Linda, all I can say in reply to your post above is thanks again for taking the time to share your experiences with us, and the lessons you've learned from them. If your suffering can be of service to others--even by giving them a sense of not being alone in some of these struggles--I think there is meaning in them. You've already done that for me many times, so thank you.

Phil

I would like to know what Linda and the others think about how these types of attack affect our close family and friends.
I'm talking "technically", not practically - you know, because our energy fields interact, can the negative energy I receive be conducted to others?

I know there is a danger of paranoia creeping in here but a couple of incidents that occured whilst I was being attacked seemed to suggest that others are affected, albeit minimally and without them being too conscious of what was actually happening.

For example, I am not married but I share a house with my sister and her 2 children. We are all very close and a blessing to each other but one night, as I was under a bit of psychic pressure,my nephew woke up, stumbled into my room claiming he felt there was a presence in his room.This at a time when I felt the occultist was directing my attention to my nephew.
There have been a couple of other incidents involving strange dreams which I related to and, during the period when I was slain in the Spirit, a very close friend whom I love and have strong psychic ties with later reported that she felt incredibly drained of energy, cold and goose bumpy(without knowing I had been to a healer).

I must stress I am quick to reduce all this and downplay it as the counter affect on others is very minimal and I refuse to let it worry me but I have had to exercise a degree of detachment from my family which in turn has strengthened me.

Contrary to Christ's teaching about living a day at a time , I occasionally worry about any relationship or children I might have.I'm working on this and ,as I say , I'm really just interested from a technical angle as regards our auras etc as, practically I remain positive and loving in a family environment, refusing to let it affect me.

Stephen

In accordance with Phil's spirit of thankfulness, I too must say that this site and these posts have been of enormous blessing and encouragement to myself at this time. I do mean this, so Thank You!!!!

Stephen,

I absolutely believe that both the Christlike and demonic energy impacts people we're linked to - I mean, we really are all in this together and when you love someone like a family member and are emotionally, genetically tied to them (not to mention geographically, if you're sharing a house), naturally negative energies can affect them. I had to live with my elderly parents at one point in my journey and my mother in particular felt demonic presences, so bad one night that she commanded them away. She's not particularly dramatic about such things, and is a devote Christian, so she wasn't particularly freaked out, but had not experienced many occasions in her life where she's had to do that. We knew it was because of what I was going through and because I was physically in their house.

I think an important step would be to have a good priest come bless your home. And I really believe that blessed salt, etc. can help in protection as well as asking Christ specifically address family and friends, your cars, etc. TO others this might sound superstitious or even paranoid, but in my experience and from what I've learned from others going through similar challenges, these classic spiritual protection measures are really important!

Another tip to your Stephen and this may also sound kind of ridiculous but I found it works when you're really being astrally attacked, in the sense that you can feel or see an electromagnetic dark presence trying to disturb you. Either put on a cotton ball or rub over your body Vicks Vapo Rub, if its available to you - or something equivalent that has a lot of caphor in it. Dark spirits hate the stuff and I found it amusing that it has long been a remedy for colds and flu, particularly lung infections. If phsyical ailments are truly caused by demonic presences, and I know I sound like someone out of the medieval times, then these kinds of remedies that herbalists came up with centuries ago are still valid!

An aruyvedic doctor that I went to had me basicaly drinking caphor, which was yucky, at one point, to cleanse and keep dark entities away and after I looked at what his instructions were, I decided everything he was cooking up was already in the over-the-counter Vicks product. And it really works, believe me. If you really want to clear a room of dark entities, either dump some of it in a steaming pot of boiling water and let the mist crowd the room. (Acts like the equivalent of a vaporizer.) Also, another "clearing" method is to buy isopropl alcohol (79-99% proof) and pour into a bunch of epsom salt in a frying pan - I usually set this on a chopping block in the middle of a room to withstand the heat - and then light it. The salt/alcohol combination burns out dark entities.

I hope this doesn't sound too New Agey, but if you're in a denser environment, dark climate, these are really good tactics to lift the energy in a room, I've found, and then fill it with prayer and celestial sounds, like holy music, to construct a veil of protection. I now live in a sunny climate in Southern California, and find I need to do less clearing since the sun light tself is a great purifier as well as all the plants, like lilac. That's also a good plant for protective energies to put in a room. PLants and flowers supposedly have angelic presences around them that help lift the energy of a living space.

Anyway, that's my two cents that's not particularly spiritual practice, but useful tips. Phil, I'm glad to hear that even you, after all your studies on kundalini, find anything I have to offer of any use.

And to anyone going through this, I also recommend an important book as a guide to help solve any physical and emotional problems, "Vibrational Medicine" by Richard Gerber, MD - he's a traditionaly trained MD,specialized in cancer, really on the cutting edge in medicine, discusses kundalini and looks at all physical ailments as energy imbalances, connects them to various chakras, system problems. I told my own MD in NYC about this book (the second edition is updated) nearly a decade ago, and he was interested, but since he's traditional, just kind of passed it off. Last year, he told me he was at a conference where both the book and the phenomena of the vibrational medicine angle took top billing, and he's a convert. So there you go.

Anyway, that's my two cents that's not particularly spiritual practice, but useful tips. Phil, I'm glad to hear that even you, after all your studies on kundalini, find anything I have to offer of any use.

Oh, yes indeed! Lots of good common sense in your recommendations, Linda! I also second your recommendation of Vibrational Medicine, by Richard Gerber, M.D.

I suspect that in the "olden days," there was a lot more wisdom about all this than we have now. Practices that we might now consider "old wives tales" or even occult probably had some practical experiences backing them, but of the sort that can't be confirmed by science.

Let me also add my voice to the idea of subtle energy sheaths being torn. I'm sure I've suffered from this, at times. And just as the physical body can heal, I'm convinced that the subtle ones can as well, if there are no demonic complications. The "trick," as with the physical body, is to treat the wound tenderly and not "pick the scab." If, for example, meditation seems to aggravate things, then back off for awhile. In addition to the kind of advice that Linda has given, maybe shift your whole focus away from the contemplative for awhile, not abandoning faith, of course, but proceeding along more concrete, symbolic pathways: service, sacramental rituals, exercise, hard work, etc. Give the wound some time to heal and I think it generally will.

So much of this reminds me of Jesus' teaching that for new wine, we need new wineskins that are flexible and can hold the energy. It's when that new wine comes into an old, inflexible sheath--or is forced in through willful practice before its time--that we see all sorts of problems. Nevertheless, healing is possible, and I don't think any of these mistakes are of eternal significance. We can mess up and pay consequences, but by cultivating our intention/attention unto love of God and neighbor, we will end up in the right place.

Phil

Phil, Stephen, Linda, Jon

Although I have read the Bhavadgita (including Gandhi's verse by verse commentary on it and the Christian commentary on it by Fr. Bede Griffiths, called 'The River of Compassion'), some of the Upanishads, B.K.S. Iyengar on Yoga, The Dhammapada and some Zen teachings, I have not come across very much discussion of Kundalini in them. Iyengar does make a mention of it, yes, but in quite a different sense.

I have read a little about the chakras too. I wanted to share my thoughts. I refer to the seven chakras as following: the Grounding chakra (I), the sex chakra(II), the power chakra(III), the heart chakra (IV),the chakra of words/expression (V), chakra of concentration/meditation (VI)and chakra of enlightenment/liberation(VII). My own understanding of it has been that when Kundalini has been awakened, which I now call the spiritually energised ego, it begins to move upwards. It is only by closing all the channels/outlets, that the Kundalini can rise to the level of enlightment/liberation. For example if people decide to live out their sexuality indiscriminately when Kundalini passes through that chakra (letting it leak so to speak, instead of closing the channel to the outside to prevent leakage, to let Kundalini rise), they become sex obsessed. Or they become power obsessed if they get stuck at the level of the third chakra, emotionally unbalanced if stuck at the level of the fourth chakra, compulsive talkers if stuck at the level of the fifth chakra, mentally unbalanced if stuck at the level of the sixth chakra. So I consider it necessary to reign in all these areas when the ego has become spiritually energised through any form of spiritual practice. That is why the more balanced a person's ego is, the less eventful in the negative sense, his spiritual journey tends to become. I can understand the wisdom of traditional spiritual traditions, both in Buddhism and Hinduism, which emphasises silence, simplicity, an ascetic lifestyle, abstinence (Zen practices hard physical work to go hand in hand with intense meditation for that reason) and the repeated warning to ignore all emotional and mental distractions.

A classical example of how the ego can take over at any stage of one's spiritual journey and make one imbalanced is the case of Chogyam Trungpa. A lot of horror stories can now be heard about him although he wrote some brilliant books in his enlightened state. He wrote about spiritual materialism so brilliantly yet became a victim to it himself, losing all credibility and leaving all his followers thoroughly confused.

Linda your advice to get grounded in body and practice mind-body balance and harmony is the best. The simple ordinary life, the simple ordinary holiness is the best answer to all psychic attacks.

However it is true that when the mind and emotions have gotten out of balance due to any spiritual practice, it is necessary to stop that intense practice, be it meditation or yoga. That simply means that the ego is picking up the spiritual energy generated by the practice. It is then advisable to get the ego back in balance first.

My zen teacher (who is also a clinical psychologist) said that he allows people to meditate under him only after he has assessed them first. With the result no one in his group has ever had emotional/mental breakdowns as a result of meditation. But he has treated several people in his practice from other meditation groups suffering from breakdowns, those who have teachers who do not do such assessment. He said that meditation can precipitate an underlying psychosis or mental/emotional illness because meditation/intense spiritual practices bring up everything from the sub/unconscious mind. It is meant to be purified of course, but some people have too much stuff that can't be dealt with at one go in such intensity, that is all.

It is for that reason, ignoring the distraction and concentrating on the ordinary life is a great help. Linda has given fantastic advice about it.

You don't have to chop wood or carry water you know. You can also go for long walks, or clean your house or cut vegetables, have a nice warm bath etc. Has anyone tried the magic of playing with pre-school children? It works like magic! Who can teach us better about the joy, innocence and wonder of life better than a pre-school child? It is not without reason that Jesus said, 'Unless you become like these little children, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven'. I say, one cannot understand the joy, innocence and magic of Heaven unless one reminds oneself regularly by seeking the company of these little ones.

I remember reading somewhere that when feeling persecuted by evil spirits asking to be covered and protected by the BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST is a great help. Has anyone tried that? For example scream or chant "Blood of Jesus protect me"? I'm told that no evil spirit can ever tolerate hearing that and will flee immediately!

Chanting Bible verses maybe a great antidote to thoughts of persecution by evil spirits. Listening is after all more passive than chanting. Chanting aloud may be more effective in shutting out the obsessive thoughts.

Has anyone listened to the Christian chants of Taize? Taize is a Christian community in France and they have this great chanting church music. Plenty of CDs are available.

As to feeling that this or that person has control over one's spirit, do not give in to such thoughts. No one is more powerful than Jesus, and NO ONE, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE can have any power over you unless YOU allow it.

The mental changes that drugs bring about is another matter altogether and should not be mistaken for spiritual experiences. Drugs change the chemistry of the brain. It takes a while for the brain to heal itself after one has given up drugs. So just be patient and do everything to promote holistic healing.

Strive for emotional and mental balance and the psychic attacks will cease of its own accord.

I wish all of you the strength, guidance and peace of the Holy Spirit, who brings clarity and simplicity and love and does not attack anyone or unbalance them.

These are just MY thoughts on the subject, so forgive my lack of expertise. Since I care, I wanted to share what I thought might be useful. As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, although I have read the Bhagvadgita, some of the Upanishads, The Dhammapada and some zen teachings, I haven't read much about Kundalini. From what I understand, the Hindu scripture refers to 'Prana' as being comparable to the Holy Spirit, not Kundalini.

Phil and Linda

I wish to emphasise that my knowledge of Kundalini is very little and almost all the stuff on this forum was new to me. However I took the liberty to add my remarks as coming from someone who has been a seeker all her life too and views things from a different angle.

Linda

As to your negative reference to all Eastern practices/mantras, that sounds typically Charismatic! Remember, I mentioned that I went around feeling that I was possessed by an evil spirit after attending a Charismatic retreat and thought in terms of evil spirits all the time, even about simple ordinary things? That is the great danger when one tries to look at the world through the eyes of a fanatic Charismatic; one tends to forget the human, fleshly aspect of human existence which can explain a lot of things without attributing everything to possession by an evil spirit. The danger of attributing everything to possession by an evil spirit is also that we tend to feel helpless and give our God given power as human beings created in His image and likeness, with a free will away to some imaginery force out there. Many mental diseases manifest itself like that you know, therefore it is worthwhile to keep that in mind. I believe that the devil is real and there are demonic forces at work in this world. But don't give it all the power and don't try to explain everything in terms of it! Doesn't the Catholic Church have very good teaching in this area?

To your remark about being wired genetically and emotionally for Christianity and your scepticism about Eastern traditions:

1. No one is genetically wired to any religion in particular. We are all genetically wired to seek God, (created to seek God as St Augustine wrote), but we still have a free will option to ignore that gene! Doesn't it explain why there are so few Christians in Israel, although Jesus was a Jew, so few Buddhists in India although Buddha was an Indian?

2. One is conditioned by the environment to be sure. Your conditioning is Christian, but Christianity is an Eastern religion you know. Ever heard that Israel is located in the West? In fact all world religions have Eastern origin!

3. Do you think that the Dalai Lama for example is being influenced by the demons simply because he is a Buddhist and uses non-Christian spiritual practices or mantras? There are plenty of such examples both among the Buddhists and Hindus.

Fr. Bede Griffiths referred to the Cosmic Christ - the hidden Christ. We can safely assume that Jesus is the Lord of all, even of those who do not acknowledge Him because didn't John the Apostle say that all things were created through Him? Love can come only from God. So if a person is loving we can never claim that he doesn't know God, simply because he doesn't worship Jesus as we do. Neither is everyone who says 'Lord, Lord' living in Jesus if no love is manifest in that life.

I consider myself lucky to be born into a Christian family although I'm 'genetically' wired for Hinduism, my ancestor being a Hindu Brahmin. Yet although my ancestors have been Christians for nineteen and a half centuries, (yes 19 and a half!), I'm a Christian by conviction only because I chose it of my own free will. I chose it freely all along although I have dabbled enough in other religions. I praise Our Lord Jesus for giving me that miraculous grace of faith in Him which has remained unshaken!

For advice on how to deal with evil spirits, please read the story:

THE CANTERVILLE GHOST - BY OSCAR WILDE

I woke up this morning (mind you my clock is 15 hours ahead of yours!) with some thoughts on spiritual warfare.

1. For us Christians, the devil is a defeated enemy. Jesus did the battle on our behalf and paid the price to free us.

2. All we have to do then is to accept that victory Jesus won for us in faith.

3. We cling to Jesus at all times and ask for His help in dealing with the evil spirits. It is He who can send out angels to deal with the evil spirits, the defeated enemy. We don't have to get involved with the technicalities of how He does it. The angels don't need our help either except our free will decision to let them fight the spiritual warfare for us.

4. That is the reason why a contemplative ingnores the distractions and spiritual warfare going on within himself/herself and concentrates on Jesus alone trusting in His power and timely deliverance. The Charismatic on the other hand, it seems to me concentrates more on the spiritual warfare. Of course we ought to set our free will at the disposal of Jesus to act when He needs us as instruments to His cause.

5. Reading the Christian mystics is a great help in knowing how to deal with the evil spirits. How indispensible is humility and discernment that only the Holy Spirit can give us.

I'M A FELLOW TRAVELLER ON THE PATH LIKE THE REST OF YOU. I HAVE MY OWN STRUGGLES TOO ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT QUITE THE SAME AS DESCRIBED IN THIS FORUM THAT IS ALL!

Having said that it is advisable to give up intense spiritual practices to restore 'Kundalini' balance, I would like to mention that there are other ways in which one can feed the spirit on a daily basis. Regular scripture reading (Psalms, New Testament...)and vocal prayer, intercession etc. I'm sure cannot throw anything out of balance.

I get terribly uneasy about the new-agey notion that when one meditates or does yoga for spiritual reasons, it is not necessary to learn a moral code of conduct and strive to follow it consciously. It is generally believed that meditation alone is enough. Such a view is nonsense for the simple reason that all religions have developed a moral code of conduct. If it did not serve any purpose, it would not have existed. The ego needs to be trained to behave itself and this training must be done consciously, no matter how much time we spend in prayer/meditation. God does give us virtues but I'm sure we have a conscious role to play in disciplining our ego.

Priya,

I appreciate where you're coming from in your recent posts, but I have to addres your comment re my"negativity" about Eastern chants and mantras, and my being genetically wired for Christianity. One, I am not a Catholic charismatic. Secondly, I have been a reasonably small group setting with the Dalai Lama, so I feel that I can indeed make comments about his energy and have also been to numerous Tibet Buddhist meditations and even received guidance re my kundalini imbalance from a close advisor to the Dalai Lama. IN fact, I've looked for guidance re kundalini imbalances from a number of different walks, both in the Eastern Christian (Orthodox contemplative), traditional Catholic practice, charismatic Protestant healers, Native American shamanic practioners, and several other Eastern mytical traditions, such as Siddha Yoga.

Based on my own physical, spiritual, emotional and psychic experience, Chrisitianity has a whole different frequency/vibration than any of the other walks. I really believe in what the Virgin Mary told the visionaries in Medjurgorge (Which I've been to but can't spell!), that there are many paths to God, but to whom much is given, much is expected. One can even link this to the theory of reincarnation. I was born and baptized as a Christian. In the midst of one of my worst kundalini episodes, when I had to seek refuge in a holy setting, the one message I got and was verified by my spiritual director was that my baptism seal couldn't be broken. It seemed as all the other seals in every other chakra had been, but that was the guidance that I received during deep prayer. (And at that point I didn' t even know the bible well enough to know that biblical passages support what I'd been told). It was clear to me that my path was through Mary and Christ, (though for someone who was raised a Buddhist, for example, this might not have been the message. I think it depends on whatever your soul path is.) And I honor other traditions, and in fact go and pray, meditate and chant occasionally in other traditions, but only in a light style and usually as an experiment if I feel some new, strange thing happening in my kundalini imbalance. Sometimes I get some additional insight if I put myself in another energy tradition. I don't feel any of these paths are demonic, though I think every spiritual walk, in a group setting, carries the energy patterns of its followers. Thus, I've found that the "thought" forms, energy patterns of other traditions, if I'm exposed for too long, or, as I did at one point, take up some regular practice, can have some really negative consequences for my kundalini imbalance. Every spiritual walk carries a shadow energy, whether it be the negative spirits of Tibetan Buddhism or the Christian Satan. And I think most spiritual practioners will agree that its not a good idea to mix the energies of various spiritual walks, particularly if you have an active kundalini imbalance - though I believe it depends on where, what chakra, the energy might be stuck at, that this would matter. It really depends on your energy field. People with an inactive kundalini could probably easily do all kind of yoga, chanting and mantras included and follow any other spiritual path in the meantime. For someone with a busted auric field and wild pranic energy, those same practices could spell disaster.

Geography, whether Israel is part of the East, what have you, isn't what this is about.

Linda

I apologise for misinterpreting/misunderstanding some of the things you wrote. I do appreciate your vast experience in so many spiritual traditions and I'm sure your personal struggles has given you much knowledge and wisdom. Isn't that the way great teachers are made?

I added my two cents worth from a different standpoint, as food for thought, that is all.

I don't know if you have read one of my posts in which I emphasised the value of using the name of Jesus as a mantra (as some well known Christian contemplatives recommend using any spiritually meaningful word as mantra) because of the power that Name has been given by God - the Name above all names, Jesus being given the power over all things in Heaven and on earth. I mentioned that in the context of Christian mantras, how much more would it apply to mantras from other traditions! I agree with you totally that each mantra and spiritual tradition has different vibrations and energies.

The reason however why one is easily carried off by every energy field is not necessarily because one has an active Kundalini but that one has an IMBALANCED KUNDALINI.

Plenty of Catholic nuns and especially priests participate in other religious traditions in order to learn from them and enrich their own faith. So it is not really unusual what you are doing. However the effect it has had on you seems to be different. It is one thing to go as a Christian by conviction to learn from other religions but quite another to go as a seeker, not sure of one's own spiritual path.

It can be very confusing if one becomes a 'spiritual experiences junkie' getting fixes from all spiritual traditions, but there is no danger is going as a Christian to learn.

There are two books you might like to read:

1. 'The Cosmic Revelation' by Dom Bede Griffiths (www.bedegriffiths.com)

You would find it an extremely valuable source of information as Fr. Bede explains Christianity in the context of other religions.

2. 'Cutting through Spiritual Materialism' by Choygam Trungpa

Just try to ignore the fact that this man ignored his own insights and ruined his own life. Feel compassion for him and take his life as a warning to the rest of us on serious spiritual journeys. His insights coming from a time before his fall are very valuable. He gives good answers to the problem of 'spiritual junki-ism'.

I hope you will not misunderstand what I have written!

I've been following this thread with interest and want to thank you, priya and Linda, for your continued sharing.

Priya, I know you've studied with Fr. Bede Griffiths and are familiar with Christian and Hindu mysticism. I think a lot of what you're sharing is basically sound, but I'm wondering if you relate personally to the criteria for kundalini awakening shared on another thread on this forum? As Linda mentioned, it does seem to me that those who do not have kundalini awakening are not as likely to be adversely affected by a kind of multi-tradition practice.

Those who have awakened kundalini--especially if it's somewhat out of balance, as is usually the case, btw -- have to be very careful about all sorts of things, especially spiritual practice. I don't believe that non-Christian religions are demonic, but I have found, through experiential encounters with their teachers and practices, that they have a different formative influence on the patterning of energy flow. Even this is not always bad, but if one has a flow going basically OK in a certain tradition, altering it even just a little through practices and teachings from another tradition could very well produce unpleasant--even disastrous!--effects.

One thing I've never heard, however, is of people going from bad to worse when coming from another tradition to Christianity. I'm sure there are cases, but I'm not aware of any, and I am aware of many where things deteriorate when going from Christianity to another tradition. The reason, I believe, is that Christ mediates to the individual the optimal patterning of intelligence and energy for that soul. The Spirit working through Christ engineers within us the optimal flow of energy unto our ongoing divinization. It's not that other masters don't mediate as well, it's just that none of them, really are as transparent to Spirit as Christ is, and so some of their "stuff" always ends up getting passed along in the mediation. I think that's in part what Linda has been sharing of her experience. And the problem is, that once some of these bum imbalances set it, they're not easy to correct, even with the mediation of Christ and the work of the Spirit. As St. Thomas put it, grace works on nature, and if we've damaged our subtle energy system, that's what grace has to work with.

Healing is possible, of course, but generally not without leaving scars, and very tender spots which must be treated with care for the rest of one's life. That's pretty much my situation, and it's something I can live with. Like Linda, I trust that my Baptismal seal will ultimately hold, and that the pattern Christ is trying to form will not be denied. But man alive, that doesn't mean it's not a rough ride sometimes! Of course, He knows all about rough rides, too.

Phil

Well said, Phil!!! I've never heard of someone with a kundalini situation getting worse by following Christianity either, though it seems that it's still necessary to combine that belief system with some kind of the yogic practices for optimal healing. And for anyone who wants more proof, just do a date search on Kundalini on a medical data base and read some case studies, particularly in the Journal of Transformational Psychology. Complete horror stories.

On another note, I don't know what's going on in the earth's energy patterning right now (though I guess the Dow is one indication of more than a lot of worried investors), but my kundalini ride has been worse than usual in the past couple of weeks. I keep wondering if the LA magnetic field is getting ready for one heck of an earthquake, because the energy waves are huge, a rough spiritual surf for me despite all my efforts to get grounded. And what of Kansas, Phil? Have you been experiencing more severe symptoms of late? Or has anyone else out there?

Priya, here's what an imbalanced kundalini feels like for me, like I'm a walking radar for earth energies at large, and I'm not talking about this manifesting in terms of my behavior, i.e. stimulating a chemical, bi-polar imbalance. It's much bigger, yet more subtle, than that. An active kundalini, even if the path is smooth up your spine, really opens your receivers, not just psychically but on all levels. And I'm not a "seeker," never was. I looked for practical knowledge from the other spiritual walks, since traditional Christianity has so little. And, as I sit here writing on my laptop, I can assure you on my bookshelves are a several books by Matthew Fox, whom I think originated the term "Cosmic Christ," a former Episcopal priest who has his own divinity school in San Fran now. It sounds like BebeG. and he are coming from the same direction. And, to echo Phil, for those who haven't had a kundalini blow-put, yes, there is a Cosmic Christ who is the one and all to be contacted through all paths. For those of us forced to slice through various energy patterns, and I will be politically incorrect here, the concept of a Cosmic Christ is great rhetoric, yes, let us suspend all judgement, yes, there is a BIG GOD out there, the big River to quote Matthew Fox, but we kundalini impaired have to find the smoothest tributary off that river in order to survive. Some tribs have more rapids and hidden shoals. Christ offers the smoothest and safest route, in my opinion, and I think Phil has also found that so.

Actually, also Phil, I wanted to comment on a posting awhile back you made re having external energy healers work on someone with an active kundalini imbalance. Aside from the issue that the healer could channel some negative energy into the client's subtle energy systems, unintentionally, there is also another issue - only Christ (or the "Christ" consicousness, to be politically correct) heals, in my opinion. MOst of the healers I know charge a fortune for their services (they consider themselves professional healers because they've trained in energy healing, blah blah), and Christ, I believe, is free, and certainly selective about whom he lets have his power and why. SO the paradox alone of charging for a healing in itself is laughable.

I do know some Christians with a "Charisma" of healing who will pray over you for free and also ask for donation, whatever you want to give. This seems fair to help support a ministry that serves the public. But these energy healers that charge more than a therapist are complete egotists and I'd love to see any proof that any of them "healed" anybody. I remember when, at one point in my kundalini path, a lot of shakti was shooting out of my hands and some of my non Christian friends fascinated with the energy healing pheneomena told me I should be a healer. What they didn't understand was that it was just energy. Sometimes with heat and sometimes not, but certainly was far from something holy and I was far from getting any message in my prayer life from Christ or anyone else that I was being prepared to heal anyone. It was just crazed pranic energy.

Anyway, so much for the "healing" profession. Sorry to be such a skeptic, but if everyone who thought they were healers could heal, we'd be living in a completely different world.

It was just crazed pranic energy.

LOL!!! I know some who read this won't have a clue what this means, but I know exactly what you're talking about. I've experienced this in my ears as well, and have become a counselor/spiritual directior, a sort of "professional listener," I guess. But I don't think the ear phenomena is connected.

Re. Kansas energy. Having just returned from a few days in Louisiana, where the energy is warm and dense, but somewhat stagnant, I was aware of the difference in Kansas, where it is light, subtle, and fluid, very much like a desert (which we really are, in a way). Years ago I went to New York City and had a headache the whole time from a certain dark heaviness in the air.

Lee Sannella's book, The Kundalini Experience, includes an appendix on "Micromotion of the body as a factor in the development of the nervous system" by Izthak Bentov which is fascinating reading. Bentov goes to great lengths to demonstrate the interaction between the magnetic fields created around the brain of a meditator and the fields around the earth. He postulates that one affects the other--so much so that meditators can affect the general electromagnetic field in an area.

This rings true to me. When I work at the convent in Great Bend, where a large number of retired and semi-retired nuns reside, the energy of this prayerful community has me feeling "prime time" shortly after I walk through the door. My wife and others who are not especially kunalini-aware have noted the same. The energy is light, sweet, loving, and buoyant. One can only imagine the realm that Christ has created through his death, resurrection and Ascension! Lovingly ecstatic!

BTW, I totally agree that the idea of a "Cosmic Christ" needs to be properly understood. From a Christian standpoint, there is no such thing apart from the Word Whom Jesus incarnated, and since the historical Jesus, there is no Cosmic Christ other than the Ascended Christ. To speak of Christ otherwise is misleading, which Matt Fox has been called on by the Vatican.

Re. healing: I suppose that there are some who can help to mediate the Spirit. I've no quarrel with most forms of massage, either. But there are surely some who are adept at manipulating energy, and that's not necessarily healing. You might feel different, and that might even be something of a relief. But lasting healing crystallizes around one's deepest, fundamental intentionality when we cultivate that in the Spirit of love. This connects with other posts by priya on Fr. Bede's teachings on the importance of intentionality, I think.

Phil