In order to pass through this chakra into the heart, we need to redefine our concept of power to become one that enhances, empowers, and strengthens. Our power structures must ensure, rather than threaten, continuance of our species, of our natural resources, and of our trust and ability to cooperate with each other. We need to see power that strengthens individuals and cultures simultaneously, rather than supporting one at the expense of the other. How can we change this?
Our dominant world view today is one that emphasizes separateness. Our sciences have looked at nature in reductionist terms-dissecting matter into smaller and smaller units. Western medicine treats the body as a collection of separate ailing units rather than seeing the mind/body as a whole. We look at people, countries, land, cultures, and races all as separate, isolated building blocks to be counted and carried, coordinated through control, rather than natural order.
"Power over" takes constant effort and vigilance. People are forced into submission, constantly intimidated and, thereafter, must be carefully guarded. Positions are never secure, but require greater and greater defenses. We overstep our bounds, depleting inner resources to steal wealth from some other place that we consider separate. In our diseased view, we see this as increasing our power-by increasing our dominion, increasing what we have "power over."
Through the lens of the Chakra System, power results from combining and integrating, rather than fighting and dominating. Each chakra level emerges, first of all, from the combination of the levels below it. It is then activated by the descending current of consciousness, which brings understanding to each level. Instead of finding our power through separation, power can come from unity and wholeness.
The true strength of any group or organism depends on its solidarity and its ability to combine and coordinate its inner forces. The strength of our planet will depend also on our ability to combine diversity and make something new out of the whole. Evolution, like the progression through the chakras, is a constant process of reorganization to more efficient levels-but always through an incorporation of what has come before. To focus on differences is to polarize, to separate, and estrange. To focus on unity is to strengthen.
When our world is ruled by strangers, we see only through machines; when our voice seems too small to be heard, estrangement is reinforced. It makes individuals easy to control, easily manipulated into serving some larger body that promises to return elements of our lost power to us piecemeal. Through participation in an alienating job, we receive a stipend of freedom known as a salary. The more thoroughly we participate, the greater the promise of reward; yet in reality, we often become further estranged.
Through estrangement, we have lost the concept of power withinthe power of connection, union, fusion. Without this we stagnate, we lose our enthusiasm, our will, and our desires. We become automatons in an automatic world. Without our autonomy, we lose the desire to innovate, and remain stuck in the repetitive patterns of the lower chakras, unable to liberate, to find freedom. We need confidence to venture into the unknown. Without a strong third chakra, we cannot reach beyond into new levels, and instead remain stuck, clinging to security and sameness.
While bumper stickers may indeed advise us to "subvert the dominant paradigm," I believe we are, in fact, living in a submissive paradigm. This is a paradigm where there are far more people submitting than dominating. We are taught from a very young age to submit our will to another: first to parents, then to school teachers, clergy, bosses, military and government officials. Obviously, a certain amount of this is necessary for social cooperation. Yet many lose connection with their inner will in the process, and later find themselves powerless against alcohol, drugs, or destructive behaviors.
In a submissive paradigm, the power is placed outside ourselves. If we look for power outside, we look to others for direction, and find ourselves at their mercy, setting ourselves up for possible victimization. With an absence of power within, we may constantly seek stimulation, excitement, and activity, afraid to slow down, to feel the emptiness inside. We engage in activity as a way of getting acknowledged by others, a way of being seen, a way of having our ego strengthened. We may seek power for the sake of ego, rather than for the ability to better serve the larger whole. Power without purpose is mere whim, sometimes even dangerous.
Power is dependent on energy, just as survival is dependent on matter, and sexuality on movement. Power, from the Latin podere, "to be able," has the same meaning as Shakti, from the root of shak, "to be able." Shakti is our primordial energy field, ignited and given form by the spark of Shiva.
As electricity must be directed through wires in order for its power to be utilized, so must our life energy be directed by consciousness before we can make use of it with any true sense of power. Our cells metabolize and produce energy with little or no conscious direction from us. To have power, however, we need to be conscious. We must understand the relationships between things. We must be able to perceive and assimilate new information, to adjust our actions for maximum effect. We must be able to create and imagine events outside of present time and space. We must have knowledge, memory, and reasoning ability.
Power, then, is equally dependent on the upper chakras, though not at the expense of our lower ones. As we grow toward a greater understanding of consciousness and the spiritual world, we find that we will indeed evolve our concepts of power. This evolution will come from within each of us, from our core, our roots, and our guts, as well as our visions, our creativity, and our intelligence. Our future depends on it.
WILL
I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.
-Friedrich Neitzche7
How do you make something happen? Do you sit still and make fervent wishes? Do you wait for circumstances to fall into place? Not likely, if you want to make any effective change. For that you need to exercise will.
Will is consciously controlled change. As the second chakra opens dualities, we are presented with choices. Making those choices gives birth to the will.
Will is the means by which we overcome lower chakra inertia, and the essential spark that ignites the flames of our power. Will is the combination of mind and action, the conscious direction of desirethe means through which we create our future. Personal power without will is impossible, making will a primary key to the development of the third chakra.
We all experience unpleasant events at various junctures of our lives. At the emotional level of the second chakra, we may feel like a victim of our circumstances. As a victim we feel powerless. Feeling this powerlessness and pain is an important step, as it puts us in touch with our needs. It becomes fuel for the will.
Getting to the third chakra, however, requires that we give up seeing ourselves as a victim, and realize that lasting change can only come from our own efforts. If we blame others, our only hope for improvement comes from hoping others will change-something we cannot control. When we take back responsibility, the changes come under the jurisdiction of our own will. Then we can truly heal from victimizing circumstances.
This is not to deny that victimization does exist and that many circumstances in our culture are hugely unjust. Nor is it touting the New Age belief that we are the sole creators of our own reality, created independently of all others.' Instead, will is the realization that we can regard each challenge as an opportunity to awaken to our highest potential. This does not deny what has come before, but incorporates it, using it as a springboard for the future. While we can't always control what happens to us, we can control what we do about it.
The task of the will is, first of all, to overcome inertia. As stated earlier, inertia occurs in rest or in movement. Simple lethargy or laziness can be an example of inertia at rest. Once we get up and get going, our muscles oxidize and our heart pumps, and we have more energy. Joggers, for instance, claim that they have far more energy on the days when they run despite the energy they expend. Energy begets
energy, through the creation of momentum-and it is the will which begins this process. We also may find ourselves caught up in the momentum of something we would rather avoid. Here, we can use stillness to effect change, by refusing to be a part of this motion-and stopping it whenever it comes to us.
In the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, will is the conscious combination of force and form from the third level, which relates to Hod and Netsach. Netsach provides the radiant beauty, the energy, while Hod is the more intellectual state, the intelligence and form. These reflect the role of the upward and downward currents as they meet in the third chakra. Will is most effective when it is intelligent and strategic. This keeps us from wasting our energy by trying to do things through force alone. We are more efficient when we work smarter instead of harder.
At Manipura, force and form combine and evolve each other to higher and more efficient levels. Once the third chakra flame has been lit, the fire is less difficult to maintain. Once the light of understanding has dawned, the path to further understanding is illuminated. When Kundalini rises to this chakra, she makes herself apparent. Here she kindles the fire to destroy ignorance, karmic traps, and physical impurities. It is at this chakra that Kundalini begins to burn!
The first step in developing your will is to realize that you do have one, and that it is functioning quite well all the time. Look around you. All that you see in your personal midst, you have created with your will-the clothing you're wearing, the home you live in, the friends you keep. Feeling powerless is not due to lack of will, but failure to recognize and connect with our unconscious use of that will.
Failure to recognize that we have will is common. How many times in a day do you look at your tasks, exude a tired sigh, and say (or whine), "I have to do this." We tell ourselves we have to go to work, we have to do the dishes, we have to run this or that errand, or have to spend more time with our kids. It is disempowering to regard these circumstances as a dreary series of obligations, rather than choices we make actively. I don't have to do my dishes, but I choose to because I like a clean kitchen. I don't have to go to work, but I choose to because I like receiving a paycheck, or because I like to honor my agreements. This subtle change in attitude helps us befriend and realign with our will.
In talking about will, the distinction is often made between will and true will. If you do what someone tells you to do, when you really would rather not, you are still exercising your will, but deep inside, it is not your true will. You have essentially given your will over to another. To get it back, we must realize we have chosen to do this, and examine the reasons for that choice. Are we trying to please? Are we scared of the consequences? Are we out of touch with ourselves? How can we address these issues?
Only by answering these questions can we truly see what our will is serving. Is it in service of looking good? Being liked? Keeping the peace? Avoiding responsibility? Remaining invisible? Once we know what our will is serving, we must then ask what it might be betraying. Is looking good betraying your honest needs? Is keeping the peace perpetuating negative circumstances that might need to be confronted? Is pleasing others lowering your self esteem? To make these effects conscious is to empower ourselves to choose between them.
True will requires deep communication with the self, trust in your own volition, and the willingness to take risks and accept responsibility for those risks. If we dare to go against the grain by exercising our true will, then we risk criticism, ridicule, even abandonment. It's scary stuff, especially if our family environment was heavily invested in the submissive paradigm. It is through daring to use our will that a stronger sense of self is born, and through that strength the will is further developed. Like a muscle, we cannot strengthen our will without exercising it. And like all exercise, it serves us better when we do it wisely.
True will can be seen as an individual expression of a higher, divine will. It arises from our basic attunement with something larger. True will extends beyond the ego-self and embraces a higher purpose. It does not act for the sake of reward, but for the "rightness" of the action. As Aleister Crowley said, "True will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect."9 Therefore, if we are free from the ego's lust for results, the actions of our will take us to our destiny. While that destiny is not guaranteed to be pain-free, you can most certainly expect it to engage the third chakra, and ignite the very core of your being.
Detecting and using higher will is touchy business. There are many I know who use the concept of higher will as an escape from getting in touch with their own will, still seeing power as outside of themselves. "What does the universe want me to do in this situation? Why won't it give me a sign?" Every decision is preceded by numerous card readings, and endless seeking of advice from others. They may give their power over to others to decide for them, such as a psychic, teacher, therapist, or guru. Seeking guidance is often advisable, though we can sometimes avoid responsibility in this way. Perhaps a better question is: "What is my service to the world, and how can I best do this?" Power within is an openness to the flow of power around us, and our wills wrap themselves around our purpose gracefully when these powers are aligned.
Once we know our will, we return to a more practical level-how to effectively exercise it. First we must make sure we are grounded. Without grounding, we are not plugged in and we do not have the force of the liberating current running through us. We are more easily pushed around, often responding instead to another's will. This takes the form of an "intellectual will" and overrides the inner desires of the body. It's easily spotted by the preponderance of "shoulds" and "have- tos" in our internal dialogue. Self-discipline is important, but works better as a want than a should. Then our whole body/mind is in accord with it.
Like power, will is often associated with discipline, control, and manipulation, such as the will to go on a diet, get through school, or finish a project. While discipline is essential to accomplish most things, it is another aspect of control over separate parts if there is not an internal agreement within the body/mind. It takes discipline to sit here and edit this book, yet my will and desire are connected to my purpose. The parts I have to edit the most are the parts I wrote when I made myself do it, because it was my time of day to write rather than because the inspiration moved me. Those parts lacked power. Without agreement between will and desire, we lose our passion and our momentum, and thereby dissipate the power needed to carry out our will.
In order for our will to be engaged, we must also be in touch with our desires. How can we exert our will if we don't know what we want? While undue attachment to our desires may keep us trapped in lower chakras, suppression only blocks the force of the will. When a person feels deprived, unloved, or overworked, they are easier to manipulate. The will flourishes best when we are relaxed, happy, and in touch with ourselves.
However, will is not always in harmony with every desire. You may desire a piece of chocolate cake, but your greater will refuses it because you want to lose weight. You may not desire to take on a particular task and yet, quite peacefully, will yourself to do it anyway. We are still serving our desires, but we are choosing which desires are most important in the long run.
It is here that discipline becomes most important. The word discipline actually comes from disciple-the willingness to be a student of something. Here we are faced with the odd paradox of surrendering our will to a structure or form that brings about fulfillment of that will. In this act of discipline, there is a certain transcendence of feelings, in that we may not "feel like" doing our meditation on a particular day, or we may not "feel like" going to work. Yet, those feelings become irrelevant when our will is fixed to a larger purpose. In this way, the third chakra is both fueled by, and yet transcends, the feeling orientation of the second chakra.
Knowledge of the will, with its infinite and constant choices, comes from a deeper sense of purpose. This purpose is born out of our orientation to the world. It is born from who we are, what we lo
ve and loathe, what our talents apply to. Each of us has a purpose, and our ultimate will is to fulfill that purpose. This purpose can often sort out the difference between "will" and "whim," often hard to distinguish. Whim is momentary. Will has a larger purpose. We examine the longrange effects of our actions, and their part in our greater sense of purpose. We think in terms of far-reaching cause and effect. Our power, too, grows with our sense of purpose, for it gives us the direction that transforms mere energy into effective power.
If we are unclear about that purpose, then it's hard to know just what our will is in a given situation. The task of consciousness is an accurate assessment of who we are, for within that mystery lies the purpose our will must address. Once we know our will, its strength increases through use. Often using our power is merely a matter of understanding that we do indeed have the power to begin with. That understanding becomes solidified through use and experimentation, and results ultimately in gaining confidence.
All chakras have their positive and negative aspects, and the overuse of the personal will can keep us trapped at this level, especially if that will is not in harmony with the greater Cosmic Will of which it is a part. The intelligent and sensitive person must recognize when their will becomes detrimentally dominating and overly controlling. (And if they don't catch it, others will surely try to tell them!) Engaging this chakra requires developing the will, yet the passage beyond this chakra requires the ability to yield our will when appropriate. A person of true power should not have a need to dominate.
When personal will and divine will are one, then it is crucial that this will be followed. When personal will is out of tune with the greater will, it is equally critical that this difference be detected. From Crowley again: "A Man whose conscious Will is at odds with his True Will is wasting his strength. He cannot hope to influence his environment efficiently."10 At this point the motives of our personal will must be reexamined. Failing to do this, we may find an undue number of obstacles in our way, making each step more difficult. Though many paths are difficult, the ones that are right for us have a coherency of flow that makes the difficulty easier to bear. It is the task of our intelligence to perceive the correct path. The task of the will is to follow that path.
Wheels of Life Page 14