Part I, click here

Dear Subscribers,

Many of us are today witnessing not just conflicts between beliefs — since these have been ongoing for countless centuries — but a rejection of all "isms" since they tend to emerge from the minds of people who are polarized rather than intuitive, insightful, and inspired. This last week, I bristled when reading that the USAF is using chaplains to revamp the thinking of young officers who handle missiles to persuade them that the New Testament condones "just wars" as well as the use of nukes:

http://www.truth-out.org/air-force-cites-new-testament-ex-nazi-train-officers-ethics-launching-nuclear-weapons/1311776738

Those who are rejecting dogma, whether religious, scientific, or political, are falling back on the certainty that comes from validating personal experiences. To an extent, we might say that there is no more definite validation than that associated with the root chakra because every opinion held by this chakra is based on actual experience and the unique interpretation of experience by the one having the experience. This mouthful means that even though two people or animals may appear to have had the same experience, their interpretations will be personal and thus filed in some idiosyncratic and mysterious manner in a memory vault that is opened and closed by instinct. So, we like certain smells and dislike others, we prefer certain colors, foods, music, timbre in voices, and even scenes. For instance, some people prefer to take vacations at the sea and others in the mountains. Some prefer to spend their holidays with Nature, others at Disneyland or on Broadway. Most of us would agree that it's absurd to argue over Disneyland vs. Broadway and surely no one is insane enough to fight to the death over such choices, but we will kill people we never met because of propaganda promulgated by popes and politicians. This is insane and because it is insane, it is worth exploring how the root chakra is damaged and eventually perverted by actions based on temporary usurpation of power.

Many who try to explain the ethics of the first chakra refer to the survival instincts of carnivorous animals, i.e., a tiger is neither savage nor amoral if it dines on a deer. The tiger is simply obeying instinct. However, when Sean Hannity gave "because we can" as a justification for wars, he could not use as a defense the same survival instincts as a hungry tiger exhibits when stalking its prey. Rather, he was abusing his influence for which there is ultimately a price to be paid. I have no idea who writes the tedious scripts for FOX News but if we exercise intellect over instinct, which is alleged to be a human potential, we have access not just to our own powers of analysis but to our moral discernment of right over wrong. That was, I believe, the metaphor of the Garden of Eden: the apple or pomegranate (or quince, as David Flynn contends) is not as important as the lesson which is the ability to distinguish good from evil. This judgment is made in the throat chakra where we find the Adam's apple (or quince) but when the choice is against conscience in favor of whatever other temptations there are, the rebound effect is in the first chakra which develops paranoia based on the fear of revenge.

This ethic presumably does not affect the tiger because his decision to hunt did not involve choking on some fruit but rather hunger and the unfortunate need to choose who survives, the deer or the tiger. I am certain there are some clever minds that can argue the case for human survival just as theologians try to make cases for just wars despite the commandments and teachings of every truly spiritual person who ever walked the Earth . . . or dare we add waltzed in the Ethers. For the record, arguments over the ethics of war are not limited to the West. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna prompted Arjuna to defeat evil. The idea that evil must be defeated by war is itself a subject worthy of consideration, but international law has been formulated to define what theologians spin to justify their views. International law is actually far more rational than theology and the rules are very clear, but apparently not understood or appreciated by those who are still choking on the forbidden.

If we were to turn back the calendars, we would say that burning villages, poisoning wells, raping women, murdering children, and torturing to extort confessions are immoral and reprehensible. In today's world, collateral damage that involves public infrastructure, use of weapons that render the environment toxic for centuries to come, rape, murder, and torture are still immoral and reprehensible so using theology to conclude differently is perverse.

We suffer when we deny conscience and pervert truth. One way the imbalance is rectified is by fear of repercussions: karma or damnation, take your pick. In the real world, judgment is not deferred to what happens beyond the grave, the consequences are played out by revelation, scandal, denouncement, punishment, or the fear that this will happen. This fear can be as small as an occasional quiver or quake or as immense as loss of one's rationality, a rationality that ought to be questioned because it was misused and abused to support deviant behavior. To forestall the inevitable, humans masquerading as omnipotent use greater and greater deviousness to cover their tracks and crush their critics, many of whom are depicted as traitors by use of such clichés as "you are either for us or against us." This is sociopathic language, and one of the traits of someone trapped in the paranoia of the first chakra is tiresome thoughts sandwiched into memorable one-liners.

Now, to stay on topic, I would like to try to explain how these subtle energies work. Introducing astrology may or may not strengthen my case, but it's tempting because the symbolism — for me, at least — is much clearer than whatever may or may not have happened in the Garden or Eden, maybe in Part III?

As mentioned in the previous essay, the anchoring of spirit in matter begins in the root chakra. Now, let's elaborate a bit about what happens. The chakra spins clockwise or counterclockwise, not based on gender or some goof's idea of chakras, but based on the predominance of fight or flight. If the stay my ground and prevail energy is stronger, the chakra spins clockwise; if the get the heck out of here energy is dominant, the chakra spins counterclockwise. These options are based on deep instincts that are, to use a Buddhist term, left in the nirmanakayas to be reused when next reincarnating. These are therefore personal and when we die, we leave these where we can find them again when we reincarnate. So, if we have generally felt strong and expanded our Earth experience by learning how to use action, the fight instinct tends to be dominant. This is what you see in politicians and why, except for someone like Ron Paul, most politicians tend to have the same type of body builds. Going along with this temperament is resistance to influence because these types dominate.

The flight type has emphasized wisdom over power and is much more alert and interactive, but less confident of the outcome of confrontations. Fight types obviously prey on flight types so it behooves flight types to know their enemies and not get confused by warped signals.

To give this a bit more depth, just as we would argue that hunting is natural for a tiger and therefore not exactly immoral, we can say that domination is not exactly immoral except when it violates the rights and wishes of someone else. We are humans, not tigers, and we are expected to exercise moral judgment so part of the success or failure of the croaking thyroid is whether or not it is (1) losing power to the adrenals, and (2) exercising its human potential to discern, decide, and direct behavior from an ethical center rather than an instinctual one.

Part III, yet to come.

Many blessings,

Ingrid

Copyright by Ingrid Naiman 2011

See Essay #3 on the Root Chakra

Related Essays:

Part I

Olfactory Sensations
Adrenal Exhaustion

Chronic Fatigue

Introduction to the Dhatus
Essay #1 || Essay #2 || Essay #3 || Root Chakra
Chyawanprash || Ayurvedic Herb Import
Hair Color || Energetics Behind Vision || Air-Water Balance

Dosha Balance Questionnaire || Articles on Ayurveda || The Ayurvedic Bazaar

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