a mantra, a congregation of the devout--all can trigger the inner currents of joy.
And because one has opened so fully to love, one now loves in a new way. Everything one sees or encounters reveals its unique beauty, each face is like a variant of one's own. Of course, one feels renewed compassion for all that is, for one now perceives that the seeming external is in fact merely an aspect of one's own self. There is one world soul, one world being, and all are participants in its ongoing creative unfoldment.
This, I think, is the basis for the next stage of evolution--to know that "god" (goddess), the divine, the sacred, the immensity--is available as deeply felt personal presence. To realize that although our familiar notions of self are based on phantasy, we and all that is are connected in a most fundamental fashion as integral atoms of the vast indefinable real.
And this, I believe, is enlightenment--to know this reality of being as a lived experience, not merely something to be posited or discussed or arrived at through logic.
There are many stations on the way up the mountain. All are beautiful and all are significant. But there is a difference between those who know the mountain is there, and have experienced its intimate nature in "new consciousness" and those who remain oblivious to such vision , laboring still with the tools and perspectives of "old consciousness."
It is difficult and indeed perhaps not possible to persuade those who have yet to experience the "new awareness" that it exists as a reality and not a phantasm. But once one undergoes such transmutation, one lives in constant wonder and delight at the blessings it bestows.
Such is the nature of the completed journey. As for the present, we are in the transition time, and few live stabilized in the final vision or goal. Many of us continue to labor, swinging between the extremes of bliss and pain, transcendence and despair, conviction and uncertainty. The process is a demanding one, as if a determined alchemist tried again and again to find the right formula to transmute the base metals of the ordinary mortal into the gold of the sublime.
Evolution as a general concept typically refers to physical evolution (Darwin) or else mental development (brain function). The next stage (as Teihard affirmed) will be spiritual evolution, a new way of being in the universe. Kundalini is, I believe, the mechanism by which this new state will be attained.
Of course, there have always been persons among us who were highly "spiritually evolved." Certain saints and seekers of all times and places have sometimes reached impressive heights in their spiritual development.
But frequently these "high achievers" in the spiritual realms have discounted or ignored the body (including the energetic body) in their efforts toward holiness. Indeed, often the central purpose of their exertions has been to transcend or overcome all physical or emotional needs.
Now, a problem arises here when we speak of the "body." There is the material body (often condemned for its "impurities") and the energetic body, sometimes called the body of light. This radiant shell encloses and enfolds the other, more substantial self. They exist in tandem, and are a close knit unit, yet many are unaware of the light body's very existence.
Kundalini acts as a switch or trigger to awaken the light body and bring it into consciousness. For the first time, one realizes that there is a way of knowing, of comprehending, of feeling which goes well beyond the limits of the five senses. Accepted concepts , familiar world views crumble or explode before the new revelation. One opens to the embrace of the divine in an unimaginable way. It is as if all one's atoms and cells are suddenly lit up, bringing ecstatic bliss of union to every particle of the being. The atom of self is flung into a new orbi, the ultimate quantum leap.
One realizes that he/she has been living in half a world, or perhaps a world of half truth. That what one previously accepted as "reality" was fundamentally skewed, that there are ways of feeling, of being, of connecting far beyond what anyone had dreamed. Now consciousness is more than mental activity (though one does not abandon mind.) Awareness is extended, as if an unsuspected door had swung open to reveal a "secret garden" within.
One senses at a deeper level. One feels both pain and pleasure as these originate at the cellular level. What before was coarse perception is now subtle, what was previously unknown now becomes one's habitual mode.
And the hallmark of the experience is bliss. Bliss comes not as a one night visitor, but a familiar beloved who arrives again and again, perhaps stirred by music, perhaps by the beauty of a natural setting, perhaps by the presence of a similarly awakened one. A sacred text, a mantra, a congregation of the devout--all can trigger the inner currents of joy.
And because one has opened so fully to love, one now loves in a new way. Everything one sees or encounters reveals its unique beauty, each face is like a variant of one's own. Of course, one feels renewed compassion for all that is, for one now perceives that the seeming external is in fact merely an aspect of one's own self. There is one world soul, one world being, and all are participants in its ongoing creative unfoldment.
This, I think, is the basis for the next stage of evolution--to know that "god" (goddess), the divine, the sacred, the immensity--is available as deeply felt personal presence. To realize that although our familiar notions of self are based on phantasy, we and all that is are connected in a most fundamental fashion as integral atoms of the vast indefinable real.
And this, I believe, is enlightenment--to know this reality of being as a lived experience, not merely something to be posited or discussed or arrived at through logic.
There are many stations on the way up the mountain. All are beautiful and all are significant. But there is a difference between those who know the mountain is there, and have experienced its intimate nature in "new consciousness" and those who remain oblivious to such vision , laboring still with the tools and perspectives of "old consciousness."
It is difficult and indeed perhaps not possible to persuade those who have yet to experience the "new awareness" that it exists as a reality and not a phantasm. But once one undergoes such transmutation, one lives in constant wonder and delight at the blessings it bestows.
Such is the nature of the completed journey. As for the present, we are in the transition time, and few live stabilized in the final vision or goal. Many of us continue to labor, swinging between the extremes of bliss and pain, transcendence and despair, conviction and uncertainty. The process is a demanding one, as if a determined alchemist tried again and again to find the right formula to transmute the base metals of the ordinary mortal into the gold of the sublime.
