2 The Energy Systems of the Body
The energy systems of the body are an old art. It is hard to say when they were first traced out, or by whom. The only thing that can be said is that many cultures across time separated by distance seem to arrive at their own version of the energy systems which share certain commonalities. They all map out the currents and areas that energy flows, or does not flow, and encourage it to move by various methods.
Yet, just what are these energy systems? Most mysticism falters with the language to describe them, much as it is difficult to describe any fundamental concept. If one tries to explain what an atom is to a non-scientist, one quickly discovers how concepts one takes for granted to build upon prove problematic to explain to others.
The easiest way to describe these systems is by analogy. There are “circuits” in the body, that conduct energy, much like electricity. The human body acts like a crystal and conducts these currents in various ways. The ability for the body to conduct this electricity says something for the health of it, for where this circuitry jams is where disease or dysfunction is likely to manifest.
Where does this energy come from? God. The universe. What matters is that it is there, and needs to be maintained. What mediates it is consciousness, although often the consciousness has fallen into the subconscious which is where meditation arrives to raise awareness of this situation and facilitate release.
Just how did these cultures map out these paths? Well, evidently at one point, people were able to see them visually. However, even if one cannot see them, one can feel them. The easiest way to conceive of this is to think of how it feels when someone steps into the room when you are otherwise occupied. The feeling that someone is in the room is similar to sensing energy flows. You might not be able to describe exactly how you know what you know, but you know it nonetheless because you feel it.
A more immediate experiment concerns rubbing your hands together palms facing one another roughly an inch or so apart. Naturally, you will feel heat, but you will also feel a sort of tingling or “heat above the hotness” on the palms of both hands. This is chi, or energy. If you do not feel much of this in your hands, it is likely that you are blocked. Most people are blocked in one way or another, but some people because of the natural resilience of their energy systems, might still feel more energy here anyway.
I will now issue a blanket statement that should be the centerpiece of anyone doing healing work–all healing takes place within this energy system–whether it be through some method like meditation, Reiki, or surgery. How might surgery achieve this? By the time one has reached the necessity of surgery, the energy system has been stagnant for awhile to the point it has manifested as physical disease. By intervening at the physical level, the solution sought is to “bust stagnation” at the spiritual level. It is simply a “level down” from the origin of the problem–like remedying an issue with a blueprint of a home by first building it in physical reality and then altering the blueprint retroactively as rooms are added or knocked down. It makes more sense to make such changes at the blueprint as opposed to wasting time at the “slower level” of physical reality.
So, we can see and understand that the body is energy. A big distributor of the energy through the various meridians are the chakras. Chakras are major points along the spine that spin in a wheel- like fashion. They behave like cogs inside a machine. Their job is to take in energy from the outside, and distribute it inside, as much as possible, through the meridians. (The Indian word for the energy channels is “nadis”.) The problem is that these meridians can become blocked from our consciousness. However, it is not always the case that our consciousness remembers why such blockages are there, because some blockages do not originate from the current life, but from some other life, somewhere else.
For some, the notion of reincarnation is a problem. How is it that we keep coming back if certain spiritual traditions say we do not? For those objectors, I have a different explanation. One can imagine that the “sins of the father” are passed on. Hence, the energy systems in our physical body reflect the inheritance of these “sins”. So, for instance, if we have had several fathers that did heartless acts, we might expect that the heart area is blocked within ourselves. It is important to point out though, whether you choose the notion of past lives or ancestral inheritance, it does not change the fact that the energetic body responds to these issues in a manner that is parallel to if not identical to the explanation of a past life. At the level of oneness, matters become odd because it is not relevant if your father or mother or member of your tribe did something inappropriate. It only matters that someone did and because your identity is bound up within those constraints, you will inherit some portion of the good and bad of the performed actions.
It is unfortunate that many times the science of the meridians and other spiritual areas are blocked on scriptural grounds from a certain misunderstood interpretation. As I have shown above, it is possible to abstract the core of these teachings away from the spiritual aspects, but this should not be done. It is also possible to abstract the length of one road to another, but the only understanding generated when that is done is some generic concept of “duration” or “length”. It says nothing for the path traveled. Five miles on a gravel road is different than five miles of paved road.
By now, you are probably thinking something along the lines of, “Great. Now I not only have to worry about this life, BUT ALSO those other lives too AND possibly my family?” I am afraid the answer to that question is “yes”. This is why all those spiritual texts emphasize the importance of conduct that does not interfere with the energy body. This includes emotions to avoid, actions not to take, and so on. However, if you choose to indulge them, then the consequence always shows up within the energy body. There is no escaping it. The consequent blocks are there not because the universe wants them there inherently but because of decisions we made with our consciousness.
Furthermore, in some cases those blocks are there because of choices OTHER people have made in relation to us with their consciousness. In other words, if I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about how much I cannot stand Sally, at some point, Sally will “literally” feel it. This can create some odd karmic connections between people where negative energy states that have not resolved continue to be traded off despite neither party being near the other one. So-called “energetic traumas” are of this kind. The energy of the trauma is awoken in one way or another, and then the energy seeks out the “cast” to play the “parts”. In other words, the same kinds of people will continue to appear until the trauma has been resolved. This neatly explains the psychological fact that many people who are abused often continue to be abused even once they are removed from the abusive situation. Why would they seek another abusive situation? Because, the first one never truly healed. What does healing entail? With consciousness, it entails responsibility and forgiveness on the parties involved. Too often, however, such spiritual resolution is stunted because people choose denial or blame. Is it not odd to think how much damage we are doing to one another by simply not having the awareness to fully interact with each other?
While it is possible to meditate on any part of the body, a very good place to start are on the main chakras because they are such large energy distribution centers. It follows if we can step through a meditation that uses these chakra points and unblock them that we will have gone a long way toward balancing ourselves spiritually. It may well be that by meditating on a certain chakra we feel a corresponding pressure or pain down a particular meridian, and we can refine our healing work to that area as our practice deepens to alleviate or remedy the problem. Likewise, as we continue, we will likely remember our past lives, or flashes of them, and begin to integrate those experiences into ourselves so that they are no longer functioning subconsciously in a way that interferes with our current lives.
Because it is very difficult to practice anything spiritual in the world as it is with all the demands modern civilization is placing its people under, a good path for healing trauma concerns the mercy of accepting the Messiah. Sometimes you will receive healing from spirit as a kindness or because you have done “well enough”. To be sure, YHVH does this as well, but if you accept the mercy of the sacrifice He offered, there is more movement on that front because you are working within the blueprints of spirit as it was intended. I am quite certain there are many mercies afforded to those who have never confessed to having accepted the sacrifice of YHSVH —but that also does not mean that is not where they are ultimately coming from either. YHVH tries to pull us back and put us in touch with His design for His people and the ways of spirit are often inscrutable. Put bluntly, just because a person has not confessed that they believe in YHSVH as a Messiah is not enough to mean that they are not being assisted by that spirit in some meaningful way. I suspect at a sufficient level, any cultivator will be able to agree on the presence of some spirit that holds mercy whether it be in the form of a dove or otherwise. The relevant theme is that where trauma begins, one should hope to find mercy and having a Messiah on speed dial is like having an ascended master on your support staff.
2.1 Meditation Mind Frame Basics
To begin meditation requires a shift from normal thinking processes. To actively meditate requires a radical shift. What one must become proficient at doing is receiving data in all of its forms. Sometimes this data is emotional. Sometimes tactile. Sometimes visual. What one must not do is get distracted by trying to discover the meaning of the data as it comes. So, for instance, if someone were to see themselves drowning in a river, a bad way to actively meditate would be to start analyzing that scene. A better way to meditate in that situation would be to let that vision pass, then gently keep your focus and see if the area you are concentrating on offers any extra commentary. Perhaps it provides an emotional input. Perhaps it provides a number, or unusual letter. Perhaps it will only be a sound. Regardless of what is presented, we need to stay receptive to whatever the area is trying to tell us without judgment and without tearing down what we see in an overly scientific manner. We may think we see something else that is completely unrelated only to discover a little later that it actually was related, we just did not think it was at the time. Sometimes the connections can only be made after various disparate experiences because we only have part of the picture. By allowing our minds to constellate a full picture, we suddenly gain the needed insight.
Similarly, it is important we do not judge what we see, or for that matter, do not see. If we are greeted by some disturbing imagery, it does not mean meditation is to blame. Likewise, it does not necessarily mean we are to blame either. Our psyches and past incarnations have lived through all manner of occurrences–situations and scenarios that would now be considered taboo or disturbing. The predominant culture in which we now live gives us rules and regulations for how we are expected to live, but the soul and its components do not care for such laws. What is there will be there regardless, and it is our job to become aware of what is there, whether it is pleasant or terrifying. After all, it is only through knowledge of the entirety of our states, light, dark, and all permutations in between, that we can hope to find any measure of liberation. Anything incomplete we will be more inclined to live out, and certainly it is far better to greet a disturbing thought internally than externally.
It is critical to maintain a disposition of accepting that which comes without judgment and without much thought. A gentle mental note is often enough for later more conscious reflection.