THE SEARCH FOR THE SELF 

 NAVIGATING THE APOCALYPSE 

"To listen a soul into disclosure and discovery is the greatest service one human being can offer another." Quaker saying

Connecting with Self occurs when we balance the polarities found in these energy maps; positive-negative, feminine-masculine, moon-sun, ying-yang, right brain-left brain, and the autonomic, parasympathetic-sympathetic.

"The fundamental notion of equilibrating the opposites is omnipresent in all beliefs. This universal truth is crucial to our understanding of how we transcend, keep well and heal."

 Dave Cumes (Inner Passages, Outer Journeys)

ENERGY SYSTEMS - ANCIENT MAPS TO THE SELF #1

These are the final Blogs in this Series

Modern science creates impressive names for mystical phenomena and things we do not fully understand, such as coherence, physiological arousal, cathartic conversion experience, medical intuitive, distant mental influence on biological systems etc. An understanding of energy maps, however, allows us a deeper appreciation of the Search for the Self and where we are on the journey. 

A byproduct can be the ability to access, experience and use paranormal phenomena. Ancient wisdom warns us, however, not to turn our quest into an ego driven power trip.

"In the samadhi (enlightenment) that comes at the end of reasoning and discrimination no such thing as “I” exists but it is extremely difficult to attain as “I”consciousness lingers so persistently. This is why humans are born again and again."
  Sri Rama Krishna

The essential principle in ascending this energy hierarchy is the yoga concept of Kundalini. 

The Kundalini in the form of latency is coiled like a serpent. One who impels this Shakti to move will attain liberation.”

Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Kundalini is not confined to Yoga philosophy. We all have this primal, feminine, "Shakti" energy, described as a serpent coiled around the base of the spine. All Southern African tribal peoples recognize this feminine power residing in the lower belly. Some describe it as a snake. The Zulus call it Umbilini and the San-Bushman, Num. This power is key to the initiation of the sangoma (Zulu equivalent of shaman.)

The biggest impediment to moving this energy is the ego. 

"God cannot be realized if there is the slightest trace of pride. " Upanishads

There is no room for God in him who is full of himself. The sages tell us concerning the proud man; God says; “I and he cannot dwell together in the world” Talmud

"S/He who loses himself, will find himSelf." Jesus

SOME KUNDALINI MANIFESTATIONS

“A human’s spiritual consciousness is not awakened until his/her Kundalini is aroused.” Sri Ramakrishna

Heat, vibrational energy, creeping sensations, tingling - rising up the spine, light experiences, inner sounds, smells, spontaneous movements, paranormal powers, paralysis, falling, an empty mind, transcendence, being transported beyond oneself, feelings of intense love, empathy, compassion, out of body experiences, shamanic states, connecting with spirit guides or ancestors et al ...

Everyone's experience will be unique so that we should not try to replicate those of others but honor our own, even if less dramatic. 

For indigenous peoples it can manifest as mastery of fire, shape-shifting as well as the large body experience seen in their rock art. The large or elongated body is perceived below when traveling out of body and is later represented on the rock face by the artist as is the shape shifting.

The yogis describe Unity Consciousness or the Oneness Experience occurring when 

THE KNOWER- THE KNOWN-AND THE PROCESS OF KNOWING 

all fuse into one thing.

This is not as exotic as one might think. For instance; 

 THE KNOWER 

you

 THE KNOWN 

say you looking at a rainbow 

 and 

THE PROCESS OF KNOWING 

the rainbow 

fuse into one thing and you become the rainbow.

For most of us it is fleeting but it is an experience of non-duality which can be ecstatic.

"The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there." Roshi

Maslow called this a Peak Experience which he said could occur in the following circumstances (among others;) meditation, solitude, sex, childbirth, music, dance, drumming, art, body awareness, in nature and during a scientific discovery.

Some poetic examples of this phenomenon are described below.

"Haze hung over the valley, light as gossamer and clouds partially dimmed the higher cliffs and mountains. This obscurity of vision increased the awe with which I beheld it and as I looked a peculiar exalted sensation seemed to fill my whole being and I found my eyes in tears with emotion." Dr. L. Bunnell (on entering Yosemite valley with the first white party to ever see it.)

"And then it was as if all the chains of a type of slavery dropped from me with such a rush that they tinkled and rattled in my imagination…a great rush of emotion swept over me that was impossible to describe, except that all its urges and manifestations met in a wordless cry; “I have come home!” 

L. Van der Post. (After he returned from the war to South Africa, having been interned in a Japanese concentration camp. He had this Oneness Experience with a huge kudu bull which emerged out of the bush while he was trekking.)

These experiences are common with drugs, and entheogens - sacred mind-altering plants used in ritual by indigenous peoples. Use of entheogens is becoming common place now in the West. It is good to be careful of ego stepping in after these experiences. The plants should be used to subordinate and humble us, rather than enhance the ego.

"A mere glimpse of reality can be mistaken for complete realization." Gampopa

"Drugs allow us to taste the beyond but do not make us masters of the transcendental." Sri Satyananda

Some adepts have said that dramatic Kundalini experiences are more common when the energy moves in young souls. Older souls are already more energetically aligned and therefore the changes can be subtle. In a sense it is a "slow burn" rather than an inferno. Rather it should be a positive "cathartic conversion experience." One has to be careful moving this energy because it can be confusing and dibilitating to the uninformed. Lee Sannella, a psychiatrist, wrote about how it could be confused as psychosis. This is a spiritual emergency rather than a psychosis. The remedy is to honor it as possibly life-changing rather than suppressing it with anti-psychotic drugs. Stansilov and Christina Grof in the 60's, with their work on L.S.D., coined the term Spiritual Emergency - when spiritual emergence became too intense and an emergency. They founded the Spiritual Emergence Network to help those having these radical, transformative, spiritual experiences.