Gopi Krishna writes on the topic of Chakras saying, “the description of charkas and lotuses, of supernatural signs and omens accompanying success in the practice, of the miraculous powers attainable, the genesis of the system and the origin of the various methods are so overdone and full of exaggeration that to the uninitiated the whole conception embodied in the ancient literature on the subject appears incredible if not preposterous” (Krishna 104). Indeed the lore of the energizing force of Kundalini is quite extensive. Even outside Hinduism, Kundalini is associated with sexual energy, or even in some cultures and mythologies a “Goddess energy”.
New Age Goddesses refer to goddess spirituality, but the goddess force can be associated with a variety of stances from conservative, to male or female dominance, to empire building, to equality. Goddess worship is usually common in Pagan and Neopagan religions and denominations. It’s difficult to assess from whence goddess worship originated, but many consider it to be from prehistoric times, where the “Venus of Willendorf” (a Paleolithic statuette found in Austria in `908) may represent the fertility goddess. Mythologically, the concept of Goddess ranges from war to fertility connotations. In Sumerian mythology, Inanna is oldest known goddess, dating back to a very late date.
Because the concept covers the full “love and war” spectrum it is difficult to associated the idea of goddess with anything more than what they frequently represent. The goddess most frequently symbolizes fertility – watching over, promoting, and taking care of fertility, pregnancy, and birth. . The fertility goddess is the most frequent representation with the Greek Aphrodite, the Egyptian Hathor and Isis, and in Norse mythology, Freya, are all goddesses of fertility. In Celtic mythology, Morrigan is the goddess of war. In almost all polytheistic cultures, some kind of fertility god or goddess, in sense, a “Cupid God” is in charge of promoting sex and fertility. At parties I definitely have the tendency to observe attractions and to try to spark some engagement between the disparate, but magnetic groups. Any matchmaker aims to play the fertility god or goddess role, but, usually never understands the complexity of the chemistry.
Sexual energy has provoked some of the most far-fetched theories, wildest projections, and is claimed to be the most creative form energy. Almost every civilization for every generation has a different interpretation of sexual energy – but each culture has something entirely unique to say about it.
In ancient Aramaic, the Semitic language spoken along with Arabic and Hebrew, which voiced some of the greatest biblical stories, discussed how sexual energy is a creative and healing force, and the ancient connotation of “church” is the flesh, which could be connected to a sexual force. The ancient, Minoan, Celtic, and Sumerian civilization referred to the sexual energies as the powerful, commanding Goddess force, which was to be worshipped. The Chinese had a much more docile relationship to the life force, calling it Chi. A German view of sexual energy, put forth by Wilhelm Reich, was an Odic force called orgonic energy, which was considered to be in all matter, trees, meteorological patterns, orgasms, and the cosmos. There is the Freudian concept of Libido, and the list goes on. Ancient civilizations had goddess force; the Chinese centered on Chi; Reich called upon the orgonic force; Freud psychologically scrutinized libido; and the Hindus believed in Kundalini, one of the most powerful interpretations of sexual energy possible. All those interpretations of life force have similarities, but the Hindu variations are the most captivating because the raw, carnal, evolutionary power associated with Kundalini.
In Sanskrit, Kundalini means, literally, “coiled up” or “coiling snake” it is a serpent power. The Bible recommends that we “have the mind of a serpent and a heart of a dove”. Accessing Kundalini energy is vital to being strong in mind while compassionate in heart. With only the serpent mind, we would be caustic and manipulative; with only the compassionate heart, our gentleness would be trampled on. By access the Kundalini energy, we can create a healthy, resilient, intelligent interface for our compassion – ensuring that it is not discombobulated but expressed with vehemence and sincerity, and protected around malign.
Anatomically, the Kundalini energy is in the root chakra of the body, located curled around the sacrum. Hindus believe in the presence of 7 bodily charkas, each possessing certain characteristics. Each chakra:
- Revolves at a different spin
- Corresponds to a specific element
- Causes a certain effect
- Possesses a unique color
- Is located in a certain place
- Is associated with certain qualities of being.
The highest chakra, for example, the crown chakra revolves clockwise in men, corresponds to all elements, causes one to overcome self-limitations, is purple, located at the crown of the skull, and is associated with divine forces of the universe and cosmic energies. The lowest Chakra, the root chakra, is where we find the Kundalini force. The root chakra spins clockwise in men, is red, found in the lower pelvis, and is associated with the individual and physical world, embracing aspects such as “self-expression, ambition, consistency, desire for security, and self-survival. While the root chakra is associated with calming, tension-dissolving the effects, the Kundalini force generates quite the opposite sensation, generating a very raw and energizing power.
But Kundalini is associated with more than just a viciously energizing momentum; iconographically, it has been equated to the Greek Caduceus, shown here:
Symbolizing the Greek messenger God, Hermes, the Caduceus has two snakes coiling around a heralding stuff, making it a powerful symbol of the Greek God, Hermes, as a messenger, astrologer, healer, and creator and magical incantations that Hermes is associated with. Astrology, magical incantations, messages, healing all are connected with Hermes, which are symbolized in Kundalini.
To many Yogis, Kundalini was almost a deity in itself, symbolizing yogic awakening and spiritual energy. The rarity of Kundalini originates from the small number of ways it can be awakened. It is so special and unique because it is usually only brought on by:
- A near-death experience (like a near-death car crash)
- Sparked by meditation
- Triggered by a blow to the head that initiates the body's reactionary system
- Psychedelic drugs (or very intense sports which produce extreme physiological effects)
- Committed types of intense yogic meditation and stretching.
Regardless of its onset, Kundalini is not an “altered state of consciousness”, but rather, the most natural state of consciousness imaginable. In other words, the Kundalini awakening embodies such a high level of unaltered consciousness that it appears like a mind-altered state. It operates only through a natural awakening of the intrinsic divine energy of the body. In other words, its one of the most awakening experiences your body can accomplish.
Altered states of conversation occur in a variety of circumstances including dreams, sleep, through drugs, meditation, or hypnosis. Kundalini is the only form of “altered state” of consciousness that is truly intrinsically natural. Dreams are natural but incredibly vague. The Greeks attribute one of three Gods to a certain dream. The dream gods are Morpheus, Phobetor, Phantasos.
- Morpheus (aka “Sandman”)is the God of ultra-realistic dreams. There is a poem that goes, “I met at eve the Prince of Sleep, his was a still and smiling face”. The tone of that poem because of the location of adjectives before the nouns and the order of the imagery produces a very dream-like depiction.
- Phantasos is the god of surrealistic dreams, from which the word fantasy is derived. If you dream of flying over fields of custard with giraffes mowing the lawn, you are experiencing the highly symbolic dream of Phantasos.
- Phobetor is the god of nightmares from which the word “phobia” is derived. His dreams are of demons, ghosts, fear and fright.
All of these are valid dream associations, though, and psychologically a dream state is considered to be an altered state of consciousness.
Drugs are perhaps the least effective, most destructive, and outrageously stupid method of experiencing states of altered consciousness because of the addiction, the diverse mental and emotional side effects, the negative effects on the user’s mood and the like.
Meditation and Kundalini remain the most authentic and the most genuine methods are always the most potent. But the purpose with practitioners of Kundalini isn’t to access wild, psychedelic states of consciousness, but to unify their perceptions into harmonious whole that, through its synergy, appears mind-altered, but, in reality is authentic. When we experience humdrum perception fields, and “normal days”, with vapid colors we are, then, in a state of altered consciousness. Our authentic realm of sensual alertness explodes with colors and meaning. Therefore, accessing the so-called “altered state of consciousness” through natural means is simply re-accessing our “normal self”, and that unaltered normal self is remarkably illuminating and incredibly not original and bland.
Many religions access this the “authentic, unaltered, altered state of conscience” self through worship. The role of the Goddess especially has strong connections with Kundalini force. Goddess energy is frequently described as the sex appeal in women to which men succumb. When anyone succumbs to sex appeal the “fail to resist a typically negative, pressuring, or tempting force”. The question arises is sex appeal a negative force? Not really in the biological sense because anatomically, are DNA programs us to procreate; we are designed to reproduce, to pass on genes. However, the concept of dropping to the level of worshipping a fellow human being because of sex appeal not only relegates yourself, but it destroys the integrity of the human spirit.
For the longest time there has been the tendency to make a false dichotomy of classifying people into two categories. Although these stereotypes do not deliberately refer to women, they do occur that way:
- Heavy, husky, and unattractive BUT nice, low maintenance kind, authentic, “repentant, loving, subservient, reformed person” (Gilda 7)
- Slim, attractive, sexy BUT manipulative, high maintenance, up on a pedestal, superficial, “alluring, unbridled temptress”
Regardless of being gender-specific, that is an erroneous bifurcation because there just as easily are heavy-set people that are manipulative and slim, attractive people who are kind and warm. Somatype, body frame, poundage does not determine personality! Body size can have an impact, but it does not ultimately define one’s disposition and motivating agenda.
The deification of sex appeal more frequently arises in men, than from women, resulting in the “sex goddess” syndrome. The extremely desirable actresses, singers, sportswomen, or other lady celebrities (examples are Elle McPherson, Marilyn Monroe, Anna Kournikova, and the like) not only are treated as Goddess, but they create a social normal for attraction. “If you don’t find those societal goddesses attractive you are a homosexual or wired wrong” has become the warped and invalid cultural cliché. The dehumanization of this operates on a two-fold level. First, the goddess is objectified. Roseanne Burr coined the phrase “domestic goddess” in the 1980s, which simply meant housewife. Secondly, it manufactures a dangerous cultural groove (or for women in regards to “sex gods”) that “creates a disservice to women – one that interferes with the realities of normal male-female relationships” (Gilda 2). In other words, both women and men get trapped into either having their worship of the opposite sex interfere with authentic intimacy or they find themselves loving the façade, a deified image, and neglecting the warm, core individual.
Another problem with sex goddess fantasies is that aforementioned false bifurcation is created. Not only are their more classifications of those extremes, but each extreme is incredibly unrealistic. A living Barbie doll would be anatomically impossible. This is what a huge majority of women grew up idolizing, an image so warped and inhumanly realistic that it is physically impossible to attain. The “real Barbie”, calculated with the same real-world proportions would be like an alien species: given that the real-life Barbie is 6 feet tall, with an appropriate scale ratio factor, her “bust, waist, and hip measurements would be 33, 20.75, and 30.5 inches, respectively” (Europa 7). Anexoria, anemia, circulation problems would not doubt be plaguing the real-life version of this cultural, gender icon. But the power of role models is different from that of god or goddess images. You aim to become the role model, while the god or goddess is simply considered to be “too ideal; too magnificent; too great” to even bother trying to emulate. My question is why the emulation? Why the mimicry? Everyone has splinters of successful people unnaturally weaved into their disposition, congesting the vitality of their spirit. Hairstyles of famous people, facial gestures of celebrities, mannerisms and knick-knacks from the affluent and prestigious – such emulation does not brew success, but simply confusion. Successful people are successful not because they have imagery, but because they cultivate an original interface for interacting with the world aligned with their essence.
If you visit a jungle territory, you could find the repenitent, subservient people. If you visit a nunnery or convent, there will certainly be some people of the unbridled, type. Therefore, environment does not create these roles, ill-defined cultural standards, however, do.
However, this false dichotomy is much more outdated.
Carl Jung was convinced that Kundalini was symbolic of "the process of individuation", which he discussed at the Psychological Club in Zurich. While I disagree with many of Freud’s theories, I do believe in Jung’s interpretation of individuation and concur that Kundalini would be a very transformative force in the process of individuation. Individuating is where an undifferentiated person becomes or develops individual characteristics that make that person a more indivisible whole. The process of individuation is divided into two parts. Half is saying things you like; the other half alludes to things you dislike, in very low-level psychological terms. You are identifying your individuality, what makes you who you are, why you don’t like broccoli, and do like Brussels sprouts, and the like. The three main outcomes that arise from this process are egotism, self-depreciation, or successful individuation. The first two outcomes are negative. If you only recognize your strengths you undergo egotism; and if you only examine your weaknesses and flaws you self-depreciate. Successful individuation is successfully honoring your strengths and weaknesses giving you a realistically aware viewpoint of yourself. The great thing about Kundalini force is that tidal wave of intention that surges in you because of it, makes individuation – regardless of it being deliberate or unintentional recognition of strengths and weaknesses – naturally occur.
Because individuation involves, more or less, being somewhat of a rebel, few people individuate these days. Far more than majority, about 80% of people attempt individuation, even fewer successfully individuate. Most people are throngs in the status quo. Those who have successfully individuated shine. They stand out. Usually they are successful athletes, politicians, writers, musicians, artists – anyone who stands out has successfully indivuated. Success is a myth. What success really is, us thorough individuation. Becoming into one’s own generates a concrete embodiment that sets trends, goes faster, has more dynamism, more awareness, and more maneuvers because it is not glued into the slow technology of the clunky, undifferentiated whole. The individuated soul becomes an integrated being, aware of its talents.
Now individuation is related to, but slightly different from identity formation. When one experiences an identity crisis, whether it be “mid-life” after getting fired from one’s job in your mid-40s, at old age, or in early adolescence, four possible outcomes arise:
- Successful Identity formation. Exploration of other identities occurred and a formal identity created.
- Premature Identity formation. Exploration of other identities failed to occur, but a pseudo-identity façade was prematurely created.
- Meandering Identity Formation. Exploration of other identities occurred, but failed to cease, so no constant identity façade was ever created.
- Anesthetized Identity Formation. Exploration of other identities failed to occur, nor did a constant identity emerge.
The fourth outcome from the identity crisis represents lack of any effort in resolve. The first scenario, successful identity formation, symbolizes the individual who intrepidly tried on different identity guises, explored, and created a solid, personalized personality. The irony about “personality” is that its root word is “person” but it, unfortunately, rarely reflects the person itself. Personality should embody the essence of one’s identity.
Whether you call it esprit, loosh, prana, elan vital, or bio-electricity, Kundalini is an incredibly potent force catalyzing individuation, but also embodying raw vitality. The condensed, compact energy of the Kundalini is like a nuclear reactor. A Sufi mystic, Rumi, wrote about it, saying, "You have the energy of the sun in you, but keep knotting it up at the base of your spine." True, some scientists investigated the cellular energy potential of the human body estimating it to be equivalent of multiple atom bombs. When you hit your funny bone and experience an internal electric zap of the body’s nervous system, you are dabbling with the body’s electric potential.
Because of the incredible amount of momentum Kundalini creates, one should not attempt to open this thrust of energy if one is not in a balanced psychologically. This is not for those with manic depression or bi-polar disorder. You have to be extremely psychologically clear and stable because the journey of Kundalini will take you extraordinary places that press psychological buttons, but it is the journey of myriad lifetimes and copious generations because it is a unifying occurrence. One common misinterpretation of this force is lack of control. People believe that Kundalini is a Pandora’s box that, once opened, causes chaos to reign and choice of destiny to falter.
My junior year in high school, I really felt like I experienced a Kundalini rising. I started investigating Chakras, reading Hindu scriptures, painting furniture, and experienced a wide range of visual color changes. Westerners would say I was just trying to comprehend the whooshing and radical changes of puberty, but easterners could say I was experiencing a Kundalini rising.
Kundalini arising, apparently, can be ridiculously trippy and hallucinogenic: “the usual character common to dreams…they often lacked coherence and continuity…I was transported to a glittering fairyland, where garbed in luster I glided from place to place” (Krishna 148). Some of this sounds incredibly cheesy and absurd, but the emphasis on the dream-like sensation of a Kundalini awakening is a very common description.
Kundalini most certainly generated individuation, but there are other methods that almost inevitable create internal realizations associated with individuation. Take the 12-step program for recovering addicts. This program -- while for recovering drug, alcohol, and sex addicts among others – actually creates an authentic relationship with one’s self, engendering individuation and even possibly accessing I am a 12-stepper. Here’s the list of the basic twelve steps. All twelve-steppers have:
- Admitted their powerlessness over their addiction (alcohol, drugs, whatever) and recognized their lives as unmanageable.
- This first step dissolves denial that causes addictive behavior to perpetuate.
- Believe that a greater power than themselves could restore sanity.
- This addresses the power of faith, but one should never abandon the power of one’s own individuation, which is ultimately what is cultivated. Addictions arise because of the absence of identity and successful indivuation. There are always addictions. The key is to be addicted to successful habits. Michael Jordan was addicted to winning, you could say. Charles Dickens, addicted writing poignant novels. But in the presence of individuation, the only “addiction” is successful, joyful living. Clearly, Kundalini, 12 step, and individuation are all intertwined.
- Made a decision to turn their will and lives over to the care of God as we understood him.
- This personal relationship with God is vital to successful faith and the essence of individuation. Everyone has a distinct and different definition of God and relationship to God. Even if you take two identical twins, raised Roman Catholic ministers, who have memorized all 39 books of the Old Testament and all 27 books of the New Testament, they will have different interpretations and relationships with God. How you understand god is as distinct as your DNA. Each strand of DNA “comprises some 3.2 billion letters of coding, enough to provide 10^3,480,000,000 possible combinations” (Bryson 399). That’s 10 followed by 3.48 billion zeros of combinations! In short, everyone has a unique DNA sequence, just like everyoen has their own distinct, perspective of god. Everyone has their own reality of the universe and of God. It’s important to recognize that distinctiveness to cultivate your own enrichign reality.
- Fearlessly seek and create a moral inventory of ourselves.
- This is the essence of individuation. Calculating strengths and weaknesses equally – avoiding egotism and self-depreciation and taking the middle road of individuation.
- Admitted to God, your self, and another human being the exact detailed nature of wrongs.
- Steps 5-7 are all about confessing -- pinpointing qualities you dislike, asking for help with that, and then readying for the removal of those all those instances.
- Readied ourself for god to remove the defects we confessed.
- Embraced humility, asking God to remove these defects and shortcomings.
- This step, like most of these steps, I don’t aggree with in the conventional sense becaue “shortcomings” can quickly become strengths given the write context. In the military, always wanting to paint would be a shortcoming, but in Renaissance Italy, wanting to obsessively paint the ceiling of the Sistine chapel -- like Michaelangelo did with Sistine Chapel for Pope Sixtus IV, making it one of the most famous cathedrals in the world with frescoes of Christ’s Temptation, The Last Judgment, The Creation of Adam, and the like – is a mark of a deviant, successful prodigy. “Shortcomings”, therefore, are contextual – inappropriate deviations in one environment, insurpassable ingenuity in another context. Accessing your own shortcomings in a proactive context is better than “overcoming them”; it’s utilizing them.
- Listed all the persons harmed and committed to willingly making amends.
- Steps 8-9 are all about making amends – listing the amends and then making them.
- Actually directed those amends to all people, unless it would harm or injure them.
- Continue to make personal inventory and admit wrongs.
- Steps 10-12 are sustaining steps – aimed to continue eradicating flaws, confessing them, praying for knowledge and ability to carry out our will, and continuity of spiritual awakenings.
- Used prayer and meditation to connect with God, via our understanding of Him – praying for knowledge of God’s will for us and power to carry that out
- Step 11 I have another problem with. You define your own agenda, intertwined with God’s because you are a manifestation of God. This is not abonding free choice, just doing a “maintenace check” on will and focus.
- Pass on the steps and continue having spiritual awakenings.
The 12-step could really be 5-Step with:
- Transforming Powerlessness to Faithful Empowerment (1-3)
- Identify Powerlessness
- Believe in higher power
- Turn life over to that higher power
- Personal Inventory for Individuation (4)
- Confessions (5-7)
- Making Amends (8-9)
- Sustaining Progress through Prayer, Meditation, and Realizations (10-12)
We don’t subscribe to any religion, but, taking an agnostic placement, appreciate the openness of god. The reality is continuing to individuate by accessing one’s shortcomings in a nourishing environment and to create certainty in that process, which accesses Kundalini. One’s method of understanding God could very easily be vis-à-vis Kundalini, if you believe in that form of energy. Discovering what you believe in -- even if that is aetheism or agnosticism -- is a different hue of creating faith.
Europa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Barbie.
Gilda. http://www.cybercollege.com/sexgod.htm. 2006.
Krishna, Gopi. Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man. Boston:
Shambala, 1997.
