Understanding Chakras
Ranked #9,510 in Culture & Society, #189,556 overall
Chakras Demystified
Nevertheless, with wikipedia's entry for Chakras being almost unintelligible to those not versed in the subject and virtually every mention of chakras in New Age circles promoting publications proclaiming:
Learn How To Open Your Chakras In Minutes! or
Tune Up Your Chakras! or
Unleash Your Hidden Chakra Power, Today!
I feel compelled to present this Squidoo lens and try to stop this misinformation. The chakras - whether one accepts their existence or not - are part of the ancient Hindu Spiritual tradition and should be treated with some respect, not written about by New Agers who seem to know little about the subject.
In the explanation, I've had to also provide an explanation of Kundalini, which also attracts New Agers who make outrageous claims about what it can or cannot do.
If I have trodden on anyone's toes, I sincerely apologize and welcome coherent disagreement with my views.
N.B.: My thanks for the use of the Chakra Image
Table of Contents
- Chakras At Forty Paces:
- An Introduction To Chakras
- The Spiritual Materiality Of Chakras Part 1
- The Spiritual Materiality Of Chakras Part 2 A
- The Spiritual Materiality Of Chakras Part 2 B
- What Is Kundalini?
- As Adults, How Can We Stop Kundalini Taking Over Our Lives?
- The Spiritual Materiality Of Chakras Part 3
- How Can We Stop Kundalini Taking Over Our Children's Lives? Part 1
- The Bigger Picture
- How Can We Stop Kundalini Taking Over Our Children's Lives? Part 2
- Chakras: A Conclusion:
Chakras At Forty Paces:
Before I start, why don't you tell me what you think about chakras.
Chakras: Are they real or rubbish?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes to maybe: I believe in the benefits of meditation and stuff, so they must fit into the Cosmos, somewhere!
MariaZuzeena says:
Indeed. I have seen beams of light coming out of them in one of my aura pics.
Posted January 21, 2011
Maybe to no: They are a bit too far out for this doubting Thomas - I get tired reading a yoga book!
An Introduction To Chakras
The chakras are concentrations of psychic energy in Man. To a particular type of clairvoyant eye, the chakras are said to appear as fast-spinning wheels, hence the name (chakra means both "spinning and "wheel" in Sanskrit.
This will seem v-e-r-y far out but conjecture has it that the chakras:
1 are neither good nor bad, they just "register" bodily health and psychic energy - much like an electric light bulb "registers" electric current
2 the Human Aura that many psychics claim to see comprises of the "bottom end" of psychic energy - but many fewer psychics are capable of seeing the chakras &
3 that each chakra is associated with certain body organs and those who can see chakras can pinpoint health problems much more quickly than those who merely see auras
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Though few Christians would know it, they are actually well acquainted with at least one of the chakras - the seventh. It has been used by Christian Art for almost two millenia, depicted as a halo - around Jesus' head and those of many saints, as well.
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Interestingly, halos can also be seen on religious figures from Ancient Egypt, Greece & Rome (all pre-dating Christianity) as well as in Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist art and sculpture (see: the wikipedia link, above).
This seventh chakra energy, then, is acknowledged through much of the religious world. It is visible to the eye (or perhaps, the clairvoyant eye) as golden and must consist, physically, of some kind of Spiritual material.
It is this concept of Spiritual Materiality - intrinsic to my understanding of what chakras must consist of - that I find entirely lacking in other "explanations" and which I feel that I must present here.
The Spiritual Materiality Of Chakras Part 1
I've created an imaginary cowboy movie to illustrate these archetypes, in which each character possesses "good" and "bad" attributes associated with their particular chakra:
- Predominantly physical e.g. Joe, a cowboy who's great with a six-shooter but happiest in the saddle, out in the middle of nowhere looking after his herd. However, when he's in town, he likes his pick of the saloon girls.
The cowboy can be seen as representing the first chakra - mostly concerned with the will to survive, the capacity for fight or flight and sexuality - in our society, perhaps 15% of people are like this.
In our world, many people who fish and hunt with passion and then consume their prey, almost in a prayer to Nature, have a strongly developed first chakra.
In the Hindu tradition this chakra is called Muladhara and with clairvoyant sight can be seen just below the groin.
- Predominantly emotional e.g. Blanche, the lady school teacher who looks after each of the school kids as if they were her own but who's just as likely to give any one of them a piece of her mind if they step out of line - only a few folks know that that she also has a minor alcohol problem.
The school teacher can be seen as representing the second chakra - mostly concerned with feeling and unfettered emotion - in our society, perhaps 75% of people are like this.
In the Hindu tradition this chakra is called Svadhisthana and with clairvoyant sight can be seen just above the groin.
- Predominantly intellectual e.g. Mr. Gresham, the rancher who employs Joe - he's more interested in designing a new pump and then building a dam so that he can increase the size of his herd
Mr. Gresham can be seen as representing the third chakra - mostly concerned with intellectual capacity and abstract thinking - in our society, perhaps 9% of people are like this.
In the Hindu tradition this chakra is called manipuraka and with clairvoyant sight can be seen at the solar plexus.
So, in my little movie, none of these three characters are intrinsically "better" than one another - they're just different and can be said to have the same "Spiritual Materiality" and as you may have realized with my cavalier statistics, they represent 99% of the population!
The Spiritual Materiality Of Chakras Part 2 A
However, the hero of the movie is Sheriff Turner - somebody who is morally strong, can't be corrupted and always works for the greater good.Sure, he's tough-love personified but he does love and he brings a dignity and a certain empathy - quite unlike the partisan emotions of the other town-dwellers - to all his dealings.
Most of all, in the craziness of the Wild West, Sheriff Turner is a man of principles, a man who can't be bought! It's as if he is made of the right stuff.
Sheriff Turner can be seen to be representing the fourth chakra - I'm going to take an optimistic punt and claim that perhaps 0.9% of people are like this.
Unlike the other town dwellers, he has a balance to him and can hold his own with any of the three types (though knowing tough-guy sheriffs, he probably appears a little emotionally reserved with over-flirtatious ladies). He is in their world but not entirely of their world.
His "love" for his country, his job, those he "serves" is not personal but something beyond, perhaps in the realm of the standards that Ethics and/or Morality are based upon.
In the Hindu tradition this chakra is called Anahata and with clairvoyant sight can be seen just at the heart.
The eagle eyes may have noticed that with the addition of Sheriff Turner, the first four chakras represent 99.9% of the population.
N.B.: Pre-WW2, our heroes were classic fourth chakra role models but since the 1960s, interestingly, we now seem to feel more at ease with a hybrid hero, the guy with the right stuff - who has a serious flaw e.g. James Bond / Austin Powers (lust), Leroy Gibbs of TV's NCIS (emotion - his murdered family), Dirty Harry (anger as retribution), John McClane [Bruce Willis] of Die Hard (emotional incompetence with women) etc. What that says about our culture is fascinating but unfortunately not relevant for discussion here!
Perhaps the biggest problem to understanding what the heart chakra represents is that "the heart" is an expression used to describe activities patently concerned with several other chakras:
1 Certainly within the USA, and possibly elsewhere, somebody who battles the odds for a long time and - even though he may not win - is admired for his application and endurance, is said to have "heart".
However, this is much more likely to be a demonstration of the first chakra, a primal fight for some kind of survival, than the fourth.
2 Universally, Romance and the hormonal imbalances caused by sexual attraction - even when it is patently only going one way - is defined as "affairs of the heart" Given the quixotic nature of sexual attraction and the numerous couplings that seem to occur, Romance is much more likely to be a demonstration of the first chakra (lust) or second chakra (emotion) than the fourth.
However - and I speak from personal experience - "heartbreak", especially when it is unexpected and deep, does cause a physical manifestation of pain in the heart area (mine lasted for well over a year!).
My guess is that in situations such as these, the individual has had a fourth chakra connection, though that may or may not have been (fully) reciprocated and the shock of the loss (e.g. a murder, a fatal accident, a spouse who leaves you and has a sex change) may indeed cause such a rupture in both the second chakra (the capacity to feel) and in the fourth chakra (the capacity to love impartially) that there is both "emotionbreak" and heartbreak!
3 As you can see in the poster below (in the module What Is Kundalini?), Jesus Christ has long been painted with a glowing heart / fourth chakra. From the perspective of Comparative Religion, this is fascinating because as - in relative terms - a god or demi-god, this depiction makes Jesus more human and less Godly than God's "son" should be.
My guess is that.with the "flaming heart", Jesus is meant to appear to be an emissary of God's love - making him appear to have the capacity to be one of us - but it becomes very confusing because Jesus' mission was not even centered in the fifth chakra (See: The Spiritual Materiality Of Chakras Part 2 B) but probably in the sixth or seventh chakra
The Spiritual Materiality Of Chakras Part 2 B
Does he take hero pills?
No!
Is it that he possesses will power?
Well, Jim, Blanche & Mr. Geresham all possess will power - they just don't have access to it at all times i.e. they have no will power when they are caught up in something.
And I could keep going round the bush with attributes such as "self control", "stoic", "wise" etc. and still get no further. What is apparent is that, at Sheriff Turner's core, he is stronger than the others - which, if I can use my terminology, indicates that his Spiritual Materiality is finer than theirs - or if you could see him as an aura, his would have smaller particles than theirs.
Q: So, Where Do Chakras Fit Into The Dark Side?
To be honest, I don't know.
What we all do know from everyday Life is that for every Sheriff Turner, there is someone - perhaps many people - made of the wrong stuff. These people are far removed from the erratic foibles of ordinary folk - they're the bad guys, the mean muthas, the ones who swindle, maim, rape & murder etc. without a care - as depicted by thousands of villains in movies, TV & literature. One could say that they are the Dark Side's version of Sheriff Turner.
And beyond them, there is at least one other human level, comprising of people like Stalin & Mao Tse Tung, who used Famine as an instrument of Genocide to kill millions, or Hitler, who didn't just want to exterminate the Jews, he used the concentration camps to try to first destroy their race's Spirit. Perhaps they are the Dark Side's version of Chief Hollow Horn Bear.
Another thing that we do know is that our language consistently posits black - and this has been catastrophic for dark-skinned people across the globe - as being associated with "bad" or "evil" - as in expressions like a black mood, dark thoughts, the Dark side etc.. Perhaps related to that, sick people are said by many clairvoyants to have darkened auras or particular areas that have become darkened (which turn out to be sick).
Could it be that chakras work in similar ways for "Evil" as "Good", except that when the energy is "Evil", some kind of psychic polarity is reversed, creating a blackened aura?
So, getting back to Sheriff Turner, we need to find what differentiates him from Jim, Blanche & Mr. Gresham and in order to do so, I have to look at them a little more closely through the prism of Kundalini.
What Is Kundalini?
and why doesn't Religion want us to know about it?
Just as chakras mean "wheel" in Sanskrit, kundalini also has a meaning - that of a "coiled serpent". Wikipedia states:
"Kundalini is described as being coiled up at the base of the spine, usually within muladhara chakra."
and in my limited understanding of Hindu Metaphysics, when a student is under the guidance of a master and begins to progress spiritually, this "coiled serpent" of psychic energy may begin to uncoil. When it does, the kundalini travels up the spine and to the clairvoyant eye, the chakras spin more quickly.
Hindu Metaphysics also seems to insinuate (there are no definitive statements - one has to collate the utterances of different gurus and teachers) that when this occurs, it is indicative of increased Spiritual understanding and perhaps psychic capabilities (a.k.a. siddhis). However, the awakening of the kundalini in those without the right training - or at the inappropriate time - is considered extremely dangerous.
Of course, it's understandably a very small leap to connect kundalini with the Serpent in the Garden of Eden!
N.B.: While the opening / vivifying of the heart (fourth) chakra is an important part of both Christianity and Islam, as far as I am aware, there is no mention of the first three chakras.
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Here's why:
- In case you haven't noticed, the illustration that I have used for kundalini is not that of a coiled serpent - this one is very much uncoiled and on its way. It is my belief that kundalini - or a component of it - is part of our everyday lives, as I shall try to explain below.
- as I pointed out in An Introduction To Chakras, Christ's halo must have a certain Spiritual Materiality, which I will name 7 SM for 7th chakra Spiritual Materiality.
Using the same nomenclature, in my cowboy movie:
Jim the cowboy has 1 SM - and he is just as worthy as
Blanche the school-teacher, who has 2 SM - who is just as worthy as
Mr. Gresham, who has 3 SM
However, none of them measure up to Sheriff Turner, who has 4 SM. He is, of course, far inferior to Christ but his Spiritual Materiality makes him almost of a different species to Jim, Blanche & Mr. Gresham
- As I pointed out in The Spiritual Materiality Of Chakras Part 1, in my cowboy movie illustration, close to 90% of people such as Jim, Blanche & Mr. Gresham live in their own worlds, incapable of being as strong and insightful as Sheriff Turner, who's fourth chakra has begun to open. They may have their moments but overall, the difference between them is like chalk and cheese!
That is because kundalini, which has a Spiritual Materialism of 4 SM has found its way into their lives and is actually running their lives. It trumps1, 2 & 3 SM easily because it is of a higher Spiritual Materiality!
N.B.: I shall be publishing an article on How Kundalini Takes Over Our Everyday Lives in January 2011
- Kindalini is not only nascent power coiled at the base of the spine - I believe that some of it is very visible in the obsessional behavior all around us - strange behavior that takes over our lives:
from the extremes of Octomom
to the the juvenile, self-destructive behavior of singer Britney Spears & actor Charlie Sheen
to the drip-feed addiction of hearing about such celebrities
to the shameful public lies of caught-out politicians and clergy
to the self-obsession of body-builders
to the endless "enhancements" of cosmetic surgery
to the "first girlfriend" you can never stop lovin'
to your mother's crazy mania for cleanliness
to your father's encyclopedic knowledge of baseball greats 1948 - 1964
to your own continued lounge-room success with always bettering the contestants of Don't Forget The Lyrics
to that king-size burger that you can't resist
- Pornography (I include chick flicks & romantic novels in this category)
- Gambling
- over-indulgence in Alcohol &/or Narcotics
- Gluttony (= Obesity)
Now you may understand why the major religions presently have little to say about them. They did in times gone past - they used fear of eternal damnation to stop us indulging in the 7 Deadly Sins:
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These days, Christianity turns a blind eye - apparently with no shame - to the excesses of its pastors, priests and congregations. They seem to have little problem with
- Gluttony (now conveniently defined as a disease, Obesity)
- Material Greed (now championed as the American Way Of Life) &
- Anger, such as that captured by CBS News at a Rand Paul Tea Party / Republican rally in Kentucky, October 2010 Stomping For America! "When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - attributed to Sinclair Lewis, 1935 - See: bumper sticker photo & discussion
Simply, once kundalini enters the lower chakras - because it has a higher Spiritual Materiality - it takes over peoples' lives and there is very little that anybody can do about it.
You can believe what you want.
You can pray as much as you like but generally, it will make no difference (See: the general population).
Kundalini makes us entirely (spiritually) ineffective, caught up in dreams of passion duty, care, anger, resentment, bitterness - the full range of ordinary human existence - dissipating our lives into nothingness.
Despite what the Churches will tell you, the God with a gray beard doesn't particularly care about us, principally because we / you / I couldn't be bothered to!
As Adults, How Can We Stop Kundalini Taking Over Our Lives?
the $64,000 question
Do you think everybody r-e-a-l-l-y wants to be like Sheriff Turner?
Be honest, don't most of us prefer being like Jim, Blanche & Mr. Gresham?
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Unless you have been blessed by the right parents who have guided and nurtured you, [N.B.: I have attempted the impossible by trying to answer the question How Can We Stop Kundalini Taking Over Our Children's Lives? in a module below] the logical way is by finding a teacher. Unfortunately - as when you were at school - most teachers aren't right for you and in this subject may cause more harm than good. Personally, I consider virtually the entire Self Help industry well meaning at best but more often than not, dangerous!
Still, there are people - and I'm sure you've met some - who are Sheriff Turners. In my experience, they all seem to have attained this by being wrenched out of Normality, often through horrifying experiences such as war, heartbreak, divorce, death of a loved one, shame, abuse, near-death experience etc.
Somehow - possibly by accident because many people with the same experiences crumble - these people seem to have stopped kundalini expressing crazily through their lower centers and have stumbled upon a way to use kundalini to open the fourth chakra [Again, see: How Can We Stop Kundalini Taking Over Our Children's Lives? for at least the theory of how that occurs in one of the modules below] and develop a gravitas that folks like Jim, Blanche and Mr. Gresham do not and cannot have.
To go further, the fourth chakra must be infused with kundalini (the same kundalini that has not been dissipated in the first three chakras) for the fifth chakra to then function at anything beyond its most rudimentary levels.
The Spiritual Materiality Of Chakras Part 3
If the movie was made fifty years ago, we would be cheering him on. However, we're watching a modern revisionist cowboy movie that sees things - at least partially - from the Sioux's perspective, in particular, the worrying visions of Chief Hollow Horn Bear.
He sees the future of his people, subjugated, degraded, sick, desolate - and then he sees what will become of the white man, subjugated, degraded, sick, angry and obese. He orders the attack as a warning for the white man to go, to stop these horrifying visions coming true [Beware the revisionist script-writer!].
Chief Hollow Horn Bear can be seen to be representing the fifth chakra - I'm going to take an optimistic punt and claim that perhaps 0.09% of people are like this. We've now covered perhaps 99.99% of all people.
When Sheriff Turner is captured by the Sioux - and after much drama - he realizes that Chief Hollow Horn Bear possesses an Intuition - a profound understanding of Life & Death, far beyond his own, he is humbled. When the cavalry arrive to rescue him, Sheriff Turner fights with the Sioux against them to protect this great man.
In the Hindu tradition this chakra is called Vishuddha and with clairvoyant sight can be seen just at the throat. It is said that clairvoyant capacities such as seeing the future and/or the past are a frequent by-product of the opening of the fifth chakra.but for me, the greatest attribute would be to be the capacity to see people locked in Space & Time and offer them a way out - if they can make the necessary sacrifices
Alas, here my movie ends, as does any commentary that I might make about the other chakras. For me to speak of Ajna, the sixth chakra, which refers - whether they exist or not - to beings such as the Compassionate Buddah, who sees the world and hears our pain or in Catholicism, the Virgin Mary, the Virgin Mary who receives our desperate prayers and intercedes with God on our behalf, would be shameful.
What I can say is that it's likely that - like the fourth and fifth chakras - that the sixth chakra only starts functioning fully when the chakra below it - in this case, the fifth - has fully integrated kundalini
Even more so, for me to try to explain Sahasrara, the seventh chakra (the energy as depicted by Jesus' halo) would be ridiculous - I cannot begin to conceive what a being like that would represent.
And similarly, the seventh chakra probably only starts functioning fully after the sixth chakra has fully integrated kundalini
However, I would stress that if Sheriff Turner (fourth chakra) feels so inferior in the presence of Chief Hollow Horn Bear (fifth chakra), imagine how he would feel in the presence of people manifesting the sixth and seventh chakras.
How Can We Stop Kundalini Taking Over Our Children's Lives? Part 1
You ask a difficult question!
When 90% of Humanity consist - as in my cowboy movie - of Cowboy Jims, School Teacher Blanches & Egghead Mr. Greshams, you want them to be like Sherriff Turner or even Chief Hollow Horn Bear?
You ask too much!
Why?
Because they are all individuals. If you've been blessed with children, you will surely have noticed that by the age of 1, they have distinct personalities - and if you have several children, the differences will be even more marked.
Incidentally, I believe that when I hear "Oh, he takes after his father / mother" etc.that somebody has done a shabby parenting job! Based on twenty kids from six families that I know well, none of us are anything like our / their parents.
In simple terms, get out of the way, find out who these children are and provide them with whatever help they require.
Your children are not your children, they are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you
You may give them your love but not your thoughts for they have their own thoughts
You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams
You may strive to be like them but seek not to make them like you, for Life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
Khalil Gibran author of The Prophet
Now, that may sound all very New Age, but there is some metaphysical theory behind that way of thinking.
The Bigger Picture
The philosopher George Gurdjieff is the only credible source that I am aware of who makes any comment of use about the sixth and seventh chakras (called by different names in his system, the very-difficult-to-understand table of Hydrogens).
His system - and I'm paraphrasing, here - states that through our normal process of breathing and eating, humans create a certain amount of fourth, fifth and even a minuscule amount of sixth chakra energy. However, all of those energies are dissipated (harmlessly) during the process of everyday life and in particular, usually through complaints and arguments.
To escape this process, except for very rare individuals - most people must undertake special training, being guided by someone who knows.
And where would you find such teachers?
Well, it's not as easy as "Seek and ye shall find" - it's a little more complex than that and Gurdjieff provides his own version of:
When the pupil is ready, the teacher appears.
How Can We Stop Kundalini Taking Over Our Children's Lives? Part 2
Even after the chaos of:
- your children's genetics (including possible medical weaknesses)
- the era that they were born into
- the country that they are brought up in
- the social strata that they inhabit
- the neighbors that they have &
- any number of other factors such as Life, Death, war, incest, divorce, rape, growing beautiful, growing ugly, disease etc.
When the pupil is ready, the teacher appears.
The pupils are ready! What are you going to do about it?
Hint: Trying to be like Sheriff Turner might be a good place to start.
Chakras: A Conclusion:
Yes, the Higher chakras are our potential and indeed, if Dame Fortune has smiled upon us and enabled us to set up our lives without having to resort to moral ugliness, we may, like some cosmic factory, be creating even more. However, Life shows us that folks of Sheriff Turner's capacities are uncommon (and frequently quite unaware of anything "different about them), while people of Chief Chief Hollow Horn Bear are as rare as hens' teeth!
To think that an ordinary person - after doing a Chakra-healing course - could influence energies of that level and beyond is utterly farcical. Their activities are almost certainly fantasy - and depending on what they are doing - probably misleading and perhaps - if they have a particular type of dark mojo - even dangerous.
The Way That Chakras Are Normally Presented To The Public
It's not that I disagree with this type of information - it's very optimistic and partially correct - but there's a lot that isn't correct and there's certainly very little that anyone can do with it.
As I inferred in the module above - and as I would say to anybody in any circumstance at any time - be very careful about who you put your trust in.
Passage
William Ackerman
Passage
Amazon Price: $11.78 (as of 02/23/2012)
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Amazon reviewer MiLNEMGaL
"The mood Ackerman creates is reflective rather than driven with the arpeggios setting the rhythmic structure. His sound is smooth and bell like...the result is almost hypnotic.Top"
50 Amazon reviewer Marc Ruby
"[Passage] is haunting, spirited, sometimes gives you chills, sometimes brings a tear to your eye, makes your heart ache, enchants you completely.
Perfect morning music or [for the] end of [the] day."
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The Understanding Chakras Guestbook
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OrganicMom247
Jan 9, 2012 @ 10:24 am | delete
- This is truly a great read, I can now say i know about the Chakras. Thank you for sharing.
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the777group
Jan 9, 2012 @ 3:48 pm | delete
- Thank you, Organic Mom - I know that this Chakra lens ain't for everybody - so, I'm glad you liked it.
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BethAmbard
Feb 5, 2011 @ 11:48 pm | delete
- Thanks for this thorough explanation of chakras!
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the777group
Jan 9, 2012 @ 3:49 pm | delete
- My pleasure.
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ZazzleEnchante
Nov 7, 2010 @ 12:46 am | delete
- A very interesting lens, with a refreshing look at chakras & kundalinis. Blessed by a SquidAngel!
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color & sound healing
save yourself some money and bookshelf space and pick up this book where you will find all of those subjects and many more."
Amazon reviewer Teal Chimblu Fyrberg
Eating The "I"
Eating the I: A Direct Account of the Fourth Way- The Way of Using Ordinary Life to Come to Real Life (In Search of the Self), Revised & Expanded Edition
Amazon Price: $16.71 (as of 02/23/2012)
"Amazon quote"
Amazon reviewer name
"EATING THE "I" is great for many reasons - the LEAST of which is Mr. Patterson's ability to candidly share with us his most inner thoughts and feelings from both his conscious and subconscious parts of his mind - it reads like a Woody Allen movie unfolds with the characters' thoughts exposed as a narration for one and all to share!
You get sucked-in immediately!"
Amazon reviewer The Aeolian Kid
"As the story unfolded, yet another level appeared that showed how work on the raw materials of the personality effected a transformation. With unblinking accuracy Patterson portrays the continuing effort to be aware of what one is really like so that transformation becomes possible in the moment of recognition."
Amazon reviewer Charles Bendix
Gurdjieff, Tsabropoulos: Chants, Hymns and Dances
Gurdjieff, Tsabropoulos: Chants, Hymns and Dances
Amazon Price: $10.39 (as of 02/23/2012)
"Sustained, hypnotic and beguiling."
Amazon reviewer Noddy
"This amazingly beautiful album to me is the soundtrack of Anatolia, of an era gone by when Turks, Greeks, Armenians and other ethnic groups shared their lives peacefully and harmoniously. Its sadness inevitably reminds me of millions who unnecessarily died on this soil in many wars fought in early twentieth century, of people forced to leave the only land the knew for unknown destinations and destinies, of the unimaginable hardships endured by its people. And more personally it takes me from New York and puts me right next to my father's grave in a forgotten Anatolian village, 6000 miles away"
Amazon reviewer K. Eksi
"The emotional range is a narrow one of quiet and yearning - it's frankly a treat to listen to an entire CD of music essentially uninterested in bold contrasts, violent tempo change or harsh dynamics without the music ever slipping into an ignorable, two-dimensional, ambient pleasantness. Instead, the music and the performances invite active listening from beginning to end.
Chants, Hymns & Dances achieves a rare and curious balance. "
Amazon reviewer Kerry Liemer
