Sunday, April 18, 2010

Rock my chakra, baby!

I've just finished Dan Millman's Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior, and it BLEW ME AWAY! I never knew a book of fiction would have such an impact on me. This is the 10th book I've read this year, and perhaps the one that I resonate with most - ever!

In Channeling - What It Is and How To Do It, Lita De Alberdi describes briefly about energy systems in the body - The seven Chakras. I had surfed the internet recently for more information to no avail (at least from any reliable sources). Then-voila!-on page 94, chapter 11, entitled "The Tower of Seven Floors," shows a diagram of a man with seven points along the body indicating the first to the seventh "floor," - the Indians called these seven levels chakras.

7. PURE BEING AND BLISS - Pure spirit, no self remains.
6. UNITY - Pure light, communion with Spirit.
5. MYSTICAL REVELATION - Pure Inspiration, eyes turned toward Spirit.
4. TRANSPERSONAL LOVE - Pure compassion; open heart; ego no longer center. Issue: How best to serve.

THE GREAT LEAP

3 PERSONAL POWER - Issues: Discipline, commitment, will.
2. SEXUALITY/CREATIVITY - Issues: Reaching out, embracing life; energy and relationship.
1. PERSONAL SURVIVAL - Issues: Taking care of self.


Mama Chia, a leading fictional character in the book, explains that each floor has distinct qualities, and each, from the lowest to the highest, represent a more expanded state of awareness.

She explains this system to the leading character in the book, Dan Millman (author), and I find before me an expounded unraveling of the episode of my life before the Landmark Forum, what I got from the Forum, the experience I got from my first 10-day vipassana meditation retreat, up to my present issues with maintaining the discipline of regular meditation and mastering my emotions.

1st chakra: My experience of life was primarily 'Taking care of self.' I carried around baggage from previous romantic and platonic relationships (mostly unaware that I am carrying them, and even if I do - helpless to do anything about it). Life is normal, nothing bad really, but I am unhappy. I'm lost in life, directionless. In university but hating every minute of it, exposing myself to drugs and unhealthy relationships, not knowing any better.

Then I do the Landmark Forum (thanks mum!), and on the 3rd day of the course, somewhere in the recesses of my brain, over two full days of absorbing the communication of a very inspiring Forum Leader, neurons connect and click into place, and in a single instance the burden I carry that restrict me from having a "relationship with the world" are lifted - a miracle! Any words fail to describe the feeling of that moment I sat open-jawed and bedazzled by what I had just experienced. I didn't know it then, but I was over "personally surviving." I was free now to have a "relationship with the world." I was liberated.

2nd chakra: With this new-found freedom, I was able to explore what I was deeply interested in. I quit architecture school, transferred what credits I had, and completed a BA in psychology. Although an 'A' would seldom come by, I enjoyed what I studied and it didn't feel at all like school work. I deeply felt I was searching for something, and perhaps it was to be found in a Masters or phD. But after graduating with a BA and having a taste of academia, I was sapped and felt that what I was searching for wasn't here. In the meantime, I opened myself up to a plethora of experiences like volunteering for the Wellington Samaritans, residential youth work, martial arts AND GETTING MARRIED! The event that was to rock my world again, was vipassana. The grueling 10-day retreat in solitude was the hardest thing I had ever done, but it paid off. Words again fail to describe the illumination I felt, and I got that (among other profundities) what I am seeking for is not 'out there,' but 'in here.'

3rd chakra: The Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior has given me a map of where I am in my seeking. I feel physically and spiritually reinvigorated after reading this book, and feel providence in the happenstance of coming across this book. I have always felt led to 'master the self,' and the chakras have shown me why and how. 

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