Wheels of Life

by Anodea Judith

  After following a few thoughts to their origin, begin watching your thoughts go by without tracing them. Simply let them pass, neither denying them nor retaining them. Let them return to their source until there are few or no thoughts passing through, and you too have returned to that source. Remain there as long as seems appropriate, and return slowly to normal consciousness.

  Journey to the Akashic Records: To be done as a guided meditation.

  Lie comfortably on the floor, face up, head and neck relaxed, and slowly relax each part of your body. Let the floor beneath you give you support as you relax your legs. .. your back ... your stomach ... your arms and shoulders. Make fists with your hands and then release them, flexing each finger. Point your toes and release them, giving each foot a little wiggle. Slowly focus on the rhythm of your breathing ... in ... out ... in ... out. Let your body float lightly on the floor, each muscle letting go of its tension.

  As you watch your breathing, become aware of your thoughts. Watch them as they slowly twist through your mind, effortlessly playing their images in your mind's eye. And as you watch your thoughts, become aware of some piece of information you would like to know-some question you have buried within you. It may be a question about a lover, a present dilemma, or information about a past life. Take a moment to focus on your question, to become clear on what it is you wish to know.

  When your question is clear, let it go from your mind. It will return at the appropriate time.

  As you lie effortlessly on the floor, imagine your body getting lighter. The solid mass of your flesh gradually lightens and you experience a swirling feeling, like rising into a mist. You fly upward, twisting and turning into this mist, shapeless and formless as it is. Eventually the mist begins to take more form and you perceive a spiral staircase leading upward. You follow the staircase higher and higher as it becomes more solid. Each step lets you feel a sense of your own destiny, each step brings you closer to that which you wish to know.

  Soon your steps widen and you arrive at a large building, stretching as high and as far as you can see. It has one large door and you enter it, effortlessly. You see more stairways, long hallways, and many rooms with doors opening to them. You stand in the foyer and ask your question, hearing it echo throughout the whole building. The question comes back to you.

  You begin to walk, listening to the echo of your question, following where the sound is the loudest and the clearest. Follow your footsteps wherever they may take you, repeating your question as you walk. Eventually you will find yourself in a room. Notice the doorway, the furnishings. Is there anything written on the doorway? What colors are the furnishings, what time period are they from?

  As you look around, you notice a large bookshelf with volumes and volumes of books. Examine the library and see if any book stands out, beckoning to you. Find one with your name on it. It may not be the name you use in this life, but it should fall into your hands effortlessly. Phrase your question once more and open the book, letting it fall open where it will. Read the passage you have opened to. Pause for a moment and reflect on its meaning, and then turn the next few pages, browsing. Open your awareness to the information around you-the rooms full of books, the ancient wisdom buried throughout the building, and pull it into your heart. Don't try to analyze it, just let it be.

  Then when you are ready, return your book to its shelf, knowing that you can find it again whenever you want. Slowly turn and leave the room, walking back down the hallway full of doors. Enter the foyer and out the large columned door and step outside, reflecting, as you go, on the incredible view you can see from this height. Patterns upon swirling patterns ebb and flow at this place with every color and shape and rhythm you can imagine. Your body gets slowly heavier as you enter the atmosphere. Slowly you come down and down, sliding into the Earth plane where your body lies resting comfortably on the floor in this place now. Examine what you have brought with you, and when you are ready, return to the room.

  Note: The actual significance of the information you have found is not always readily apparent. You may want to take time to reflect on it (perhaps even a few days) before sharing it.

  ENDNOTES

  1. Verse 41 of the Sat-Chakra-Nirupana, as translated by Arthur Avalon, Serpent Power, 428.

  2. John Woods, personal conversation, 1982.

  3. Bloomfield, et al. Transcendental Meditation: Discovering Inner Awareness and Overcoming Stress, 39.

  4. Michael Talbot, Mysticism and the New Physics, 54.

  5. Satprem, Sri Aurobindo, or the Adventure of Consciousness, 64.

  6. Sri Aurobindo, in Sri Aurobindo, or the Adventure of Consciousness, 30.

  7. Robert Jahn, from the "Foundation for Mind-Being Research" newsletter, Reporter. August, 1982, Cupertino, CA, 5.

  8. Rupert Sheldrake, "Morphogenetic Fields: Nature's Habits," ReVision, Fall, 1982, Vol 5, No. 2., 34.

  9. Ibid., p. 66.

  10. Arthur Avalon, Serpent Power, 38.

  11. Bloomfield, et al. Transcendental Meditation: Discovering Inner Awareness and Overcoming Stress. 75.

  12. Ibid., appendix.

  13. Ibid., 66.

  14. Ibid., 78.

  15. Ibid., appendix.

  16. Sri Aurobindo as quoted by Satprem, Sri Aurobindo, or the Adventure of Consciousness, 153.

  RECOMMENDED READING FOR CHAKRA SEVEN

  Satprem, Sri Aurobindo or The Adventure of Consciousness. NY: Harper & Row, 1968.

  Bloomfield, et al. Transcendental Meditation: Discovering Inner Awareness and Overcoming Stress. NY: Delacorte Press, 1975.

  Feuerstein, Georg. Wholeness or Transcendence: Ancient Lessons for the Emerging Global Civilization. NY: Larson Publications, 1992.

  Kabat-Zinn, John. Wherever You Go, There You Are. NY: Hyperion, 1994. (A book on keeping your mind present and focused.)

  Le Shan, Lawrence. How to Meditate. NY: Bantam, 1974.(A good primer on many techniques and commonly asked questions about meditation.)

  Suzuki, D. T. Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. NY: Weatherhill, 1979.

  Tart, Charles. States of Consciousness. NY: E. P. Dutton, 1975.

  White, John, ed. Frontiers of Consciousness. NY: Julian Press, 1974. (A good and varied group of essays on various aspects of consciousness research.)

  PART THREE

  PUTTING IT

  ALL TOGETHER

  Chapter 9

  THE

  RETURN

  JOURNEY

  We have climbed all the way up the chakra column. We have completed our ascending current but not our journey. We have climbed to the top of the spiritual mountain, and gained the view that is only possible from that perspective. But now our challenge is to get back down again, and to apply that new understanding to the world around us. Since we have brought the energies of the lower chakras to consciousness, it is now the task to bring that advanced consciousness back down to the lower chakras.

  Pure consciousness, which enters the individual from the vast field of the supramental plane as purusha, condenses through the chakras as it falls downward to the plane of manifestation. Having climbed to the top to embrace Shiva, Shakti descends through the chakras by first entering the mind and senses, then the five elements of finite matter. When she reaches the final plane of Earth, there is nothing left for her to do, and she rests, becoming the coiled and dormant form of Kundalini-Shakti.2

  In the journey upward, we used the chakras as stepping stones to our liberation, each step granting us more freedom from limited forms, repetitive habits, and worldly attachments. Each step expanded our consciousness and our horizons. In the downward current the chakras become "condensers" of the force of consciousness, organizing its energy for exchange on the various planes associated with each level. In the descent of consciousness, the chakras are analagous to pools that collect rainfall as it descends from heaven and runs down the mountains to the sea. Where there is a cavity, water collects in pools and can be used. Like pools, the chakras are chambers in the subtle
body that allow the divine consciousness to collect and condense into progressively denser planes of manifesation. If a chakra is blocked, it is limited in the amount of energy it can gather.

  This analogy also describes the different concepts of unity that can be understood at both ends of the spectrum. As the rain falls from heaven in a cloud of droplets, it is like a unified field of moisture. As it falls to earth, it breaks up into millions of tiny rivulets, which become larger but less numerous as thousands of little streams, and hundreds of even bigger tributaries, and tens of wide rivers, to a huge and single sea. The raindrops then rest in a unified body of water until they rise again to heaven as tiny droplets of evaporation. Each step downward creates something larger and coarser, yet moves toward simplicity and singularity.

  So we begin our journey downward from pure consciousness-a field of nondimensionality that, in its highest state, is complete and unwavering. Transcendent Consciousness has risen past the ups and downs of differentiation until it is utterly smooth, without ripples or fluctuations. As soon as that consciousness begins to descend, however, we have a wave that ripples outward, a tiny point of awareness standing out against the void. This ripple is the first focus of consciousness-the first dawning of any existence.

  As we focus our attention, waves of awareness emanate outward, forming tiny fluctuations in the fabric of space-time. These fluctuations are not isolated events but stimulate the creation of other waves, which propagate more waves. As they cross, these waves form interference patterns and the ethereal emanations of consciousness become more dense. The holographic principle discussed in chakra six is an example of such interference patterns. At each crossing of the waves is a node that draws awareness.

  This is the level of chakra six. Raw information begins to have an image-something that consciousness can "recognize," or " re-know." Consciousness is now feeding back on itself. It perceives this image, reacts to it, perhaps alters it. The information is beginning to manifest but at this stage, it is little more than a well-formed thought.

  As the mind focuses on these constructed images, it sends out more ripples, constructing more interference patterns for consciousness to recognize and react to. The fields become more dense. Our waves, now quite numerous, react to each other, generating fields of awareness, fields of ripples at varying frequencies or vibrations. Frequencies that are similar tend to harmonize and fall into resonance, deepening their amplitude.

  Now we are at chakra five, where consciousness folds in on itself once again. Repeating images are given a name as they take on a particular vibrational quality. A name is a wave function that transports an idea from one mind to another. It can distinguish and delineate differences in our field of interference, drawing a border around them and making them distinct and specific.

  As we name something, we define it within the world of relationships. At chakra four, we find that we perceive order among our named things. There are waves, and there are interferences. There are things and their relationships. In relationship, there must be balance for something to continue into manifestation.

  We come now to chakra three and begin to enter the physical dimension of our bodies. Our ripples are becoming more dense, more ordered. We use our will to command raw energy to the shape and form of our intention. This creates a field that is charged with vital energy, a field that can direct and hold the shape of raw materials in accordance with a vision or intention. The vital energy of our life force holds our body together; the vital energy of love holds a relationship together; the vital energy of an idea evokes enthusiasm, which calls forth support from others.

  We are now reaching a level of complexity and organization that approaches gravitational force. As energy and will pull random substance together, disparate energies become more dense. As they become more dense, they create their own gravitational field. The rest happens by itself, as raw energy gets pulled along the lines of cleavage set up long ago by the patterns of thought. Gravity pulls on our organized field, curving the fabric of space-time, pulling masses together, causing the movement that provides constant change. This movement seeks to balance difference, seeks to return the composite parts of our field to its initial unity.

  And finally through this gravitational force, our ripples of constructive interference coalesce, creating mass. We have come to the world of material objects, with weight and volume. We have returned to the earth, one of innumerable masses floating in a sea of stars.

  When we compare the downward current to the upward current, we find something very interesting. We find that the pattern is nearly the same. The two ends of the spectrum are remarkably similar.

  From chakra one, we began with an initial unity, and moved from that unity into difference. From difference we moved to choice and to volition, and from volition to a three-dimensional world of space and time, full of precisely arranged relationships.

  From chakra seven, we began with an initial unity as undifferentiated consciousness. As soon as that consciousness had the slightest ripple, the unity was shattered and difference was created. In the naming of thought patterns, volition was exercised, creativity was enacted, and that creativity set to organize its composite elements into precise patterns of relationships.

  At the physical end of the spectrum, we have substances made of molecules and atoms. When we closely examine them, we learn that atoms are energy fields containing nodes of concentrated energy with large amounts of empty space between them. Upon examining subatomic particles, we notice that they appear more like waves, probabilities among conceptual variations of thought patterns.

  At the ethereal end of our spectrum, we have consciousness. In its ultimate state it is undifferentiated, but in actuality it is a field outside of space-time with minute ripples of fluctuation-appearing more like waves, possibilities among conceptual variations of thought patterns.

  Have we mistaken Kundalini for Ouroboros? Does the serpent have her tail in her teeth?

  The Hindus talk about ultimate reality as being one of order. Things are not real, actions are not real, there is only divine order, the lines of which delineate all the Maya that we experience as the phenomenal world. This order is the organizing force acting upon all matter. The tantras describe the lines of force permeating all of space and time as the "hairs of Shiva." These hairs are the organizing principle in the Akasha, the world of nonmaterial spirit. As Shiva is the male principle of consciousness, the minute hairs of his head can only represent the first and barest emanations of thought which proceed from that consciousness. The initial difference is Shakti, the other, the female. With her the world is made. The dance is begun, but never concluded.

  And so we find that the end is the beginning. We are not traveling a linear path, but an interpenetrating one. There is no destination, only the journey.

  Now that we have considered the theoretical side of our descending current, we can apply it to our everyday lives.

  We begin with raw information. The random buzzing of thoughts within our brain. Our thoughts play in the back of our heads-collecting other thoughts to help solidify them. Perhaps we meditate so our thoughts become more coherent. In meditation, some thoughts will catch our attention, and may even become an idea. As we focus on our idea, images form in the mind's eye. We may fantasize, daydream, or imagine various aspects of our idea. As we do, it takes on a mental image with form, shape, and color. Our random thoughts have begun to solidify, yet have a long way to go before they manifest.

  Let's pretend that our idea is to build a house. As we think about it, we begin to visualize the size, shape, or color of the house. Perhaps we imagine walking in the front door or cooking in the kitchen. Our thoughts are starting to pool in chakra six, as we embellish our idea with imagination. As the images crystallize, we become able to tell someone else about our idea. We communicate about it (chakra five). We can now describe the size and shape of the house and we may begin to draw up plans, further concretizing our images. Next, we must bring our ideas
into relationship (chakra four). We can't just build a house anywhere, we need to buy a piece of land, which is in a community that will have certain rules. We must be able to relate to architects and builders, planning commissioners and loan officers. In order to manifest something, it must have some relationship to things that already exist.

  Our project will not happen by itself, merely from visualization and communication. We must apply our will, from chakra three. Our will directs raw energy, such as money, materials, and people, toward a certain goal. This takes energy, in the form of repeated and deliberate actions, guided by consciousness, and fueled by physical metabolic processes. As we invest this energy, our project begins to take form on the physical plane. We move things around, such as tools and building materials, and bring them together (chakra two) until finally we have manifested a finished building that rests on its foundation on the Earth (chakra one). At this point we are complete, and like Shakti who rests in the first chakra, we get to rest and enjoy our manifestation.

  Through this descent, a vast number of thoughts about the design of the house gradually evolves into a single building, made of many images, conversations, relationships, activities, movements, and materials. Manifestation involves distilling the many into one. Yet the house is only one of many other homes which were created by the same process.

  To manifest is to allow our thoughts to become dense, to solidify. The more we think about something, the more we are likely to manifest it, but as we said in chakra one, manifestation requires that we accept limitation. This requires a certain amount of repetition. I can play a piano piece because I have practiced it many times. I can speak a language if I have repeated the vocabulary enough times to remember it. I have the deepest relationships with people I see most frequently.