Mixed Signals

Does kundalini communicate with the rational mind? And if it does, how does it work? Does it send mixed signals or try to trick the rational mind? Most accounts identify some kind communication between the super-conscious kundalini and the rational mind. So how does it work?

I want to address this issue because it was recently raised in a previous post by a commenter calling himself go for the gold:

"The more I read the more confused I become. My experience of Kundalini is not like others'. I was a neutral observer when I first experienced my Kundalini awakening, which was by accident. Even so, the Kundalini Serpent is definitely its own entity, looks exactly like a serpent or a dragon, thinks for itself, and almost constantly sends ideas of deception up and into my frontal lobe without my permission."

To address this, we must first explore the cosmology of kundalini and its relationship to the formation of our Beings, and that takes us to The Secret of the Golden Flower (SGF):

"In this part there is described the role played by the primal spirit and the conscious spirit in the making of the human body. The Master says, The life of man is like that of a mayfly: only the true human nature of the primal spirit can transcend the cycle of heaven and earth and the fate of the aeons. The true human nature proceeds from that which has no polarity [the ultimate] whereby it takes the true essence of heaven and earth into itself and becomes the conscious spirit. As primal spirit it receives its human nature from father and mother. This primal spirit is without consciousness and knowledge, but is able to regulate the formative processes of the body. The conscious spirit is very evident and very effective, and can adapt itself unceasingly. It is the ruler of the human heart. As long as it stays in the body it is the animus. After its departure from the body it becomes spirit. While the body is entering into existence, the primal spirit has not yet formed an embryo in which it could incorporate itself. Thus it crystallizes itself in the non-polarized free One.

"At the time of birth the conscious spirit inhales the energy and thus becomes the dwelling of the new-born. It lives in the heart. From that on the heart is master, and the primal spirit loses its place while the conscious spirit has the power.

"The primal spirit loves stillness, and the conscious spirit loves movement. In its movement it remains bound to feelings and desires. Day and night it wastes the primal seed till the energy of the primal spirit is entirely used up. Then the conscious spirit leaves the shell and goes away.

"Whoever has done good in the main has spirit-energy that is pure and clear when death comes. It passes out by the upper openings of mouth and nose. The pure and light energy rises upward and floats up to heaven and becomes the fivefold present shadow-genius, or shadow-spirit. But if, during life, the primal spirit was used by the conscious spirit for avarice, folly, desire, and lust, and committed all sorts of sins, then in the moment of death the spirit-energy is turbid and confused, and the conscious spirit passes out together with the breath, through the lower openings of the door of the belly. For if the spirit-energy is turbid and unclean, it crystallizes downward, sinks sown to hell, and becomes a demon. Then not only does the primal spirit lose its nature, but the power and wisdom of true human nature is thereby lessened. Therefore the Master says, If it moves, that is not good.

"If one wants to maintain the primal spirit one must, without fail, first subjugate the perceiving spirit. The way to subjugate it is through the circulation of the light. If one practices the circulation of the light, one must forget both body and heart. The heart must die, the spirit live. When the spirit lives, the breath will begin to circulate in a wonderful way. This is what the Master called the very best. Then the spirit must be allowed to dive down into the abdomen (solar plexus). The energy then has intercourse with spirit, and spirit unites with the energy and crystallizes itself. This is the method of starting the work."

The Secret of the Golden Flower - Wilhelm Translation, pp. 28-29

In simplest terms, this passage describes how the primal spirit (the term the SGF uses for kundalini):

•  Plays a role in the formation of the Being,
•  Becomes dormant once the individual is born,
•  Can be re-awakened later on in life.

Notice that the word kundalini does not appear at all in the text. So how do we know we're talking about kundalini? This irony — the fact that we are talking about a particular phenomenon in other languages — is the result of having so many different traditions using different terms for the same thing. The translators of The SGF, Richard Wilhelm and Carl Gustav Jung, use Primal Spirit to denote Kundalini. They use Conscious Spirit to denote the Mind/Body/Senses/Ego paradigm. To further confuse the reader, Jung bullied Wilhelm into using some of his favorite psychology terms: Animus for Conscious Spirit = Mind/Body/Senses paradigm and Anima for Primal Spirit = Kundalini. And they appear throughout the text interchangeably.

Kundalini Plays a Role in the Formation of the Being

Kundalini (the Primal Spirit) is the agent of Consciousness incarnate, the all-pervasive energy continuum that links all existence. It is responsible for your embodiment — creating a blueprint for our perfect body before conception, and then transforming the plan for our perfect body into flesh and blood, from embryo to fetus. The Primal Spirit doesn't know algebra, how to balance a checkbook, or do crossword puzzles. It does, however, know the human body. It does know evolution and energy. It does know DNA. It's the non-verbal intelligence of the life force, that which needs no words to execute its evolutionary mandate.

Kundalini Becomes Dormant Once the Individual is Born

Unfortunately, kundalini (the Primal Spirit) becomes dormant after birth. Doesn't mean it no longer exists; every being has this subsystem in their body. It's like a warranty — you can use it at any time to renovate and re-engineer your body. If Kundalini didn't serve a purpose, evolution would have eliminated it. That's how evolution works.

Trouble is, not everyone knows that Kundalini exists. And many who've heard of it, dispute its actuality.

Kundalini Can Be Re-activated in Later Life

However, before activating it, you first have to know that it exists and is standing by, waiting for you to activate it. There are many ways of activating it (triggers) and many changes that it brings to the being (effects). In fact, it turns the being into a Being. I can only speak for myself, and I have through my books, providing information on my kundalini activation, the challenges along the way, and the methods I practiced.

Nevertheless, my recent book, Case Studies in Kundalini does feature nine accounts of kundalini activations with different triggers and a variety of effects. Its purpose is to help readers become aware of the vastness of the Kundalini efforts in today's world. Obviously, it is not exhaustive.

The Donald Knows Kundalini!

Back to whether kundalini sends mixed signals. I can only testify that signals/messages do bubble up from the non-verbal consciousness to the verbal mind. And for me they have been benign.

This is an issue I've written about repeatedly. An easily understandable account  in a previous post to this blog: Is Kundalini Intelligent? features Jill Bolte Taylor’s account of left-right brain interactivity during her stroke. It's a excellent explanation of how the primal spirit (kundalini) takes over when the left brain shuts down. Kundalini (the life force, and all its other pseudonyms) is always benign, whether it's telling you what not to eat or it's trying to save your life. It has certainly never told me to smoke a cigarette.

Kundalini communicates via the nervous system, which stimulates psychic activity. If you fight it, the message can get distorted by filtering it through too much reflexive social conditioning. Let your heart be open. Don't try to control kundalini energy. Remember, after activation, IT does YOU; you no longer do it.

After living with an active kundalini for more than forty years, I've found that it (kundalini) clears away the conditioning that the rational mind and senses imposes, and I am able to receive and process messages/instructions/signals (or whatever you want to call them) from the unconditioned "energy continuum/total mind/life force,” and they are always benign. Mostly, they have to do with making right choices.

I'm not talking about delusions or messages from an anthropomorphic God; I’m talking about messages that concern “right living,” a path that kundalini knows well:

    •    Controlling negative emotions.
    •    Practicing self-remembering.
    •    Practicing meditation and yoga.
    •    Avoiding material attachments.
    •    Avoiding addictions and harmful substances.
    •    Taking care of the body.

If it weren't for conditioning, we would all be tuned to right living — acting more in accordance with the life force and its benign, non-verbal dictates.