Jim Arraj sent me a link to this online book; the web site owners had referred it to him, apparently following up on an Internet search they'd done.

I've only reviewed it briefly and find it to be "garden variety" in its perspective (even though it cites my book).

Comments from others? Strengths? Weaknesses? Your thoughts, perhaps, on kundalini, evolution and consciousness (Gopi Krishna's approach).

Hi Phil,

I read through a lot on the link you provided. Now let me play the role of Ralph Nader to the spiritual crowd. The author's approach is very bland, and cookie-cutter for a good reason. This is Great Salesmanship to promote a K experience (Yes, I am a transformed being! Highly evolved, helping humanity to move forward!) Then I can be ordained in the walk the author promotes, Living Spirit. (Just think of the great future lives I'll have!)

There is Absolutely Nothing about what it really means to invite these energies into your life and what can go terribly wrong in the process. She makes it all sound easy, like some great adventure. (ie. what's a few psychic episodes? you're just clearing that pesky third eye. Burning sensations in your solar plexus? why, you're simply purifying negative emotions, clearing past lives, present life, future lives!)

I think many past postings on this board clearly illustrate otherwise. The K is a great adventure, but fraught with peril for all kinds of reasons and clearly there are no simple answers re how much discomfort - mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional - can occur in the process. The author sidesteps this reality and puts the K in a context of do-it-yourself, you too can be God, spiritual context. For example, she writes about the "spiritual adrogeny" as one's entire self merges with K higher consciousness, "At this point" she writes something to the effect, person will cease to have sense of being male or female because attachment and identification to physical body has ended. (I'm paraphrasing - for some reason my cut and paste function isn't working in this post). Also, this whole emphasis on not being attached to the physical body is very Platonic, and very New Age.

Okay, so here's my issue with this passage alone: Think of all the apparitions of the Virgin Mary around the world today in Medjugorje and other places, even past ones like Lourdes or Fatima, and how many people have reported a sort of direct rapport with her. So we have plenty of eyewitness phenemena, past and present, saints and non saints, Christians and non Christian, that carries a lot of agreement. Would anyone take the perspective that Mother Mary isn't holy, I mean reasonably high up there in the hierarchy of the spiritually evolved? Did Mother Mary ever report any sort of K spiritual experience? Not in anything I've read. Does this mean she is therefore less highly evolved than say, this author? Mary merely appears as a woman. Does that mean her consciousness was never so developed through a K evolution that she doesn't say, have, a higher consciousness? Energy senstitives have reported the "vibe" of MOther Mary is very different than that of say, Christ. Which brings my argument to Christ, who, as it seems, is very male and whose vibe, reported by many charismatics, is in fact quite different than Mary's. Does this mean Christ didn't have an active K experience (you would think the cruxcifiction would suffice), and didn't merge into a spiritually adrogenous energy zone?

Just think, millions of people around the world worshipping a male and female intercessor, simply misunderstanding that the fact they appear as such means they are lower beings than this author!

Thanks, Linda! Your post would probably make a good appendix to any work on kundalini.

Yes, there does need to be some much better nuancing in books about kundalini and consciousness. Christian spirituality has emphasized the intent of consciousness much more than quantity of consciousness. If you can have the latter as a result of the former, then that might go better than vice versa.

Just a quick note; still in California, where the weather is very nice and there is a very different "feel" about things--rushed, frantic, materialistic. . .

Hi Phil,

CA is definitey land of the demi-Gods and its no wonder that the author of the book you've cited lives there, definitely on the personal empowerment trail. (I was born in California, and have lived there several times in my adult life, so my perspective isn't one of complete ignorance.)

Let me play Ralph Nader again.

Love the fact that the author Solomae, (though I bet this is her "spiritual" name, given the fact that judging from the waspy picture she posts on her website, that she was in fact born with more pedestrian moniker like Susan or Amy.) suggests a $150 "donation" for private sessions with her to help one along one's spiritual path, be it through soul readings or "chakra" cleansing. Just great. Spiritual private enterprise. The poor, the desperate, the kind Christ specialized in, need not apply. Higher consciousness is limited to the bourgeois with overflowing pocketbooks.
Real evolutionary in the larger scheme of consciousness, eh?

Re my last post, another argument (outside of spiritual angle) could be made that the Christian (and more specifically Catholic) church is caught up in gender stereotypes which is reflected in personages worshipped, Mary, the virgin Mother, which really gets feminists going, and Christ, the martyr, etc. etc. ) So those pursuing "evolution," specifically through K energy methods, and consciousness attained, will move the world forward eventually past such spiritual gender stereotypes. Problem is, in reality, those gender stereotypes will continue to exist for generations (if not millineums unless we can totally bend around biology). Best and more realistic to deal through them and heal the negatives than try and transcend physical gender and all it implies all together, in my opinion.

I suggest to anyone tempted to fork over $150 for a private session with this author Solomae to stop worrying about the dirt levels of their chakras and instead donate that amount to a charity devoted to the likes of promoting sexual equality or healing sexual abuse, among others, to help move humanity forward.

Extending a moment of lunacy -

W.C., perhaps you should consider making an individual appt with Solomae, because according to what she's written, your K experience goals are all wrong.

Connectedness to others, you strive for? No way. Her words, (on website) re the TOTAL K: "One's experience goes from a personal and individual experience of life to an impersonal and non-dualistic experience. In the end, the consciousness is merged into the Oneness of all . . .truly Heaven On Earth, the reason we are here."

I won't even going into the theological deception rooted in those phrases from a Christian perspective, but suffice it to say that I do know energy healers who believe they exist in a constant state of bliss-God-connectedness, usually ones with trust funds who live in the likes of Malibu and Hawaii. I've never met this woman but I've found "teachers" like Solomae living very protective lives, i.e. not letting in the kind of "polluted" energies of non-energy practioners (i.e. the avg Christian sitting next to you in a church pew) much less anyone who eats, God forbid, a hamburger over a veggie burger. Instead of their universe of Oneness expanding to become all inclusive, it becomes much smaller and exclusive in reality because so few people (and places - ever hear of an energy healer choosing the "energy" vortex of say, Detroit over San Fran? - as place to live and help people) are up to their level of energetic perfection.

Also, my satire of the Solomaes of this world is rooted in deep pain, the fact that I bought into this kind of spiritual hooey more than a decade ago and that its had severe consequences re the K explosion I experienced and my overall life in general.

W.C. You raise all kinds of important points, but one in particular and that's the responsibility of these so called energy experts towards their clients. And particularly, accountability, since unlike the likes of a chiropractor, they aren't even licensed. I don't know how any kind of credentialized accountability could ever be set up for healers, K "experts" etc., particularly since individual spiritual paths differ so much, but I do think there's a real checklist to be considered - the big question remains how could one judge a person's spiritual path, teachers, etc. moral character, without a great deal of insight and information?

Frankly, I don't even encourage any of my own friends interested in alternative energy healing to pursue any kind of practioner, though I know there are those gifted with a real healing charism, purified hearts and well intentioned and here to do that work, outside of any rigid spiritual path or label, such as Catholic or even Buddhist. But how can anyone be sure what they're getting themselves into by working with any of these people? Who has that kind of automatic discernment?

Linda:

I think your right about this. It boils down mostly to discernment. I've worked with clients and had to refer out because they needed other or more expertise. At least I had the sense to see it on those occasions, but we all have our blind spots, both as seekers and providers of care.

With K, just because a treatment or practice feels good in the moment doesn't necessarily indicate its safety or our sanity in the moment or down the road. And when we are driven by distorted developmental needs, cloaking our narcissism with refined notions, then this self-deception hardly heeds good advice, or can even recognize it in terms of consensus reality. I think that's why groups are important, whether for spiritual direction or psychotherapy, giving us a context for reality testing we can't produce in isolation.

This thread is GREAT. This thread is a CLASSIC. Linda and w.c. , you have treated this very serious topic in a very entertaining way. So often I have tried to address the theoretical/theological implications of some of the nondualistic claims. Y'all have addressed those and also the very PRACTICAL concerns related to the invitation/manipulation of created energies. Thanks. jb

"One's experience goes from a personal and individual experience of life to an impersonal and non-dualistic experience. In the end, the consciousness is merged into the Oneness of all . . .truly Heaven On Earth, the reason we are here."

One of my problems with this kind of language is that it's misleading - - as though we come to a place where there's no longer an individual intelligence or will, and as though that could be heaven! I'm not sure what attracts people about that kind of thing; maybe people who don't want to even exist are attracted to that kind of promise. I don't know. I do know that in the Christian schema, there is never a loss of self in that manner. The risen Christ is still very much an individual entity and I don't think anyone has "attained" a higher state of consciousness than the Resurrection.

Re. energy practitioners, I guess they can have their value, especially with a trained massage therapist who is careful about projections. But I'd be very wary of anyone who claimed they could "fix" another's energy. I recall this guy at one of the K conferences I attended claiming he could "balance" my energy for me. Everything inside me told me to not let him touch me, and I didn't, but he must have asked if he could "work on me" at least five times during the conference. In the end, I believe it is the intent of consciousness which is the ordering principle of the soul, but that can take time to establish and clarify--in fact, the spiritual journey itself.

My experiece of the K leads me ever more deeply into the sense that it's primary function is in maintaining and nourishing the body as temple of the Holy Spirit. From this point-of-view, K orchestrates the denizens of the subconscious in the way they seek to worship God and see that presence in the world and in others.

That's very good, w.c., along with the rest of your reflections. But this view of kundalini as transforming the physical and subtle body so that it can accomodate spiritual consciousness--even higher states thereof--is fundamentally sound, imo. What this says to me is that the development of spiritual consciousness is what should be primary.

I'm still intrigued after all these years with the idea of kundalini as a "mechanism" that can be activated without much connection to spiritual practice. I know that's not how it's generally taught, but it seems to happen that way at times. Far from a divine intelligence carefully working to craft sublime consciousness, what's suggested at times is a kind of blind, impersonal force which pushes into a path of least resistance, whatever that might be. What the source of this force/energy is, I cannot say. It seems completely devoid any qualities of the personal; Judith's description of it in another thread as just blowing out the top of her head, seemingly without any sense of God connected (and I know what she means by this) is a good example of this impersonal aspect as are the kinds of experiences so many have described on this forum. The energy is "pushing" to try to go somewhere, but does it really know what it is doing? Is it just merely pushing, and the intelligence is really in the design of the body - soul that it is pushing its way through? If so, then what's that go to do with evolution? It awakens latent potentialities?

Still more questions than answers after all these years. (JB will approve, no doubt. )

". . . maybe people who don't want to even exist are attracted to that kind of promise."

Phil:

I lifted this little piece out of your post because it sort of incapsulates what may be the underlying fear in many folks who seek a dissociative variety of bliss. For those unwilling to do the hard work of therapy (which has its limited uses) and see the importance of a functional ego and a resilient self for managing painful relationships, then what a perfect escape . . . a way to remain underdeveloped and irresponsible for it all . . . makes me wonder to what extent I've just unsheathed the knife of self-incrimination . . . but at least to have some maturity of conscience and own and value the effects we have on each other, and be able to see our selfishness with some candor among friends who see this and know what it feels like . . . how liberating that can be!

Phil,

You might want to shoot me for saying this, but I think what you coin as that impersonal energy pushing around (i.e. through Judith's head) that is often misinterpreted as the Holy Spirit is not! I've kind of seen it spiritually and experienced it as a group energy loop - usually hooks into our traumas (or wounded self, as in WC's paradigm)- not necessarily part of any higher spiritual energy at all. Could be some dense family emotional karma, strong "ego-driven, I want to fix this" spiritual energy etc. But I can say though it seems free flowing (like an up-down motion), it is really part of a loop connected to a reality outside our physical bodies, which is why it keeps pounding and coming back - the energy feedson itself. What it does essentially is "splinter" us off from a sense of a united physical, spiritual, emotional reality (which is kind of a false perspective anyway, given the fact we're multidimensional). What it is is a sign of is non alignment

How to heal it? I have no idea, except through all the methods we've talked about in the past on this board. Those kinds of loops may also subside due to grace, or healing on some level we're not even conscious of.

No shots fired, Linda, as I most certainly *don't* think that kind of energy flow is the Holy Spirit. I think your reading of it makes sense, but that it also might have some benefits, provided its flow is not too unbalanced. Perhaps it can help to blow out impurities of all kinds, but the question is who will live in the house once it is cleaned? Other related questions have to do with how this process becomed activated and what keeps it going? I think it's part of my own ongoing experience, and seems very much related to glossalalia. I've had it going on for years now, and as soon as it starts to subside, I start to feel "asleep." Glossalalia keeps it going, however, and even seems to "manage" the flow.

w.c.,, your remarks about how some might use this kind of process to avoid the hard work of individuation is right on, I believe. I've often wondered what people find attractive about losing self, as I very much like having/being a self, and all I can come up with is that they must find it too painful. When they come upon teachings which postulate that the Ego is the source of all our delusions (like duality), pain, separateness and alienation, it seems inviting to reach for transcendent states where only bliss and cosmic union remains.

The optimal situation, I believe, is for the Ego to develop itself in faith and community in accordance with sound moral values. There is an authentic Ego that is not the same thing as the false self, and there are unitive states which can be known without annihilating the Ego. Lest I repeat my doctoral dissertation here, I would say that kundalini can provide assistance unto realizing unitive states, especially in its healing the body of the consequences of harmful behaviors. This opens the door to an ongoing experience of the body's innate pantheism--i.e., its openness to and union with the rest of the physical universe, including the subtle dimensions thereof. The soul is deeply enriched in this experience and is awakened to levels of intelligence unknown to most people, but there is still very much an individual agent of intelligence and freedom present in such situations. It's not as willful or tied to self-concept, of course, but that's not what makes us individuals at any rate.

Actually Phil, my point is those energy loops aren't healing at all in terms of the quality of the energy flowing through them. What's being pushed is the person's sense of grounded reality. Their purpose is to energetically sort of point out the realities we need to heal from, if you look at reality as a sort of energy bands we're connected into. That's the only positive in experiencing those denser energy loops, they serve as a form of communication with denser realities we need to disconnect from. Your personal example, I think, is far from the norm, since it is positive.

I don't believe in the adage I've heard in energy healing community that "it's only energy," blah blah. Those energy loops can be both incredibly disturbing and destructive and misleading to the less developed K experiencer. Your personal example, since it is positive, is far from the norm. It takes either grace or an incredible prayer and meditation process to keep a bliss link going.

quote:

. . .What's being pushed is the person's sense of grounded reality. Their purpose is to energetically sort of point out the realities we need to heal from, if you look at reality as a sort of energy bands we're connected into. That's the only positive in experiencing those denser energy loops, they serve as a form of communication with denser realities we need to disconnect from. Your personal example, I think, is far from the norm, since it is positive. . . [/QB]

I suppose that without the glossalalia, I'd just be mostly "stuck" with those knots, pressure bands, and what not. It seems that glossalalia, which I believe to be of the Holy Spirit, vibrates the areas affected, allowing the energy to break through and flow. When this happens, there is great relief, and often a sense of bliss. The energy takes on another quality--more nourishing and less violent.

I cannot imagine going through this process without glossalalia. It's saved my butt so many times that I've come to just naturally assume that there's no tight spot I won't be taken out of. This doesn't mean that I don't have to be cautious about diet, stress, etc., only that I'm not very preoccupied about it, nor, less, about "fixing myself" by using various techniques. For all who suffer from kundalini aches and pains, I strongly recommend this gift of the Spirit.

I think your last post demonstrates the whole point of our experience here on earth (versus heaven on earth non qualified). That we are completely dependent ultimately on the Holy Spirit -as an extension of Christ's grace and the reality of the Trinity - to lift us out of the experience of being "fallen" as represented by the dense (and denser for those of us really working out the big stuff) energy bands. I don't know if this experience comes as one process in the K or not. For me,it seems like a bit of tease. I've had the full scale K blow-out, with the feeling of the complete sweet blissful energy that seems like heaven in itself, then followed by being dumped into a lower reality and find myself being forced to climb out through walking the walk as set out by the Christian belief system. (So are my feeling of energy bands the equivalent of St Paul feeling the thorn in his side? Though forgive me for elevating myself to any kind of sainthood in this assumption!) A sort of Ah Ha, your healing comes from God's grace alone, and your walk here is to play by the rules, deepen relationship with God and wait . . . . perhaps those denser energy bands are going to disturb into the grave, maybe beyond, who knows? Are those bands what Francis MacNutt would call "living with the results of your sin," which we all do. Sin doens't come without its scars, forgtiveness aside. (And I know you've addressed this from an energy body and theological basis, Phil.)

But I have to take my experience and compare it to the likes of a Solomae, who, on her website, is implying she's got a straight line connection and euphoric K ride. Forget this energy band stuff. Perhaps she and others like her are either at a more developed point in their K experience, or less developed, given W.C.'s observations. Question is what kind of spiritual practice fosters K development - because the eastern rituals are mostly at odds with Christian spiritual practice, and very much related to psychic energy transfer.

Do we experience the energy bands because as Christians, we share in Christ's yoke on an energetic basis in a way no other spiritual walk fosters or promotes?