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Overview of the seven main chakra’s from the Indian chakra system. Image: Tungart7

What does it mean to be human? Usually we compare ourselves with animals and in whatever way we differ from them would then make us human. In this blogpost we’re going to investigate these differences and find out if we can determine what it takes – and what it means – to find and live our full human potential.

To paint a picture of differences between animals and humans we’re going to use Joseph Campbell’s interpretation of the Indian chakra system as a guide.[1] Each chakra represents a phase in human development and the premise is that they need to be awakened in order to go on to the next phase. That awakening presumes effort and one method to do so is Kundalini Yoga.[2]

Kundalini means ‘the coiled one’, which refers to a coiled serpent sleeping in the lowest of the seven chakra’s. In oriental mythology a serpent usually symbolizes power which overcomes death. Yet as long as the serpent is asleep, the other six chakra’s remain inactivated, which is to say that no matter one’s age, without effort one remains stuck in the development of a toddler, as we shall see when we take off with the first chakra.

1. Muladhara Chakra – The Eat, Sleep, & Poop Phase (toddler phase)

As long as the serpent is asleep at the base of the spine (perineum), the person is said to be characterized by spiritual lethargy. He is mesmerized by the outside world and, like a toddler, is only interested in making sure that his biological needs and urges are satisfied. Many an adult still resides in this place, which makes sense considered from the Indian point of view, where every human being is merely in a different stage of development, and gradually moves towards moksha. We all have to start at the bottom.

2. Svadhisthana Chakra – The Sex Phase (adolescent phase)

When the awakened serpent begins its ascend and opens this chakra, basically everything means sex for the person. She is then of a psychology perfectly Freudian, who was quite certain that the sex drive was the main drive for human action. The name ‘Svadhisthana’ means ‘her favourite resort’, which, quite naturally, is also his.

3. Manipura Chakra – The Power & Wealth Phase (young adult phase)

Located at the navel, the name Manipura means ‘The City of the Shining Jewel’. Upon awakening this chakra, the person becomes predominantly interested in wielding power and consumption; conquering and forcing others to conform to his wishes and turning everything into his own substance – mostly under the guise of: do as I say, don’t do as I do.

Up until the third chakra it can be said that both humans and animals go through these phases. Only from the fourth chakra on are specifically human aims and drives envisioned and awakened.[3] According to the Indian view, it is to this level and beyond that mythological and religious symbols, the imagery of art, and the questions of philosophy properly refer.

4. Anahata Chakra – The Myth, Religion, Art, & Philosophy Phase (midlife phase)

The name ‘Anahata’ means ‘not hit’ and refers to ‘the sound that is not made by any two things striking together’. Every sound that we hear is made by at least two things striking together. My fingers tapping on a keyboard produces sound, just like speech is produced by air hitting vocal cords. The obvious question is: what then would be the sound not made that way?

Before answering that question, we need to understand that this phase usually commences when we realise the transiency of all material life (from the former phases). We were promised that food, sex, knowledge, power and wealth would provide everlasting satisfaction, fulfilment, and happiness, only to find out that they didn’t. Then questions about the meaning of life and our reason for being start to bubble up from deep within, and these questions have a knack of hooking themselves onto our brain until a satisfying answer has been found. Myths, religious stories as well as all forms of art and philosophy have arisen out of this insatiable thirst to find out what it’s ultimately all about.

Returning to the question, Campbell describes: “The answer given is that the sound not made by any two things striking together is that of the primal energy of which the universe itself is a manifestation.”[4] To know that primal energy requires the faculty of mind, of a sensitivity beyond our senses, because even though it is everywhere and you and I are manifestations of it, we cannot sense it directly. Hence the function of all mythology, religion, art and philosophy is to point towards that primal energy and provide means with which it is to be perceived, which is what we need to quench our insatiable thirst, and find peace and joy in the process.

For those who still dwell in one of the first three phases however, questions about the meaning of life don’t emerge. For the purely practical fellow, who calls himself realistic, only those traits belonging to the first three chakra’s will matter and mythology, religion, art, and philosophy mean nothing to him. In the trajectory of human development he’s stuck because he’s mesmerized, and therefore imprisoned by all the things and events he clings to but which are transient by their materialistic nature. Every day he obsessively and compulsively needs to make sure that he consolidates or expands his power and wealth, or make new amorous conquests, or fill his belly with all kinds of delicatessen. Maintaining the status quo is believed to be the pinnacle of life, not realizing that the nature of life is continuous change, and thereby squeezing the life out of himself by an ever tightening, self-made noose.

It is quite natural that acquisition of material possessions is the main quality of the first three phases. Equally natural is to discover that all life is change, which we recognize and experience when all our possessions ultimately break down, die, disappear, or cease to give us the pleasure and satisfaction they once did. What provided meaning and fulfilment before, ceases to do so. Then we need to find meaning somewhere else, because we need meaning as much as an ocean needs water.

Thus we develop stories, images, and sounds to come up with explanations as to why we’re here. Human imagination is an amazing quality of which art, music, dance, myths, religions, and philosophies, but also architecture and healthcare for instance, are apt examples. However, in the same way as we cling to material possessions, we tend to cling to spiritual ones, by which we again create an ever tightening noose around our necks; because also spiritual goodies become boring and stale after a while. Therefore we can say that to find and live our full human potential, is to free ourselves from our self-made noose which is created by our tendency to cling, our inability and refusal to let go.

5. Vishudda Chakra – The Purification Phase (retirement phase)

When Dante and Virgil ascend the mountain of Purgatory in ‘The Divine Comedy’, Dante needs to be purified from his clinging to the seven deadly sins.[5] Thus when the serpent reaches and opens this chakra, the individual is now leaving art, religion, philosophy, and even thought behind. That is to say, he enjoys it when he encounters it, but doesn’t hold on to it because he now knows by experience that his clinging tendency is what has been keeping him trapped and unable to move all his life.

That experience is acquired by means of self-examination. By studying one’s own body and mind,[6] the transiency of life becomes obvious, while at the same time the realization emerges that you are a big part of that transiency. Just think of a banana for example.

Right before we eat it, we call a banana ‘banana’. Then as soon as the banana has been processed by the digestive system, it has become part of us, so it’s now called ‘[insert your name here]’. Those parts of the banana which were rejected by the digestive system will be excreted as excrements, and as soon as that has happened, what was first called banana and afterwards [your name], is now called ‘poo’. This can be applied to eating, drinking, breathing, and excreting: we continuously take from the external world and give back to it; just like the external world takes from us and gives back.

Moreover we begin to feel by means of the ageing process that we’re not as invincible we thought we were in our twenties, and most likely our tastes in music, art, and food for instance, change as well. Up until my mid-thirties I loved going to big rock concerts, now I much more enjoy the intimacy of small venues and either playing to an audience or experiencing an artist up close. However, if our tendency to cling was very convincing, it can be quite scary to discover that all our convictions and beliefs turned out to be mere quicksand.

Yet if there is the courage to step into the unknown, the adage that where one door closes, three new ones open, becomes obvious and exhilarating. Possibilities we couldn’t possibly have imagined all of a sudden come within reach, and a new source of energy reveals itself we didn’t even know existed. It’s like we have been swimming against the current of a river all our lives, and by giving up that effort and merely turning around we all of a sudden feel the full power of the river thrusting us effortlessly forward. But in order to do this, we have to leave our known ways behind.

6. Ajna Chakra – The Authority and Command Phase (old age phase)

The funny thing is that when we do, and thereby have the serpent activate the sixth chakra which then fully opens the mystic inward eye between the eyebrows, all of a sudden one experiences the full force of the primal energy of which everything and everyone is a manifestation. In other words, when the third eye opens, all of a sudden we realise what life’s all about.

It’s not about things. It’s not about production, power, wealth, or riches, for even these are mere fleeting manifestations of the primal energy. No, what is realised is that the primal energy is you. You are not part of the universe, YOU ARE the universe, you are it. At this moment in time we live in the form of a human being, but what were we before our conception? What will we be after death? Whatever the answers to these questions, the current human body is a changing phenomenon, changing from one state into another, like everything else. Yet the primal energy by which all the changes of life happen remains the same. It is like a movie screen on which a movie is projected, the immutable backdrop without which nothing alive and perishable can be perceived.

Upon this realisation, all anxiety falls away like sweat being rinsed from under a strong shower. We are an aperture through which the universe watches itself, we are the whole process and are playing it right now as a human being. However, there is one barrier still which keeps us from going through life like a totally free human being.

7. Sahasrara Chakra – The Immortal Phase (death phase)[7]

Even though the opening of the third eye washed away anxiety and made us behold the beauty of the primal energy, there is still sort of an invisible wall that distinguishes it as the director of life, from us as mere actors. Therefore many go quite happily through life knowing that they’re merely being pushed around by it like a ball in a mountain stream. This is however a kind of passive approach to life, whereas the function of spiritual development assumes a very vital and active attitude.

Thus when we move the serpent up towards to the crown of the head where it opens the seventh chakra, the invisible wall is removed and with it the distinction between you and it, the inward eye and its object. Spiritually, it means we have dissolved into the primal energy like a drop into the ocean. But what does that mean when it comes to living our full potential?

Activating the crown chakra effectively means the end of clinging. We are now experiencing the state of dreamless deep sleep while awake and are completely freed from the obsessive clinging to opinions, parents, offspring, stuff, ideas, whatever. That means, practically speaking, that you can finally put all the available energy into discovering the talents of your particular organism. What talents and predispositions lie dormant in your body-mind organism which beg to be discovered, developed and allow you to live the most meaningful life imaginable? By achieving this so-called state of non-duality, there is finally space to find your human potential and live it to the fullest.

However, most serpents don’t reach the crown chakra and therefore most of us don’t find out what life is all about until the moment of death, or not at all.[8] That is why so many fail to find and live their full potential, for which freedom from clinging is a necessary prerequisite. They remain stuck in jobs, relationships, and other life circumstances that they either covertly or overtly resent, with neuroses, depression, burn-out and other detrimental pathologies lurking around the corner.

The spiritual path is designed specifically to reach the state of total individual freedom long before the body dies, to provide the space to find out who we really are, and what we are fully capable of. That is what is meant by the phrase: die before you die, which ultimately gives immense joy, because what’s more fun than to find one’s talents and develop them to the fullest?

Finally, let’s conclude with a quote from Alan Watts to bring this story home:

“If you see yourself in the correct way, you are as much an extraordinary phenomenon of nature as trees, clouds, the patterns in running water, the flickering of fire, the arrangement of the stars, and the form of a galaxy. You are all just like that, and there is nothing wrong with you.”

Love and jolly greetings,
Erik Stout

[1] Joseph Campbell (1972). Myths To Live By (chapter 6, ‘The Inspiration of Oriental Art’).

[2] ibid.

[3] Naturally this generalization is made for narrative purposes, because in observing traits like intelligence and empathy in for instance dolphins, elephants, and primates, it’s impossible to make a hard boundary between animals and humans in terms of mental or spiritual development.

[4] ibid. (The primal energy referred to is known by many names, such as God, Allah, Yahweh, Brahman, Self, Consciousness, Tao, Void – according to the religion or philosophy to which the name belongs.)

[5] Viz. Greed, Wrath, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Pride, and Lust.

[6] All major religions have devised ways for self-inquiry; the eastern ones overtly, the western ones covertly in their esotericism and through the mystics. Moreover, psychoanalysis as it was for instance practised by Erich Fromm, particularly became an instrument to get to know and understand oneself.

[7] Campbell calls this phase ‘thousand petaled one’. I’ve renamed it ‘immortal’ due to its fitting nature for this article.

[8] Which can be seen quite clearly when the face of a recently deceased shows utter surprise.

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