One of the most outstanding psychiatrists in America was Dr. Carl Rogers. He spoke of developing our personalities by moving beyond the responses we have developed from our past life-experiences. For him, deep down in each of us is the innermost self. This core of personality is basically healthy and positive, basically society oriented. By plunging down into your innermost self in silence, you make contact with God as healer. As long as you live superficially (noisy and fragmented) in a world of ever-increasing multiplicity and meaninglessness, you will not know the health of body, soul and spirit that God wishes you to enjoy.
George Maloney SJ
Since my kundalini rising in the fall of 2005, I have been relatively free from the effects of ego consciousness as it
relates past life's experiences. By past life's experiences, I
mean the events that have happened in the past that have led to a conditioned behavior; suppressed feelings and hurts, strict adherence to restrictions and rules imposed on me as a child or early adulthood, etc. The problem with such things is that they would often trigger a compulsive response or reaction to a situation over which I had little control or awareness. Kundalini energy successfully renovated and restored the subtle body system which for the large part, eliminated most of these uncontrolled compulsive responses.
That's not to say that I no longer struggle with ego
consciousness. I do. I can still experience anger, frustration and confusion about many issues that crop up in my life. As these new situations occur, particularly if they are in conflict with some of my deeply rooted principals, my mind can easily turn to judgement, criticism, and at times blaming. I generally know when this happens because I immediately sense a dis-ease within myself, and a loss of my of harmony with the offending person, and a loss of a sense of union with the Divine within.
The methods that I have and am pursuing with this ongoing re-dominating ego consciousness are different from the methods that I would have used in the pre-kundalini past. The
remedies that I would have used in the past were either to stay for a time in an attitude of self-righteous judgement, condemning the action of others as unjust and deserving of my wrath, or undertaking a mental examination on the issue in order to look at the situation objectively, and hopefully arrive
at a more fitting and gentle conclusion. This involved the work of serious reflection, analyzing my response, speaking with others, coming to terms with the issues, reconciling the situation in my mind, letting go of my judgement, and seeking forgiveness for myself and the other if I had reacted negatively towards them. Then I would be able to set the issue aside and get on with things. There's nothing wrong with this approach. It is called an examination of conscience, and is a healthy way to move beyond contentious issues and arrive at an acceptable and peaceful conclusion.
With the rise of Kundalini energy, I find that this rather lengthy and onerous task of personal examination of conscience is no longer as necessary. As I do my practices to keep the subtle body open, the flow of energy from the base chakras (root, sacral and solar plexus) advances up the spine to the crown and places me in union with the "One" beyond "self", and restores my inner being to the acceptable and peaceful conclusion that could previously only be attained through the more intense analytical approach.
Kundalini practices seem to continue the flow of restorative
energies into areas of the mental sheath where the ego attempts to retain or regain dominance. This flow of restorative energy to the crown brings one to the state-of-being of "observer" of the negative events, and "healer" of the critical and judgemental mind. In this way, it is possible to regain quickly that connection and union with the divine. George Maloney refers to it as a plunging down into your innermost self in silence to make contact with God as healer.
Future subjects:
Kundalini practices
What makes up ego consciousness
"That which the yogis seek does not serve their own purpose. In fact, as long as we have our own purpose, we cannot really be open to higher and sacred purposes. The whole meaning of yoga can be understood as progressive freedom from the hindrances that impede our availability to the purpose of supra personal intelligence. The major hindrance is what we usually call our ego or "self", as long as it serves its own ends, it cannot serve the ends of the real "Self".
Ravi Ravindra - "The Spiritual Roots of Yoga"
As I read Ravindra's book on "Yoga The Royal Path To Freedom", I am drawn to its truth, and how it personally speaks to me through my own experience of Yoga and the transforming power of Kundalini energy. Although, through my Christian faith, I believe that Grace is necessary to make the necessary steps towards "dying" to self in order to enter the power and presence of Christ, we can facilitate the power of Grace through our practice of the eight limbs of Yoga.
Kundalini, with its ecstatic blissful flow of exuberant energy, keeps us steadfast on the path, gives us the motivation for our journey, and fills us with God's delightful Presence.
All of this must never to done to serve our own purpose, because our own purpose accentuates the "ego" which then becomes the impediment to the whole process.
What purpose must be always kept in the forefront?
As Ravindra points out: The end must be the holiness of the "Real Self", the Divine within.
St. Ignatius begins his spiritual exercises with the following
prayer which speaks of the same reality. He calls it "The First Principle And Foundation".
We are created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save our souls.
The other things on the face of the earth are created to help us in attaining the end for which we were created.
Hence, we are to make use of them in as far as they help us in the attainment of this end, and must rid ourselves of them in as far as they prove a hindrance.
Therefore, we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed free choice and are not, under any prohibition. Consequently, as far as we are concerned, we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things.
Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created.
What St. Ignatius is saying in respect to his spiritual exercises is similar to what Ravindra is saying in respect to the Yogis and their spiritual practice. As long as we are driven by our own purpose, that is the purpose of "ego", then the freedom that we seek will never be available to us. The "ego" is the very cause of the slavery from which we are trying to escape.
What does the "ego" seek? Health versus sickness, riches versus poverty, honor versus dishonor, long life versus short life. Ego is caught up in the world of those things we are attracted to or repulsed by, and as long as we are driven by our attractions and those things that repulse us, we remain caught in this web of our own purpose. It is only in our "holy indifference" that we can escape this self-made prison and enter that reign where subject/object relatedness disappear.
Such a transition to this new reign is not possible through use of the "self". In fact our "self" is a contradiction to the "selflessness" we seek because it continues to get into its own way.
Kundalini is the energy that breaks this attachment to the illusionary "self", cuts through years of conditioning, and allows us to enter into relatedness as "I AM".
The Christian surrenders to Christ through Grace to experience this Oneness with His Spirit. "I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me."
