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Originally posted by Phil:

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. . . What I have learned in the last few years through working in the Zen and Advaita Vedanta traditions is that kundalini can be considered not so much a goal, but simply a by-product of spiritual process."

As my kids used to say when they were teenagers: "D'oh!"

I've met Bonnie and Yvonne Kason and Joan Harrigan and the other "kundalini queens," as they were considered at the time (mid-90s). These were very nice women with deep knowledge of k, but I differed with them in considering it concommitant to deepening union with God rather than the means by which such union happened. Big difference! I'm glad to hear that Bonnie has come around.

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Kundalini is meant to lead to enlightenment but it does so in a highly distinctive way, for it is a thorough-going activation not only of the mind but the body as well. From the thomistic perspective we have just reviewed is it possible to make sense of this energy? Does such a process of development contradict what St. Thomas had to say about the union of soul and body? Not at all. Rather, they can mutually illuminate each other. Kundalini is that fundamental energy or instinct of the soul that is inscribed in its very being which urges it to become fully alive and activated so that it can be and see its own existence and that of all things, and experience in them the radiant mystery of existence that we call God. But if the human soul contains within it all the riches of elemental, vegetative and animal levels of existence, then this fundamental soul energy is animating all the levels of the human organism from within. But this presence of the soul is in some sense dormant, lying like a seed in these depths. In order to realize itself it must realize each and every level of its being. In short, the human soul is the inmost animator by which these levels exist and by which they become activated. In a certain way each of us contains the whole evolution of the material part of the universe, and our physical, psychological and spiritual growth is the activation of that heritage. Kundalini is not some strange freakish force coming from without, but it is a striking visible manifestation of an energy that is ceaselessly at work in all of us, both unconsciously and in our conscious strivings. Kundalini is the bursting forth of that soul energy that urges us to fulfill our destiny, but now becomes visible to us either because of our particular temperament or certain psychological gifts or traumas, or in response to some supernatural gift of God's grace. The whole purpose of this energy is to make each level of our being, starting from the most elementary, fully alive and fully nourishing of the next highest level so that at the end of the process the deepest intuitive powers of the soul are awakened and we can see who we really are and that we are.Kundalini can appear as an impersonal energy because it is not something under the control of the ego. It is very personal in the sense that it is an energy of the soul, but this energy must activate those levels of our being which are far from our conscious control. The human soul is present to the entire body, for it gives it existence. But its lower operations operate through various parts. The Hindu chakras and their associated nerve plexuses are fitting symbols of different levels that exist within the human soul. The traditional picture of kundalini lying dormant in the lowest chakra at the base of the spine is a fitting symbol of the human soul as a being in potency that needs to awake, and this is an awakening that proceeds from the bottom upwards, for the activation of the lower levels is necessary for the activation of the higher. And the activation of each level is the intensification of the powers belonging to each level and their orientation and transformation so they can best serve the human soul, which soul is deeper in them than they are in themselves, for it is what gives them existence. Further, in a highly analogous way, just as the soul is at the heart of these lower levels, God is at the heart of the soul giving it existence. Therefore, the more the soul experiences its own existence the more it is united to God even if in the actual experience the word God may not be used, for the experience happens non-conceptually. God is present in and through the existence of the soul which God constantly sustains.

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Originally posted by Phil:
It's my sense that shaktipat and other types of "energy touch" (including reiki) draw from the unconscious of the one administering the touch, and affect the unconscious of the one who receives it. I know of at least five people who've been deeply wounded from this sort of thing.

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Mooji: Michael placed his hands on my head and began his prayer. As it ended, I found myself asking: "Please help me. Please guide me, too.” Something like this came out, and that was it. We hugged each other, and he left. I felt very happy, very, very happy [laughing], but also suddenly tired. Shortly after this, I went to bed and fell into a deep dreamless sleep. I often recall this moment because it was a real turning point for my life. From that moment a new chapter began unfolding.

Iain: So what changed in your life after that?

Mooji: I woke up next morning and it was like a dimmer switch of sensitivity was turned up to "high" setting. I was lying in bed, quietly noticing the sunlight pouring through a split in the curtains. It was as if I was seeing the sun for the first time. My heart was full of joy. There was a sweetness about everything that morning.

Iain: So you were more aware of...?

Mooji: It felt like a tingly awareness was bubbling through my entire body and mind.

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Originally posted by Mt:
Interesting, that Mooji went through the Christian tradition and the experience of "presence"