Kundalini Splendor

Tom Kenyon and the Hathors, his interdimensional guides are strong proponents of ecstasy, as a way to raise not only one's own vibratory rate, but also that of earth itself. On his website, the Hathors present techniques for arousing ecstasy, and it sounds quite simple as they describe it. For those who cannot "feel the bliss," they suggest simply focusing on gratitude for all one's blessings.

Tom has called for a universal "ecstasy meditation" on July 8 (2-4 Pacific Time), in which participants will enter ecstatic states for two hours to send these vibrations into the earth for healing purposes. You can check the details on his web site (www.Tomkenyon.com)

There is much that is attractive in the overall message of the Hathors. They are not "messianic," in the sense that they claim to be world saviors. They present themselves in the role of elder brothers and sisters come to aid, assist, and advise. They do not claim to have all knowledge, for they recognize that they exist in a niche in a much greater hierarchy of nested consciousness (extending to the planets and solar system and galaxy and perhaps beyond.)

On the one hand, I am extremely gratified that ecstasy is acknowledged as a legitimate and essential state for both personal and planetary evolution. Many teachers and systems reject the feeling level entirely (puritanical religions in their fundamentalist expression, both East and West). In these belief systems, feeling is traditionally associated with the female, earth energies, and evil. Hence the suppression of women in their practices.

I have sometimes been told by teachers of yoga or chi gong that ecstasy was not a legitimate response, and that I should either ignore it or try to get over it.

And, of course, I did not listen. Hence, it is deeply gratifying to find someone who openly advocates ecstasy as a means to spiritual transformation.

However, Tom and the Hathors do not speak in any detail of the perils of awakening ecstasy. (They merely say that if issues arise, then one should continue the exercises until they disappear.) Kundalini was a secret practice for ages, in part because it could be extremely damaging to the unprepared disciple. Yogis spent years carefully disciplining their bodies to prepare them for kundalini experience. Even contemporary literature is filled with accounts of those who have suffered greatly from emotional or physical repercussions of kundalini awakened in persons not ready.

Kundalini sensitizes the body (including the emotional, physical, and energetic bodies) beyond belief. Often, every single psychological issue one has encountered in one's life will rise to the surface and demand to be dealt with. This can be a very disturbing and even painful experience. Some people more or less go to pieces, and have to seek extreme psychiatric counsel. The kundalini also intensifies pain and symptoms of illness where there are physical blocks. It is as if it roams through the entire body, bringing to light all the imperfections and flaws.

The Hathors do not tell us what to do in such extreme circumstances. More than one follower has been thrown into chaos and grief through receiving shaktipat from a guru who awakened the energies and failed to take responsibility for the consequences.

And, although the Hathors instruct as to how to enter ecstasy, they do not (again, as far as I am aware) tell us how to exit these states and return to "normal awareness." Ecstasy can lead to a sense of spaciness, mental fuzziness, inability to concentrate on the mundane tasks of the everyday world. We do not want to become a race of "bliss bunnies," wandering about in a state of mental fog. We need to find ways both to go in and go out of such states, and to maintain our alertness and mental clarity as we function in the everyday world.

And I have another concern about the Hathors' role. I am glad they do not say they have come as "messiahs" to save the world, but I find no reference to some truly divine or sacred connection. Theirs seems to be a strictly secular mission, cast in the form of awakening higher vibrations on this planet and elsewhere. For me, ecstasy, bliss, and all such states, are connectors to the divine itself (the creative life force which extends constant and universal love). Indeed, ecstasy is just that--a testimony of the love-force which animates and sustains our universe.

As many have said, we cannot "think god," but we can (to some extent) feel "it."

That is when we forget who we are (the small self) and experience our role as an infinitesimal atom in the infinite and ongoing reality from which we come.