Jungian Psychology and the Chakra System
Although the Hindu Tantric chakra system may seem fairly magical and esoteric to the Western mind
, the famous Psychologist, Carl Jung, actually helped lay a foundation for us to digest some of the developmental stages which the chakra system helps to outline. Jung believed that the ego acts as a filter for the senses.According to Jung, we are constantly processing information from our environment through the senses; however most of the information is rejected by the ego due to its selectivity. The information is taken in, but usually bypasses our conscious awareness due to this phenomenon of the ego. However, when our chakras (energetic wheels of energy metaphorically speaking) become open, we are physiologically eliminating some of the veils that the ego has put before our eyes, and better able to see reality as it truly is.
This differs from Freud's estimation that the ego would forever be in control of our thoughts, and therefore our behaviors. Jung felt that there were ways to grow developmentally which allowed the ego to be sublimated, and therefore eventually bypassed. Guatama Buddha also said that the ego was like a raft. We need to use it while we are traversing the rivers of the lower developmental stages (or chakras) but once we reach the shores of higher states of awareness, we can ditch the raft. It would in fact, be very cumbersome to continue dragging it along once we were on the dry lands of higher states of consciousness.
Although the Tantric Chakra system is rife with symbols and deities, many of which the Western psyche have a difficult time digesting, the images are used primarily as archetypal symbols very much in the way Joseph Campbell talks of the mythology of Archetypes in The Hero's Journey. Although specific deities are focused on in Kundalini meditation from the Tantric tradition, they are primarily a means to an end. Campbell is a comparative religion expert who understands that different archetypes appear as different symbols, gods, deities, traditions in various cultures, but they are all pointing to the same archetypes that Jung mentions in his greatest discourses. We act in the roles of hero, or rescued maiden, for example depending upon our pyschological makeup, but the roles are the same repeatedly, regardless of cultural variations.
The Chakra system is another cultural variation which basically helps us to work through the developmental stages that are associated with the seven layers of consciousness. In scientific circles, spiral dynamics is used as yet another way to tackle the same issues human beings face, with each perception named a "meme" and each correlating stage assigned a specific color for ease of discussion. The Chakra system also shows us that we can only understand our life, and filter information through the chakra that has been purified of most of its psychological baggage. As each chakra is cleansed, we are better able to change our perspectives. When we are infants, we still believe that when hiding behind a blanket we actually disappear, and later learn that we are only out of another's site lines. Similarly, when we are children we may have a wish to fly, or be Spiderman when we grow up (magical thinking), we later learn though, through our developmental growth, that there are other roles we might be interested in filling.
The clearing of the chakras allows similar growth. Jung compares the world in his later writings to the Buddhist term Maya, describing a world where the Self, or infinite possibility was the only objective and fundamental reality human beings could really rely upon. He believed that in the West people were conditioned to focus on Maya instead of the internal reality and this was the cause of great catastrophe, including a stagnation of developmental and spiritual growth. He traveled to both Africa and India to confirm his assumptions about the unconscious mind. India, China, Tibet, and Japan do not have solitary or exclusive definitions of the Kundalini Tantra system. There are many different symbols and arguments about which chakras are connected to specific colors and deities. As the chakra system is dealing with energy we do not normally see, and just recently are able to scientifically measure, interpretation of it is varied, just as our cultural lenses distort metaphors for archetypal symbols.
For example, the !Kung, a remote tribe inAngola, Botswana and Namibia,Africa practice dancing for many hours in order to awaken energy stored in the first chakra so that it can rise up through the spine to the crown chakra thus inducing trance states. The !Kung do not call this Kundalini, but refer tot eh power as num. They believe that there are invisible arrows which can pierce the "etheric" body of a person, though they do not use this term, and that through trance dancing they are able to change the negative arrows into positive ones. In this cultural setting, the negative energy associated with harm is encompassed in the symbol of the arrow, and its shamans dance in order to turn the negative energy to positive. Although the metaphor is very different, healing of the people in the tribe is accomplished in very much the same way that clearing of the chakras allows better health and clearer thinking. If a tribe member is dealing with first chakra issues, the trance dance helps them to progress through the negative or blocked energy which affects their perspective, offering different ways to handle the problem, and gently nudging them along the path of psychological development. Jung realized that just as in Kundalini awakenings where the chakras have not effectively been cleansed, mental disorders such as schizophrenia, or bi-polar disease can affect the practitioner.
There are many documented cases of aspirants practicing Kundalini yoga without handling the psychological issues that are unearthed by the higher energies becoming insane or having mental breakdowns. We are urged to deal with our psychological baggage as we increase the energy through our chakras in order to avoid this pitfall. Jung also concluded that most people had activity only in the lower three chakras, a sentiment that many Indian gurus will concur with. Our mass concept of reality then is usually tied into the issues of the first three chakras. It is thought that is enough people can have sufficient energy balanced through the lower three chakras, and up into the Anahata or heart chakra, the entire world would turn on its head in a massive developmental leap forward. Jung saw each chakra as a universe unto itself, so it is no wonder that many of us are stuck dealing with issues of the Muladhara, Swadhistana and Manipura.
The emotional baggage and limited perspective that accompanies these three stages is sometimes insurmountable by many people. Yoga, as well as other practices from various cultural traditions, aims to quicken the pace at which we can work through our issues regarding these chakras. Meditation aims to calm the mind, allow deeper introspection and a more true awareness of the smaller self. We develop the "watcher" attitude via meditation and are able to see our own actions more objectively and less through the veils of the ego. Jung developed his own symbols for the Tantric system of Kundalini chakra, but believed in its basic premise, that once Kundalini is awakened, we are tapped into a different world that is Infinite in nature.
(c) 2009, 2010 Christina Sarich Christina is a writer, yoga teacher and mother living in Dallas, Texas. For more fascinating articles look here:www.yogaforthenewworld.blogspot.com
Jungian Psychology and the Chakra System
By: Christina
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