Tag Archives: Taoism

Ancient India, Yoga, and the Seven Chakras

August 7, 2018 By in Esotericism, History Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Ancient India, Yoga, and the Seven Chakras

The word chakra (pronounced “shock-ra”) comes from the Sanskrit cakra, which means, “wheel.” The yoga systems of ancient India (roughly the 1st millennium BCE) conceived of the intersection between the physical body and the “ethereal,” “subtle,” or “light” body as spinning vortices of energy. Where our consciousness or life energy interpenetrates our physical body, there you will find the chakras. There are hundreds of chakras, or places of intersection, each of which can be related to acupuncture or acupressure points.

However, the Chakra System as it was introduced in about the 8th century CE in Buddhist texts such as the Hevajra Tantra, identified seven major chakras, where the energy flows intersect. The system as it is taught in the West today has been subsequently influence by Chinese Taoism, Tibetan Buddhism, Japanese Buddhism, and the psychological interpretations of Carl Jung.

The seven chakras are arranged vertically, from the base of the spine to the top of the head, roughly centered through the middle of the body. In addition to corresponding toHevajrahTantra the nerves of the spinal column, they also correspond to certain glands in the endocrine system, as well as bodily functions like breathing, digestion, or procreation.

In elemental terms, these major chakras also correspond to earth, water, fire, air, sound, light, and thought. In psychological terms, the major chakras correspond to the major areas of our lives: survival and physical energy; sex and emotion; personal power and intellect; love and compassion; verbal and mental communication; psychic power and higher intuition; spirituality and enlightenment. Each chakra also has been charted with corresponding elements, goals, colors, planets, foods, basic rights, stones, animals, operating principles, yoga paths, and Jungian archetypes.

Muladhara – Root, Base, or First Chakra

This chakra is located at the base of the spine, in the area of the tailbone, encompassing the legs, feet, large intestine, supra-renal glands, and kidneys. It’s the chakra of vitality, physical energy, survival, and self-preservation. Its goals are stability, grounding, prosperity, the right livelihood, and physical health. Signs that this chakra is not functioning well include: obesity, hemorrhoids, constipation, sciatica, anorexia, knee troubles, bone disorders, frequent illness in general, frequent fears, inability to focus, being “spacey,” and the inability to be still. The color of the first chakra is red; its element is Earth, and its planet is Saturn. Proteins and meats are the foods associated with this chakra. The fundamental right of this chakra is the right to have what we need to survive. The stones of the first chakra are garnet, hematite, bloodstone, and lodestone, and its animals are the elephant, the ox, and the bull. This chakra’s operating principle is gravity, and its yoga path is Hatha Yoga. The Jungian archetype associated with the first chakra is the Earth Mother.

Svadhisthana – Sacral, or Second Chakra

This chakra is located one to two inches below the navel, and encompasses the lower abdomen, genitals, lower back, hips, digestive system, reproductive organs, and gonad glands. It’s the chakra of sexuality, the emotions, and physical creativity. Its goals are fluidity, pleasure, and relaxation. Signs that this chakra is not functioning well include: stiffness, sexual problems, and emotional isolation, instability, or numbness. The color of the second chakra is orange; its element is Water, and its planet is the Moon. Liquids are associated with this chakra. The fundamental right of this chakra is the right to feel – the right to express your emotions. The stones of the second chakra are coral and carnelian, and its animals are the fish and the alligator. This chakra’s operating principle is the attraction of opposites, and its yoga path is Tantra Yoga. The Jungian archetype associated with the second chakra is Eros.

Manipura – Solar Plexus or Third Chakra

This chakra is located in the solar plexus, the upper abdomen area below the breastbone and behind the navel that encompasses the stomach, liver, gall bladder, sympathetic nervous system, pancreas, and adrenal glands. It is the chakra of personal power and intellect, and its goals are vitality, strength of will, and purpose. Signs that this chakra is operating incorrectly include: ulcers, timidity, domination, fatigue, and digestive troubles. The color of the third chakra is yellow; its element is Fire, and its planets are Mars and the Sun. Carbohydrates are the foods associated with the third chakra. The fundamental right of this chakra is the right to act in a self-directed manner. The stones 5-Types-of-Yoga-Their-Benefitsof the third chakra are topaz and amber, and its animals are the ram and the lion. This chakra’s operating principle is combustion, and its yoga path is Karma Yoga. The Jungian archetype associated with the third chakra is The Magician.

Anahata – The Heart or Fourth Chakra

This chakra is located in the center of the chest, encompassing the heart, thymus, circulatory system, blood, and cellular structure. It’s the chakra of love and compassion, and its goals are balance, compassion, and acceptance. Improper functioning includes the symptoms of loneliness and co-dependence. The color of the fourth chakra is green, and its element is Air. The planet associated with this chakra is Venus. Vegetables are the foods associated with the fourth chakra. The fundamental right of this chakra is to love and be loved. The stones of the fourth chakra are emerald and rose quartz, and its animals are the antelope and the dove. This chakra’s operating principle is equilibrium, and its yoga path is Bhakti Yoga. The Jungian archetype associated with the fourth chakra is Quan Yin – The Goddess of Mercy.

Vissudha – The Throat or Fifth Chakra

This chakra is located in the neck, centered at the throat, above the collarbone, and encompasses the thyroid gland, throat and jaw areas, alimentary, canal, lungs, vocal cords, thymus, and the breath. It’s the chakra of verbal and mental communication, and intellectual creativity, and its goals are clear communication, creativity, and resonance. Signs that this chakra isn’t functioning well include sore throats, stiff neck, and poor communication. The color of the fifth chakra is bright blue. The corresponding element is Sound, and its planet is Mercury. Fruits are the foods associated with the fifth chakra. The fundamental right of this chakra is to speak and hear truth. The stone of the fifth chakra is turquoise and its animals are the elephant and the bull. This chakra’s operating principle is sympathetic vibration, and its yoga path is Mantra Yoga. The Jungian archetype associated with the fifth chakra is Hermes.

Ajna – The Third-Eye or Sixth Chakra

This chakra is located between and about one finger’s width above the eyebrows, and encompasses the cerebellum, nose, central nervous system, the pituitary gland, and the left eye. It’s the chakra of psychic power and higher intuition, and its goals are psychic perception and imagination. Signs that this chakra is not functioning well include headaches, nightmares, and hallucinations. The color of the sixth chakra is indigo, its element is Light, and its planet is Neptune. Visual beauty is the nourishment of the sixth chakra. The fundamental right of this chakra is to see clearly. The stone of the sixth chakra is Lapis Lazuli, and its animals are the owl and the butterfly. This chakra’s operating principle is projection, and its yoga path is Yantra Yoga. The Jungian archetype associated with the sixth chakra is the Hermit, the Psychic, or the Dreamer.

Sahasrara – The Crown or Seventh Chakra

This chakra is located at the crown or top of the head, and encompasses the cerebrum, the right eye, and the pineal gland. It’s the chakra of spirituality and enlightenment, and its goals are wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual connection. Signs that this chakra is not functioning well include confusion, apathy, and being overly intellectual. The color of the seventh chakra is violet. The planet Uranus is associated with this chakra, and fasting is the nourishment of the seventh. The fundamental right of the seventh chakra is to know – including the right to information, education, and truth. The stone of the seventh chakra is amethyst, and its animals are the elephant, ox, and bull. This chakra’s operating principle is Consciousness, and its yoga path is Jnana Yoga. The Jungian archetype associated with the seventh chakra is the Sage, or Wise Woman.

chakras-horizontal

Sources:

Judith, Anodea and Vega, Selene. The Sevenfold Journey: Reclaiming Mind, Body, & Spirit Through the Chakras. The Crossing Press, 1993.

Melody. Love Is In The Earth – The Crystal and Mineral Encyclopedia. Earth-Love Publishing House. First Edition, Second Printing, 2011.

“Chakra”. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra.

Is Death Necessary? Or Inevitable?

March 14, 2018 By in Natural Science, Philosophy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment
Is Death Necessary? Or Inevitable?

Death. A foregone conclusion to this life. Maybe. What does science say?

“Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me,” Albert Einstein wrote in a condolence letter, upon the death of his close friend Michele Besso in 1955, “that signifies nothing. For those of us who believe in physics, the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Einstein was on to something, according to a contemporary scientist.

A theory… a philosophy, really, called “Biocentrism,” explores this question and many other fundamental reality-based questions. Introduced in 2010 by Robert Lanza, a scientist, doctor, and “influential thinker” who felt that consciousness is a problem for not only biologists, but physicists as well. Nothing, according to Lanza, can explain the “molecules of consciousness bouncing around in our brain.”

Biocentrism is sometimes the view or belief that the rights and needs of humans are not more important than those of other living things. This is not that theory of philosophy; it is something entirely different.

The theory postulated by Lanza is that nothing exists outside of consciousness and life. Biology is the great creator. In Lanza’s view, we humans have become very good at understanding the mechanics of our universe. We look at the rotations of planets, and we know chemical properties and can explain how apples fall from trees.

What we can’t explain is why. Why does the universe work as it does? Why can we not explain yet why we have consciousness, or what we should be doing with it? Biocentrism explains the why. Max Planck, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, stated:

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”

Lanza, with Biocentrism, seeks to explain the difference between what we all perceive to be an objective reality versus a life-centric reality.

“If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?”

Objective reality says, why yes, of course it does. Biocentrism reality says, not unless brainthere is an ear nearby. The science is lengthy but makes a point – without the ear to hear, the sound does not really exist. The tree falling creates puffs of air which stimulate aneardrum that translates the shift of air into a sort of sound. The sound is entirely held within our brains. The sound requires life and consciousness to comprehend it. The human must remove themselves from the equation to see the validity of the argument, and put themselves back in to understand the human place in creating the universe.

  • The First Principle of Biocentrism is that “what we perceive as reality is a process that requires our consciousness.” Or, said slightly differently, requires “any” consciousness. If I ask you, where is the universe, most might answer, “out there.” What many struggle with is that we are part of the same universe; what is out there is what is in here.                                                                                                                                                                     
  • The Second Principle of Biocentrism is that “internal and external perceptions are intertwined; they are different sides of the same coin and cannot be separated.”

In a complex explanation, Lanza says the general idea is that our brains create the reality we see. In this book, “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe,” Lanza explains all of this in an answer to the question: “Where is the Universe?”

In total, there are seven principles to Biocentrism, according to Lanza.

  • The most interesting one, in relation to death, is the Fourth Principle of Biocentrism: without consciousness, “matter” dwells in an undetermined state of probability.

Any universe that could have preceded consciousness only existed in a probability state. This seems to state that we, as are in that undetermined state of probability, and that our matter never really “goes away” but is folded into and part of the ongoing reality of the universe. Our consciousness separates from matter but doesn’t cease to exist because it’s all part of the same consciousness. This reminds me of Neil Gaiman’s story, “American Gods.” Gods exist and thrive because of our consciousness of them.

Life creates the Universe. The Universe (Darwinism, the Big Bang, etc) did not create life. We’ve got it backwards.

Mind. Blown.

It seems like such a simple turn of phrase, one which everyone can identify with. Lanza brings to bear all the science and experiential anecdotes to back it up. He picks us up, biocentrism-turning-the-universe-outside-inkicking and screaming, from seeing the universe one way and to standing on our heads, viewing it another. These theories harken back to the ideals of Eastern Philosophies and Freemasonry.

Freemasons, Buddhists, and Taoists seek balance and unification, we see an understanding of nature and science, and a middle path. For the Buddhist, our consciousness allows us to connect with the One – the whole. For the Taoist, the focus is a seamless flow of life – where there are no individuals but a single existence. For the Freemason, we seek unity and harmony, and the idea that as a unit, we are also creators. None of this is incompatible with Lanza’s scientific and philosophical approach to how the universe, physics, works.

So, to the original questions: “Do we die?” and “Is it inevitable?” 

According to Lanza, we are already dead, alive, past, future, and creators right now. The limitations are in our own perceptions and ideas of reality. All of it is right now because we, and all matter, are conscious. Lanza himself addressed this question in a Psychology Today article, located here.

Perhaps if more people could look at the universe from this new paradigm, we would become the creators we already are; we create and destroy together, whether we believe it or not.

  1. For a really good read, try out Lanza’s book on Biocentrism and his follow-on book, “Beyond Biocentrism.”
  2. For an interesting Buddhist view of Biocentrism, look to “The Endless Further,” a Buddhist’s blog.

Is Freemasonry a Cult?

October 19, 2016 By in Behavioral Science Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
Is Freemasonry a Cult?

As one of the largest organizations in the world, Freemasonry has weathered its share of criticism. In America, questions have been raised as to whether the fraternal organization qualifies as a “cult.” The Oxford Dictionary defines cult as “a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.” However, another definition describes a cult as “A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.” Obviously, the definition utilized makes a difference as to which organizations fit the term “cult.”  Is Freemasonry a cult?

 Sociological Analysis of Cults

The German political economist and sociologist Max Weber is considered to be a founder of Sociology:  the scientific study of social behavior, including its origins, development, maxweberorganization, and institutions. In his book Theory of Social and Economic Organization, Weber describes the role charismatic leaders play in the formation and operations of extreme groups such as cults.

Weber writes about charismatic leaders as possessing a “certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities.” Weber established a way to distinguish different religious organizations, such as churches, sects, and cults. Utilizing a continuum along which religions fall, Sociologists differentiate between protest-like orientation of sects to the equilibrium maintaining churches. The diagram below illustrates a church-sect typology continuum.

ReligionChurchSectCultBeginning in the 1930s, Sociology was utilized to explore cults within the context of the study of religious behavior. In the sociological classifications of religious movements, a cult is a group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices. Sociologist Roy Wallis argued that cults are “oriented towards the problems of individuals, loosely structured, tolerant, non-exclusive” without possessing a “clear distinction between members and non-members” and having “a rapid turnover of membership.”

By sociological typology, cults are new religious groups representing a radical rejection of the teachings and beliefs of established faith traditions. Often resulting during periods of social turmoil, cults tend to operate within a distinct period of time before either collapsing or amalgamating into another larger religious group. Three main characteristics are often used in defining the “cult” status of an organization:

  1. Founded by a charismatic leader, as described by Max Weber
  2. Claim a new revelation or insight from God that deviates from traditional faiths
  3. Viewed with extreme suspicion by society and dominant religions

Freemasonry and Religion

Freemasonry is an ancient system designed to impart morality and ethics and teach mutual service to its members. Utilizing the matrix enumerated above, we can examine whether the organization qualifies as a cult by sociological metrics. Modern Freemasonry is generally traced back to the early 1700s although some groups claim it existed prior to the 18th century and was not founded by a single leader.

Furthermore, Masonry is founded upon traditional faiths and does not espouse any new bible-lightrevelations. Within a Masonic Lodge, many holy texts are revered including the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, and the Hindu Vedas. All of these books provide examples of moral truths, such as the Golden Rule, and constitute ethical guides to teach individuals.

Expanding beyond sociology, general definitions of a cult, as listed at the beginning of this article, are tied to whether or not the organization is a religion. Although Masonry expresses a belief in a Supreme Deity and the immortality of the human soul, Freemasonry is not a religion. Each individual is entitled to hold their own view about the nature of God.

Within Freemasonry there are Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, etc. In order to join Freemasonry, individuals must believe in God, but they are left to their own choice as to the attributes of God. The renown Free Masonic scholar, Albert Mackey, wrote describing the religious inclusivity of the fraternity by stating: “God is equally present with the pious Hindu in the Temple, the Jew in the Synagogue, the Mohammedan in the Mosque, and the Christian in Church.”

To qualify as a “Religion,” Academic Scholars have established characteristics including, but not limited to:

  1. A Plan of SalvationThe-Four-vedas-of-Hinduism
  2. A Theology
  3. Dogmas
  4. Sacraments
  5. Clergy

Freemasonry lacks the tenets which define an organization as a “Religion.” Instead, Masonry seeks to make good individuals better through education, improvement, and service. While containing religious elements, Masonry is also a fraternal organization that encourages morality, charity, and philosophical studies. It has no clergy, no sacraments, nor a prescribed path of salvation. Moreover, Masonry rejects dogma and inspires individuals to utilize reason to search for Truth.

Among Freemasons, discussions and debates on social, philosophical, or religious questions help in understanding the universality of mankind and inspiring the let-there-be-lightintellectual development. Such discussion enable all members to reach for a greater understanding of themselves and Humanity in the pursuit of fulfilling their duties as Freemasons.

In Universal Co-Masonry, those duties include: to think high, to do well, to be tolerant to others, to search after truth, and to practice liberty under law, fraternal equality, justice and solidarity. Utilizing builders’ tools as symbols, Freemasonry teaches basic moral truths that enable individuals to meet in harmony and be charitable.