Greetings, my friends. Blessings in the form of love, strength,
and understanding are coming forth. To the degree you generate these within
you, to that degree you shall be able to perceive and accept the blessing
that is streaming into you.
Tonight's lecture will be the beginning of the topic I started
to discuss last time, that of the energy centers of the human structure. There
is a great deal to be said about this. We shall divide this topic into three
fundamental aspects. The first aspect is going to deal with what determines
the functioning of these energy centers. The second aspect will deal with
the specific function of each center. In the last Question and Answer session
I have been asked about some of them and I started, to a limited degree, to
give a brief answer. So some of this second part will be a repetition for
those who were present. And the third aspect will deal with the cultivation
of these centers and practices with which the clogged channels leading to
them may be opened up. You must understand, my friends, that this very pathwork
that you are engaged in, your self-confrontation, the development of your
courage to look at yourself in truth (which is not half as easy as one believes
before one starts) is already the most essential aspect of such a practice.
For any kind of practice that is mechanical -- that deals merely with exercises
of concentration, breathing, etc. -- cannot possibly fulfill its purpose.
So the basis is always to expand your consciousness, your vision, your perception
of the truth of yourself, therefore of your relationship to the universe,
and therefore of universal law and creation. This will be borne out by what
I have to explain about the first aspect to be discussed right now.
What determines the proper function of man's life force, hence
of the energy centers, can only be understood if we gain a view of the entire
structure of the human personality. For this, again, some recapitulation is
necessary. The life force itself is the creative force that enlivens the whole
universe. It contains all life elements and all potentials to manifest and
express life in its myriad forms. This is such a powerful force that it must
be made adaptable, it must be modified so as not to explode an organism whose
consciousness is not yet sufficiently strong to accept this total power. Therefore
each living organism possesses special centers which convert, assimilate,
modify, and balance the power that thus streams into the organism. The life
force itself contains every possibility for life expression, for energy, health,
bliss, modalities of self-expression. The centers of a human being are infinitely
more differentiated and complicated that those, say, of a blade of grass.
This is because the human being has proportionately more possibilities for
varied self-expression than the blade of grass. The streaming into the organism
of the life force must be "metabulated," distributed, and adjusted. Otherwise
the force would be too strong, as I said. If the human consciousness is divided
and in conflict, if, on the one hand it is sufficiently ready to "metabulate"
more varied power, yet on the other hand it is imbalanced and disturbed, then
the centers close up. They become clogged. The process of self-realization
also means the opening up of those centers.
It must be further understood that the human physical body
is but a crude reflection of the real body: that is, his spiritual, eternal
body. In the latter exist all functions and organs to an infinitely finer
and more refined degree than can be found in the physical structure. This
body of the eternal being cannot, of course, be seen with the human eye. But
it is nevertheless much more real than anything that can be seen with the
human eye. This body has several cruder outpicturings, according to the various
levels of consciousness that exist when an entity is not yet unified with
its spiritual self. The other subtle bodies reflect the various states of
mind and personality levels of the individual. The physical level is but the
crudest, most temporary outer manifestation, expressing the level of consciousness
that is most alienated from its source -- the spirit being.
The centers exist in perfect form and functioning in the spirit
body. There they are visible organs, as the heart or the kidneys are visible
organs in the physical body. The various other states of consciousness, represented
by specific subtle bodies, also contain these centers, but already altered
in their functioning, according to the degree of disunity with the spiritual
structure. In the physical organism those centers can be detected only indirectly.
The glandular system reflects them, and their functioning is also determined
by them. But the opening and closing of the centers, their smooth functioning
or congestion, can be clearly experienced. The effect has distinct physical
marks. However, the centers themselves are not visible for man.
Now, what determines the smooth functioning of those energy
centers -- and therefore the proper assimilation of the life force? It depends
entirely and exclusively on the state of consciousness. Since consciousness
is the origin of all that is, consciousness must also determine the most important
system of life functioning. Every belief, opinion, concept, and idea determines
man's feelings, reaction attitudes, and expressions into life. It is inconceivable
that an individual is unaffected by or indifferent to a deeply ingrained idea.
And I do not merely mean conscious ideas and opinions. Even more important
are the unconscious ones, because they cannot be reoriented. An individual
who is what we call self-realized, whether still in the physical body or having
already transcended the body state, is in truth. He does not know everything
but he has an open mind. He is free from misconceptions. No false beliefs
create fear, defensiveness, negativity, destructive emotions. Someone who
is in truth about himself perceives the benign nature of the universe. He
is open, joyful, without a trace of apprehension. Therefore he can expand
in a harmonious way. In this light, unintense, undefended, relaxed state of
body, mind, and feeling, the centers are open. They allow the life force to
flow smoothly and freely, and the centers distribute the right kind of energy
into the organism wherever specific aspects of the Great Force are needed.
There is no clogging, no blocking, since there is no fear. And fear cannot
exist if there is no negativity, no limitation of concept.
The more you develop and grow, the more aware you become of
how each mistaken idea creates destructive feelings, negativities, limited
concepts of self and life. We spoke for a considerable time in our teachings
here of the importance of the dualistic world view, as opposed to a unified
world view. A dualistic state of consciousness is one that perceives life
always in terms of either/or, good or bad, this or that, one to the exclusion
of the other. The whole human sphere is indoctrinated with this error. This
is difficult to understand for someone who has not yet entered deeply into
his innermost being. He who has done so to a considerable degree and has therefore
overcome some fundamental illusions about himself, some blocks in this respect,
finds out how the universe expands for him in encompassing possibilities.
Where he was convinced first to have to lose, to have to make unsatisfactory
choices, by growing in integrity and objectivity, he eventually comes to a
state where he loses nothing. When the false, childish greed gives way, when
the false, self-limiting sacrifice gives way, out of this duality fullness
of experience arises.
The proper functioning of the life centers is not possible
when the human being is still involved in the dualistic conflict. Perhaps
the most basic dualism -- as discussed elsewhere in different contexts --
is the question of morality versus pleasure; of selfishness versus altruism;
of self-deprivation versus depriving others. The whole concept of good and
evil stems from this arbitrary, unnecessary, and mistaken concept of life.
All human civilization, almost all philosophies are poisoned by the basic
split in the human consciousness. As long as you, my friends, believe that
you have to make a choice between either being good or obtaining your advantages,
you must be in a terrible conflict. Only when you arrive at the realization,
at the experience, that depriving yourself must ultimately deprive others;
and, conversely, that by obtaining your real advantages (which may not be
the shortsighted, childish ones stemming from the limited, fearful outlook
"this or nothing at all"), you ultimately also benefit others, will you be
free from conflict. To reach this wider state of consciousness it is necessary,
first, to understand that your deeply ingrained conviction of limitation,
of having to make decisions of self versus others, you will first experience
just such situations, in which it truly seems to be unavoidable to give up
one for the sake of the other. For according to your belief you must also
experience. Your belief creates the condition. Thus a false belief must be
proven true until one begins to perceive of the relationship between belief
and experience. If you accept the fact that your inner, "invisible" belief
creates this predicament of having to balance between your advantage versus
those of others, then you will have to deal with these self-created limited
conditions and will have to handle each instant separately with intelligence,
with whole investment, with decency, and with integrity. No fearful sentimentality
must blur your view to your rights. No childish greed must rationalize your
self-centeredness. Both must be seen and overcome. Out of this, many decisions
will be made, each different. Each loss will soon be discovered to be illusory.
For once you will forsake your own advantage, because what is on the scale
does not warrant your self-deprivation. More and more you will be governed
by true considerations and not by fear of disapproval, by dependency on the
good opinion of others, by fear of frustration, and by the inability to stand
non-gratification. As this proceeds, you will soon have the vision that there
is truly no division between your fulfillment and interest and those of others.
In the long run it all merges. The underlying truth conciliates both. But
you cannot reach this state of consciousness cheaply. It requires your whole
investment and involvement into each issue, no matter how apparently insignificant.
In that way, dualism is transcended, and consequently fear, greed, a sense
of deprivation, therefore anger, hostility, with all their derivatives. More
and more, your consciousness perceives, experiences, and obtains the limitless
abundance the universe has in store for all creatures. The first step must
be knowing of its potential existence.
As long as you live in this basic human conflict, this split
of consciousness, you must believe that you have to deprive yourself in order
to be a decent, loving human being. Is it not natural that such a predicament
induces feelings of resentment, frustration, anger, self-hate, guilt? And
is it not natural that such feelings close up the psychic faculties, the streamings
of healthy energy flow? When emotions are tightened up due to such negative
feelings, the physical structure must eventually also tighten up. The tightness
of the centers, in body and spirit, is always a reflection of emotions of
apprehension, anger, guilt, hate, and fear.
This fundamental duality creates the chain reaction mentioned
here: negative outlook, limited concept, conflict between self and others,
negative emotions, hence limitation of experience. A state of consciousness
must set in in which you subtly but definitely prohibit your own expansion.
As you become more aware of yourself in the course of self-exploration, you
also begin to detect those subtle little reactions that indicate how you prevent
yourself from expanding, from delightful experience. You detect how you are
afraid of using the utmost of your potentials.
Any limited idea of your possibilities is a result of such
a chain reaction. The real human sickness is the result of not using the full
potentials to create a good life, to create the best of circumstances. As
you hold back your potentials to expand, to make better conditions, to experience
deeper feelings of delight in every possible way, you continue a vicious circle.
The result must be frustration, limitation, which is then assumed to be the
nature of life -- at least as far as you are concerned. The deepening conviction
increases the negative feelings, the tight defenses, the closed centers. As
long as you feel obliged to make the tragic decision between goodness and
joy, morality and pleasure, self-interest and love, you cannot ever fully
decide and you become so confused and disturbed that you react blindly and
rigidly without quite knowing what governs you.
The greatest "sin," if we want to use this word, is ignoring
your potentials, is ignoring the possibilities for happiness, is setting yourself
unnecessary fences beyond which you think you cannot go.
How does all this affect the specific centers? In order to
understand that, we must first learn the meaning of each center and its particular
function. Here I have to repeat some of what I said in the last Question and
Answer session, so as not to break the continuity.
The first center is the sexual center, located at the base
of the spine. When I mention sexuality, I mean something that goes beyond
limited genital pleasure. It comprises the whole extending of personal love
to the opposite sex; it is the individual's capacity to experience pleasure
on all levels -- the physical, the emotional, the mental, and the spiritual
-- without a trace of apprehension, tension, tight greed, separateness. It
is the capacity to undefendedly give and receive. It is, most certainly, the
ability to give yourself to the involuntary feeling processes, without the
ego need to be in control. It implies a trustful, accepting attitude toward
one's own unconscious, with all its responses and movements. As you all know,
this is most difficult for all human beings. But if it is attained, the sexual
center will be open. It will not be clogged up by the ego need to be first
in control.
How can a person react without fear in this respect when his
whole consciousness and perception of life is geared to limitation, deprivation,
and therefore negative feelings, which he must fear to expose? Therefore the
center must be closed -- partially or completely. Hence deprivation must be
engendered because the full flow of the life force, with all its regenerating,
life-bringing, health-furthering, energetic faculties, cannot be quite activated.
The second center is in the solar plexus. Its opening creates
a connection with spiritual wisdom, with the consciousness of the Universal
Being, and therefore it furthers general love feelings. For when you are in
truth, you love. The opening of the sexual center enables the entity to the
ever-present, ever-ongoing process of creation in regard to pleasure supreme:
ecstasy. This contact is made in conjunction with a beloved other human being.
The opening of the solar plexus channel makes the connection with the ongoing,
ever-present, ever-existing truth and goodness of ultimate reality. This ongoing
real life can occasionally be detected, perceived, sensed. It usually happens
when you really love and have thus transcended the dualistic struggle. Or
it happens when you discover, often even by dint of apparently insignificant
events, your inner truth, where you have hitherto not seen it. The spirit
of such a discovery is then accepting, not rejecting, of self and life. The
perception of the ever-ongoing life process in its infinite marvel of greatness,
wisdom, love, and pleasure is an altogether different perception from the
usual one, which is: "I must attain a new state." Such attainment
would be impossible if it would not already exist on another level of reality.
What you really have to do is to discover this existence by first considering
its possibility. Thus you must perceive of all states of bliss as existing
already; all wisdom you ever need as existing already; all harmonious and
balanced functioning, attitudes, and the realization of your own power and
creative potentials as existing already, and being separated from it by a
wall. You must remove this wall. But the ongoing process of another life is
already there. In your good moments, my friends, you are aware of this. You
are aware that you have contacted another dimension of reality that is always
there. In this dimension there is utter peace and joy, there are all the answers,
there is life eternal, and there is nothing to fear. It is only when you are
disconnected from this reality, and begin to doubt or forget it, that you
find yourself in real strife.
Anxiety-less pleasure supreme is an ever-existing reality in
you already right now -- and all that is separating you from it is your lack
of knowing this, your fears and apprehensions; your own permission, as it
were, to experience this reality. So it is true that the ever-alive and appropriate
wisdom, as you need it at any given instant of your life, is already there.
You are merely separated from it by your not knowing it, by identifying with
other sources of wisdom which are, at best, a poor substitution. These may
be your intellect, your unexplored emotions, which are merely reactive to
attitudes whose nature you have not explored, other peoples' dicta over you,
or all of these mixed up together. Often you desist from establishing contact
with this channel, even when you have already experienced its immediate availability,
because you are afraid of the good feelings that result from its deep wisdom.
You do not want to open up all these channels and centers and let yourself
flow in unison with the universal cosmic movements. You are too afraid and
too angry to do so. And this fear and anger must, first of all, be made conscious.
Also fear of disappointment, lack of the courage to be happy, hold you back
from expanding into that realm of reality where you find solutions for everything.
In the solar plexus is the center that connects you with the
supreme wisdom in relation to anything you ever need to know, or ever could
know. Such deep wisdom removes fear and makes love flow.
I want to interject here that the centers have some subdivisions,
or counter-reflections. This might sometimes be interpreted as separate centers.
For example, the center at the base of the spine has other projecting, or
concentration points, in the pelvis, in the genitalia. Or the center in the
back has other concentration points, higher and lower, in the back. This is
to avoid confusion.
The next center is in the back. Its faculty is will. Now, so
far, we can see that we have dealt with three basic human functions: feeling,
knowing, willing. If harmony exists between these three functions, there is
perfect interplay and no overweight on one at the expense of the other. The
willing-center is also the center of the ego, of aggression, of self-assertion,
of backbone, of selfhood, self-responsibility, autonomy. All these attitudes
are centered in and coming from the back. As indicated just before, there
are two subdivisions -- one in the nape of the neck, the other further down,
approximately between the shoulder blades. They both are reflections from
one center, which is located more "internally" in the spiritual body, perhaps
somewhere in-between. It manifests in the physical body primarily in these
two places.
If the ego is not fully developed in the healthiest sense,
this energy center is under-active. The energy does not flow smoothly through.
By the same token, if the ego is over-tight, stiff, anxious, too rigid, too
self-willed, it implies another facet of the same predicament. Some personalities
find it more expedient to dramatize the weakness and thus attempt to make
an asset out of it. Others counteract the fear of their weak ego by overstressing
pseudo-strength. Both attitudes may result in similar problems manifesting
in the body and mind. Tensions in the back distort the smooth flow and congest
it.
Let us examine for a moment how the weak ego must influence
the other functions of the two aforementioned centers: if you are weak and
dependent, you must be fearful. Hence you must lack the courage for the great
experience of living, for the deeper wisdom that transcends the ego. The weak
ego makes you hold on so tightly that you cannot open up for what lies beyond
its scope. It requires strength to trust, love, and be happy, to let the involuntary
processes do their part in the business of living. Perception of the greater
reality of life must be hindered if the ego is not flexible and strong, independent
without believing it is the only function to count on.
The next center is in the throat. This center symbolizes the
capacity to take in, ingest and digest, assimilate and accept. A rigid individual,
whose inner unconscious problems create havoc, must set himself against a
flexible, accepting attitude toward life, circumstances, unexpected developments,
people, and his own unconscious inconsistencies and unpredictabilities. The
weakness of the ego, the lack of independent self-responsibility, refuses
to take in and swallow anything. He fears the possibility of being gullible
because deep down he does not wish to stand on his own two feet; he fears
his lack of backbone because he craves for approval more than for the integrity
of being true to the self -- to truth, as it were. Hence, much of what life
brings cannot be accepted and dealt with.
The next center is between the eyes. In Oriental philosophy
great stress is put particularly on this center. It is often called the "third
eye." This center is a preliminary manifestation of total spiritual wholeness
and fulfillment, total realization of the Divine Self, which is expressed
in the center at the top of the head. The center between the eyes is a vast
capacity to visualize, to see, to comprehend. If the other, previously mentioned
centers, are open, are flowing, are harmonious, spiritual vision and perception
comes about that gives an entirely new outlook on life, on the universe, on
self, on everything that is. The opening of this center heralds the total
integration expressed in the center in the top of the head. The latter combines
all. When this occurs, one knows that there is no limit and that all is one.
Of course, my friends, the opening of each center requires
a great deal of work. It requires a total change of your consciousness, by
which is meant, perhaps even more, of your unconscious. Often your conscious
being has the right knowledge, but it is not sustained by your unconscious
perceptions and reactions. So the work is long and concentrated. But it becomes
joyful from a certain moment on, after the main resistances are overcome.
And you can do so only by becoming fully aware of them. When these resistances
give way after a certain period, your expansion becomes mainly a joyful expression
of living in itself.
One more word about the personality split of mankind, the dualism
that wrecks a person's inner faculties to cope with anything. This is for
the purpose of helping you grow out of it so that your fears and defenses
can begin to relax deep within you. The first step must be to become aware
of hitherto unconscious fears. This is, as you who work on this path well
know, not as easy as it sounds. But once you are fully aware of them, you
have to find a way to let go of the tightness this fear creates. This can
only be done when you accept instead of resist. But what should you accept?
Deprivation, unfulfillment, sacrifice? Religion has taught this over the centuries
and millennia, out of its own misunderstanding. It is true that acceptance
must take place, for as long as you say "I must have this and must not
experience the other," you are in a state of tight, anxious defense.
You are in an insurmountable struggle. This is, perhaps, the hardest lesson
for the human state to transcend. How can you not adhere to "I must" without
giving up on your happiness? This is so easily confused with negativity, resignation,
and even masochistic self-denial. Religion's postulate that the good person
must sacrifice is an error. The original meaning has two facets: (1) sometimes
selfishness must be overcome if what is at stake for the other is more important
than what the self can gain. The feeling of love will often experience such
acts as not at all depriving, but such love cannot develop in a climate of
fear and coercion. (2) Even more important is the fact that here the attitude
of letting go is emphasized. Every genuine spiritual visionary has tried to
convey this to mankind. Only within the duality of the mind does letting go
imply, "I must relinquish what I want." Beyond the duality,
this is not so. If you can learn to let go, give up, if necessary, without
relinquishing the realization of yourself, your fulfillment, you might indeed
have to accept first that a specific manifestation of your desire cannot be
fulfilled now as you have it in mind. This is the result of your own inner
limited concepts and closed up energy centers that do not permit expansion.
You still suffer from those results and those results must be temporarily
accepted (swallowed), without, however, losing out altogether. If you let
go in a sense of fearful, resigned, obedient, sacrificial deprivation, you
remain in the duality. The untightening movement can only be temporary. But
if you can let go in a spirit of trusting expectation, your necessary momentary
loss will soon turn out to be a gain. You make room for new and different
possibilities of experience if you do not insist on a limited form right now.
If you learn to let go in that way, you transcend duality. You come out of
the struggle to deal with fear and deprivation, on the one hand, versus tight
holding on, with guilt and anxiety, on the other. If you can let go in the
trusting spirit of "if it cannot be had this way, then perhaps another
way; if not now, then later," you will lose fear, tightness of centers,
sense of loss. Then the life forces will bubble and surge through your entire
system, through the entire organism: the physical, the mental, the emotional,
and the spiritual. They will work in full harmony, functioning in the way
life is destined, which is utter bliss and forever greater expansion. Then
the energy centers will function in harmony and will dispose of the waste
energy that is now held within your system. There can be no greater toxic
psychic poisoning than undisposed waste material of energy that should leave
the system. You know that this holds true about everything else -- food, water,
air. So the identical principle must apply to the "metabulation" of energy
and of mind material. All that functions as it should must be constantly renewed,
disposed of, and gone on from there to gathering new material.
[After this, questions were asked about the third aspect of
the centers, specifically about practices to open them up. Some answers were
given, too long to print here. We are sure, however, that a recapitulation
of these answers appears in a following lecture.]
Try to digest some of what I have said here. Study these words,
make use of them, go with them, make them your own. Let it be an incentive
that life can be so very different from what it is. What you experience now
is at its best only a small token of what still lies in store for you. And
the difficulties you experience are a kind of disease, as it were, and unnecessary:
something that can certainly be eliminated, if you learn to properly understand
its meaning. And that is, of course, the most important thing. For, the majority
of human beings experience their difficulties as if they came to them by accident.
"This is life" prevents the connection of the consciousness
to see the difficulty as a vital expression of the self, no matter how much
it seems to be inflicted upon the self from the outside. It is never so. And
to the degree you can understand your life experience as an expression of
that part of yourself you are not familiar with yet, you will truly overcome
the obstruction to your happiness. You will need help to do this. The victory,
the liberation, the surge of joy and peace that comes from that is incomparable.
No good that comes to you from the outside, because others happen to act according
to your will, could ever be as peace-giving and joy-bringing as the realization
and understanding of your difficulties. That is indeed the transcendence and
evolution of your personal being. Then the joy will expand forever more, and
life will become more and more as it is meant to be, as it already is, as
a potential existing in this other dimension from which you are still separated
in your consciousness.
Be blessed, all my dear ones here. The love of the universe,
the love that is here, encompasses and envelopes all of you, wherever you
may be.
The Guide
by Eva Pierrakos
August 25, 1969
Copyright 1969 by Center for the Living Force, Inc.