Lecture 2
Psychology and Kundalini: Lecture 2
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Jung begins this lecture by using the same method applied during dream analysis to construct a meaning behind the first, root chakra. It is a deep view that will provide YOU a depth of understanding what this energy center represents.
The mūlādhāra (root) chakra,
“is characterized as being the sign of the earth; the square in the center is the earth, the elephant being the carrying power, the psychical energy or the libido.”
The name mūlādhāra, which means the root support,
“also shows that we are in the region of the roots existence, which would be our personal bodily existence on this earth.” In this state, the “gods are asleep and the Kundalini is the possibility of a world which has not yet come off.”
This provides us,
“a condition in which one seems to be the only active power, and the gods, or the impersonal, non-ego powers, are inefficient - they are doing practically nothing (that is very much our modern Western consciousness).”
Yet,
“we are allowed to admit that in the very center of this field of consciousness are germs of something that point to a different kind of consciousness, though for a long time being they are inactive.”
Psychologically,
“it seems evident that even in our consciousness, of which we believe that it is ‘nothing but',’ and perfectly clear and self-evident and banel - there is the spark of something that points to another conception of life.”
Jung continues,
“there are sleeping gods, or a germ, that might enable us, as it has enabled people at all times, to look at the mūlādhāra world from an entirely different point of view, that allows them even to put mūlādhāra right down into the bottom of the trunk where things start - meaning that in the great body of the cosmic world, this world holds the lowest place. the place of the beginning.”
To conclude this breakdown on the mūlādhāra chakra,
“so what we take to be the culmination of a long history and a long evolution would be really a nursery, and the great, important things are high above it and are still to come - exactly as the unconscious contents which we feel down below in our abdomen are slowly rising to the surface and becoming conscious, so that we begin to have the conviction: this is definite, this is clear, this is really what we are.”
The Awakening of Kundalini
We come to the awakening of Kundalini. Psychologically, it is the awakening of the unconscious. This awakening, necessary for conscious growth, does require a certain '“relationship” towards Kundalini (the unconscious).
Jung speaks on the dangers with identifying with Kundalini,
“what starts are the impersonal happenings with which you should not identify. If you do, you will get an inflation and get it all wrong. That is one of the great difficulties with experiencing the unconscious; you must keep outside, detached, and observe objectively what happens.”
It is important to keep YOU and IT seperate, or else,
“you get an inflation, and inflation is just a mirror form of lunacy, and if you get so absolutely inflated that you burst, it is schizophrenia.”
Connecting to the Mūlādhāra Cakra
In order for the Kundalini to rise, one must be grounded in the mūlādhāra chakra. This begins when one is truly born into this world.
“There are plenty of people who are not yet born, they seem to be all here and they walk about -but as a matter of fact, they are not born yet, because they are behind a glass wall, they are in the womb.”
Jung continues on those not yet born,
“they have not yet formed a connection with this world; they are suspended in the air; they are neurotic, living the provisional life.”
The key to the mūlādhāra chakra is being born into this world.
“Now it is most important that you should be born; you ought to come into this world - otherwise you cannot realize the Self, and the purpose of this world has been missed.”
The Hindus speak about fulfilling one’s entelechia, the germ of life which resembles YOU.
If not,
“you can never start the Kundalini; you can never detach - you are simply thrown back and nothing has happened; it is an absolutely valueless experience.”
Continuing with a beautiful metaphor resembling this detachment,
“if you have not realized yourself; the germ of life has fallen, say, into a thick layer of air that kept it suspended - it never touched the ground and so never could produce the plant. BUT, if you touch the reality in which you live, and stay for several decades if you leave your trace, then the impersonal process (unconscious or Kundalini awakening) can begin.”
Concluding,
“in the mūlādhāra we are entangled in the roots, and we ourselves are the roots - we make roots, we cause roots to be, we are rooted in the soil, and there is no getting away for us, because we must be there as long as we live. That idea, that we can sublimate ourselves and become entirely spiritual is an inflation - I am sorry, that is impossible; it makes no sense.”
Personal and Impersonal
The personal represents an EGO-conscious, subjective experience. The impersonal resembles an unconscious, objective experience. In India, they speak of buddhi (personal consciousness and Kundalini). They never combined the two realities and kept them separate.
They never think,
“I myself am the Kundalini,”
rather
“can experience the divine (Kundalini) because they are so deeply conscious of the utter difference between god and man.”
The Kundalini in its system of chakras symbolize the purpose of that impersonal life. It begins in the awakening out of the mūlādhāra, and then going into the water (the svādhisthāna chakra) which lies the danger of the makara (the devouring quality of the sea).
If you make it through the waters you reach the next center, the manipūra chakra.
Solar Plexus Chakra - Manipūra (Yellow)
Definition: “Mani means the pearl or jewel, and the pūra meaning fullness or richness, one might call it the treasure of the pearl, or the treasure of the jewels.”
Element: Fire
Psychology: “After baptism (see previous post on the sacral chakra), you go straight to hell - that is the enantiodromia (counter balance). The whole emotional world breaks loose; sex, power, and every devil in our nature gets loose when we become acquainted with the unconscious. YOU suddenly see a different picture of yourself.”
In this chakra, “lies the paradox of the East: it is also the fullness of jewels.”
What are these passions and emotions?
“They are the source of the fire, there is the fullness of energy. One who is not on fire is nothing, a ridiculous two-dimensional being. A flame must burn somewhere, otherwise no light can shine, there is no warmth, nothing.”
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Heart Chakra - Anahāta (Green)
Definition: “The heart lotus, which means the one that has not or cannot be hurt.”
Element: Air
Psychology: “What follows psychologically after you’ve fallen into hell; you have come into the whirlpool of passions, instincts, desires, and so on? You begin to reason, think, and reflect about things. Instead of following your impulses wildly, you begin to invent a certain ceremony that allows you to disidentify yourself from your emotions, or to overcome your emotions all together”
In this chakra, “YOU behold the purusa (spirit or intelligence), a small figure that is the divine Self. In the anahāta new things come up, the possibility of lifting oneself above the emotional happenings and beholding them. You discover the purusa (spirit or intelligence) is the heart.
SO, in anahāta, individuation begins.”
We continue our rise through the chakras in Lecture 3.
