The Three Jewels of Taoism: Qi

In traditional Chinese culture, the second of the Three Jewels (also known as The Three Treasures) is Qi (Chi), an active energetic principle that is part of all living organisms.

Chi or Qi can be thought of as life-force energy – the energy which vitalizes our bodies, and which empowers our movement.  This movement consists not only of locomotion, but also includes the movement of the breath and lungs, the coursing of our blood through the heart, lungs, and blood vessels, digestion, and the functional movements of all of our organs.

Qi is associated most particularly with the Liver and Spleen organ systems. If we think of Jing as a candle, then Chi is the candle flame - the energy produced via the transformation of the wax into fire. In our computer analogy, if Jing can be said to be your computer hardware, then Qi is the electricity that powers the system. Qi is the energy or life force that “boots up” our bodies.

In Tantric Qigong, we say that there are three types of Chi: Heavenly Qi, Earthly Qi, and Personal Qi.  Heavenly Chi is the robust energy that resides in the air or atmosphere and is sometimes known as the solar principle. Heavenly Chi is related to the naturally occurring negative ionic charge that is generated by the atmosphere and its interaction with solar radiation. One reason we feel revitalized in the mountains or at the beach is that these areas are naturally abundant with Heavenly Qi. In some systems, Heavenly Chi is thought to be closely related to the evolution of Cosmic Consciousness. It is sometimes thought of as the Masculine Principle.

Earthly Chi is resident in the earth and may be more naturally accessible in geographic areas with crystalline formations or vortices, such as those near Sedona, Arizona. Sometimes thought of as the Feminine Principle, Earthly Chi seems to have a grounded, generative, and healing quality. In Tantra Yoga, this earthly polarity is said to be directly linked to our sexual energy, so it would have some direct interface with what the Taoists call Jing (Ching).

Ordinarily, in persons not trained in Tantric Qigong, Earthly Chi is absorbed and transported within the body through the digestion and metabolization of food. Heavenly Qi is absorbed unconsciously through the process of autonomic breathing. Part of Tantric Qigong training and discipline is to learn how to master and absorb these energies more consciously and powerfully through certain Chakras and meridians. In some forms of External Qigong, Qi is the energetic force which can be radiated from a Master’s hands for healing purposes. This type of Chi is called Emitted Qi.

Earthly Qi interacts with Heavenly Qi to form our Personal Chi, which is a combination of these energies that abide within our bodies vitalizing our Soma and empowering our Psyche.  The relative levels of our vitality, intelligence, and the plane that our consciousness evolves to are partially determined by our ability to consciously absorb, transmute, and direct this Qi. Thus, one who masters the absorption, generation, and direction of Qi will have a tendency towards improved health, higher intelligence, and ease of spiritual evolution.

Next: The Three Jewels of Taoism:  Shen

Presencing - The Power of Now

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Tantric Qigong, Mindfulness, and Flow

Mindfulness, which is often thought of as a Buddhist concept, is really about being Present.  Presencing is one form of self-inquiry (which can be done as a meditation or as coaching) as is Tantric Qigong.  These art forms are about getting out of your head, your mental analysis, comparison and judgment, and becoming present to what really IS.

It sounds simple, and it is. However, this is not very easy for most people. We are constantly and anxiously analyzing, comparing / contrasting, projecting our assumptions, and judging the world around and within ourselves. Our perceptions are based on our past experiences and our experiences are shaped by our perceptions.  This is why I often maintain that we are continually “lying” to ourselves and others.  Our internal stories about the world and ourselves are supreme acts of creation in that each person’s world becomes based more and more on this mental / perceptual editing.  How can we know what is real?  How can we ascertain what is truly necessary and important in our lives?  What will really sustain our Self, our heart and soul?  Thinking and analyzing isn’t gong to cut it. It hasn’t worked too well so far has it?  Perhaps no-thinking may be more useful.

Even kittens seek release from the Wheel of Karma

All of the multitudinous forms of meditation have elements of stilling the mind and its critical or judgmental aspects, these demons of discernment gone horribly wrong. But have you ever tried stilling your mind? Herding kittens is much easier. Practices such as Vipassana, Zen, T’ai Chi, Yoga, and Tantric Qigong all have techniques to bring one out of the maze of one’s thoughts and unbridled emotions as one of their goals.  The only difference in these arts is in their approach.

One approach to mindfulness and being present is to focus on the details of our experience.  Walking down the street, noticing every minute part of what is around us.  People, the sun, clouds, every caress of the air upon your cheek, the feeling of your clothes touching your body.  Internally, we can notice body sensations, the character of your emotional flow, the many mental distractions.  Notice them and let them go.

Try this exercise:   Stop and see, touch, and smell the flowers.
A particular flower, perhaps a lily.  Notice its overall form and all of its minutia. The sturdiness of the stalk.  How does it feel to lightly stroke its petals?  Kiss a leaf.  Notice its texture.  Does it kiss back?  The color.  How the hues blend on its petals and leaves.  The subtle patterns within.  The heady incense of its scent.  Pistils droozed, laden with pollen. Can you almost see and hear the grains floating down?  Take plenty of time.  The closer you come into unity with this flower, the more you will become Present and unify your consciousness.

Flow
The river of Tao encompasses all of creation, including every aspect of our lives, whether we realize it or not.  All creativity comes from being “in the zone”, being in alignment with the Tao, from being in flow.  Like water, the flow of Tao is both dynamic (Yang) and still (Yin). When we are truly present to flow, obstacles evaporate, we Do and Be effortlessly, and life is suffused with meaning, abundance, and joy. To be in harmony with the flow of Tao is both power and wisdom, knowing when to do and when to be still, when to utilize Will and when to Surrender in the moment.

Qigong as a Meditation
Using the mind alone to still the mind is fraught with great difficulty. Where you are blind to Self, by definition you cannot see what is needed for equanimity, for inner peace.  You remain blind. When you are stressed, distracted, overwrought with emotions you must keep in check, the mind is a team of horses pulling in many directions at once. It is an almost impossible challenge to attempt to use only mental processes to be present and centered, and to still the raging beasts

Tao is Flow

of the mind.

One of the great aspects of T’ai Chi and Tantric Qigong is the facility with which these arts bring you into mindful presence and flow.  You really can’t let your mind wander; you’ll forget what you are doing.  The practitioner must focus his or her attention on one’s stance, sense of grounding, the coordination of subtle movement with deep diaphragmatic breathing, alignment of the body with gravity, and the flow of life force (Chi, Qi, Ki).  The moment your mind wanders you are lost, the efficacy and consciousness of energy flow is diminished. This sort of compels you to come back to mindful presencing.  We begin anew, as we must always do each moment, to align and unify mind, body, and spirit, heart and soul, with the eternal power of Now. © Keith E. Hall and www.inner-tranquility.com

Presencing™: Growth, Meditation, Manifestation

Presencing™ is a method of self-inquiry that scans the body, mind, and emotions for what is Present at that time. What is present is often the tip of the iceberg, a barely recognizable “feeler” put out by your higher self to try and get your attention. Your higher self tries to get you to notice something, some resistance, some karmic / emotional / physical pattern that requires release before your evolution / understanding / manifestation can proceed smoothly.

What appears as something minor, can often be a significant guide to your healing and mental / emotional / spiritual progress. The small self tends to defend against this knowledge and self-responsibility, repressing self-knowledge and projecting responsibility externally. Until we are fully self-aware and claim responsibility for, and mastery of our thoughts and emotions, our progress will be slowed. Allowing the unimpeded flow of what needs to shift, heal, and be recognized within ourselves creates a profound and simple process of self-knowledge and emotional freedom. The energy trapped in subconscious repression and external projection is then freed to create empowerment, joy, and creativity.

Meditation
Often the agenda of meditation is represented as developing the ability to still the mind. Let’s be honest, the mind resists this. The brain is designed to process information for survival and growth and is loathe to let go of this function. Many people learning or practicing meditation are curious as to why their minds often seem noisier when they sit for meditation than in their daily lives! It would seem counter-intuitive, but meditation retreats can be just as “noisy” as a football game. Its just that it is all internal. This can be somewhat frustrating at times. Combine this emotional / mental content with physical discomfort or distraction, and meditation can be a bit of a challenge. The very process of “stilling the mind” can become an active repression of coded information valuable to a more highly efficient process of self-knowledge. No amount of “stilling” will negate the noise until its message is received and integrated.  Presencing™ allows these messages / feelings / distractions to reveal their hidden wisdom. For some, the Presencing Process(sm) is so efficient that within a few minutes a person can achieve deeper states of meditation, peace, and joy than they thought possible.

Therapy / Communication Skills
As a therapeutic modality, Presencing™ presents a palette of mind – body tools to create a more holistic approach to healing. One of the difficulties with verbal therapy is that, well, we lie! Even when we think we are telling the truth, we tend to edit, rationalize, and project i.e., we have defense mechanisms. Talk therapy can be like Talk Radio: we all want to be a righteous Rush Limbaugh, defending our paradigm from too much scrutiny. Not that this is entirely a conscious decision. We have “sleeper cells” deep within us that press our subconscious agenda.

The mind and the mouth can lie, but this is not so with the body. The body is always broadcasting our truth. Therapies based on the work of Reich, Lowen, et al recognize this and turn to the body for greater truth. Presencing™ is a simple and more gentle path to the same end. No stress, strain, or catharsis is required. Truth and freedom from past trauma can be achieved through attention, recognition and validation of both mental / emotional and somatic content.

Manifestation
One reason we often find it difficult to create what we want is that we are always praying for what we don’t. Affirmations often are inefficient in manifesting because we tend to broadcast affirmations mainly with the conscious mind. Our subconscious mind / emotions may be broadcasting antithetical requests sequentially or simultaneously. We are both asking for what we want and what we don’t. No wonder Universal Mind is confused! Perhaps we have delivered to us a mix of both. What we ask for can be partially negated by subconscious thought processes / emotions. One example: we want to manifest something, but fear that we cannot. Which desire is stronger? If equal, they tend to cancel each other.

The Law of Attraction states that you attract what is similar to yourself. This is not a new concept in metaphysics or religion. Thousands of years ago the Old Testament gave us a heads-up: “As ye sow, so shall ye reap”; (T-5.VI.6:1; Galatians 6:7, 2 Corin 9:6). So, to effectively attract what we want, we must clear ourselves of the subconscious resistances and counter messages we are broadcasting. Simply put: the Presencing Process(sm) helps us sow the right seed. © 2009 Keith E. Hall and Inner-tranquility.com. All rights reserved.

Rev. Keith Hall has synthesized the seminal aspects of Breathwork, Bioenergetics, Neo-Reichian, Tantric, Taoist, and Buddhist practices to create the Presencing Process(sm). Presencing(sm) facilitates deep healing, joy, empowerment, and freedom from past limitations so we can manifest clearly what we desire in life.  Presencing(sm) is a simple, yet profoundly powerful process for creating our lives the way we wish to.

The Presencing Process for Enlightenment and Freedom(sm) - September 26

The Art of Being Present – release old patterns, create joy & fulfillment – Now!

Please consider joining us for this simple yet profound process for Awakening!

The Presencing™ Process

The Art of Being Present

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The Art of Being Present

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly. –Buddha

What moment do we have other than this?

The past is an illusion long gone. The future is not yet made manifest.

Each moment of our lives lands as a dew drop upon the lotus. Delicate, unique, irreplaceable. To look upon it with full attention and unfettered gaze reveals its precious and inimitable perfection. This magic moment, a crack between past and future, is an Infinity of existence; never seen before, and never to be seen again.

Can we not Be as the lotus enveloping the drop?
Does the lotus analyze and compare?
Is the lotus anticipating the dew drops yet to be?
Or does it embrace this diamond - liquid, delicate, and evanescent, and open its petals to experience the All?

Can you recall in your life a sudden revelation of beauty, deep serenity, a spontaneous awakening to Unity, excitement, joy, and vibrancy that stilled your mind and opened your heart? Ever ponder how you were able to perceive this flash of Shangri-La secreted between your history and your expectations? What is the Secret to reentering this often all too brief state of acceptance and Bliss?

Flow with whatever is happening and let your mind be free. –Chuang Tzu

The key is to both embrace and let go of each moment simultaneously. To participate and witness at the same time. In doing this, it is perfectly possible to create a Zen-like process of attentiveness to, and reverence for, your everyday experience. Being Present to the experience of our life, moment by moment, can help awaken our capacity for extraordinary joy, freedom, compassion, and creativity.

All authentic spiritual traditions have as part of their process a centering of consciousness on the power of Now. The practices of Yoga, Taoism, Buddhism, and Tantra all involve meditation, attention, and conscious breathing. Just like the dance of breath, of both inhaling and exhaling without vacillation, we must balance will and surrender, yin and yang, Intention and letting go.

There is a way between voice and presence
where information flows.  –Rumi
This process of freeing ourselves from our patterns, habits, compulsions, and unconscious drives is often referred to as “burning karma.”  Our karma is the result of our actions, experiences, thoughts, emotions, and expectations. Our personal history is comprised of habits and subconscious drives which shape and maintain the prison of the small self in which we reside. We are at once the architects, wardens, and inmates of this institution. Unless we pardon ourselves for the crimes of complacency and inattention to our Higher Self, we will impose a life sentence upon ourselves.

Deliverance from the prison of our karmic patterning is an essential process for achieving the mastery of true emotional freedom and self-realization. In freeing ourselves from these self-imposed strictures, we develop the skills to create anew, rather than re-create over and over again what no longer serves the growth of our spirit. This freedom from karmic patterning results in self-knowledge, wisdom, and being Present with the Sublime.

We get to choose each moment and how we want to live in it. How do you want it? Realize that every moment is IT…It all comes down to Presence. Being present in the moment…And Love. -Bhagavan Das

Find an object – a burning candle, a flower, a dew bespeckled spider’s web. Still your mind and observe. What do you perceive? Use all your senses. Maybe write down your observations. Give yourself lots of time, don’t rush about with mental questing. Open yourself to the experience and to your observations. What do you notice? Take a deep, conscious breath and observe again. Pay attention with your mind. Assimilate with your body. What do you feel?

Through this process of stilling the mind, calming the emotions, and opening the doors of perception, you may become able, as Blake said, “To see a world in a grain of sand…heaven in a wild flower, (and) hold Infinity in the palm of your hand…” © 2009 Keith E. Hall and www.Inner-tranquility.com . All rights reserved.

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Tibetan Prayer Wheels

Tibetan Buddhists take for granted that saying the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, invites the blessing of Chenrezig, embodiment of compassion.

Tibetan Prayer Wheel

Tibetans believe you can produce the same effect by spinning the written form of the mantra in a prayer wheel so they invented Prayer Wheels to automate the process!. The effect is said to be multiplied when more copies of the mantra are included, and spinning the Mani wheels faster increases the benefit as well.

It is alleged that the Dalai Lama has said that having the mantra spinning on your computer works the same as a traditional prayer wheel. As the digital image spins around on your computer hard drive, it sends the peaceful prayer of compassion in all directions and creates purification around you.

We are adding some free virtual prayer wheels for you to download in our store. Click on the banners below to download the prayer wheels that you like.  You may make a small donation if you like

This one has a nice embossed brass appearance, spins nicely, looks like the version I have on my back deck!

Black enamel, brass filigree, silver lettering.

Full Screen, Screensaver, and Mini version. Floats on your screen.

Coolest Prayer wheel I have ever seen. Interactive, with a soundtrack of monks chanting!

The unemployment rate has reached its highest levels in recent memory. Major U.S. and international companies are restructuring, laying off employees, or just going bankrupt. Food prices are up, oil prices continue their slow rise after Obama’s election, and the economy is giving itself a chunky swirlie.

More importantly, my favorite el-cheapo movie theatre has permanently closed it doors. Oh, and that global warming, starvation, and pestilence thing continues unabated.

Something is happening here. But you don’t know what it is. Do you, Mister Jones? If you have been addicted to ever increasing levels of external, material gratification as part of your self-definition, ya surely gotta be jonesing by now. Or freaking out. Probably both.

Last year, about 2.5 million Americans lost their jobs. We could have another 2 to 3 million jobs evanesce in 2009.  For many people, losing their job results not only in a loss of income but also self-respect, even their raison d’etre. Despondency, despair, a feeling of victimization, shame, melancholia, terror and anger may quickly follow. Thirty percent of those who have not lost their jobs report “burn out” syndrome due to corporate downsizing. Not that the CEO’s salary has been downsized, I mean the number of employees has.

Trying to do more with less, these companies lay off employees and pile the extra work on their remaining serfs. A study published by the Institute of Behavioral Science with a grant from the National Institutes of Health* shows that these retained employees are prone to greater job demands that may contribute to alcohol and drug abuse, depression, and work related injuries. In addition, the study found that layoff survivors often experience worsening physical health: They tend to eat poorly, smoke more, suffer from neck and back pain, and increase their use of sick days.

“None of the effects are good,” says psychologist Frank Landy, author of Work in the 21st Century. “Layoffs clearly have emotional and practical consequences for companies and workers.” Those psychological consequences can be long-term, lasting six years, according to the study published by the Institute of Behavioral Science. In addition, the effects of surviving multiple layoffs tend to be cumulative. They add up over time.

“It only takes one action of distrust to lose basic confidence in the employer…Once the trust has been undermined, it’s very, very difficult to recover,” says Landy. “There’s no data that suggests workers become more resilient. ‘I’m a survivor, hear me shout’? It doesn’t happen.” Whip a dog long enough and it stays hangdog whipped.  © 2009 Keith E. Hall & www.inner-tranquility.com. All rights reserved. Contact us for reprint information.

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*Moore, Grunberg, et al. Physical and Mental Health Effects of Surviving Layoffs: A Longitudinal Examination Institute of Behavioral Science, November, 2003

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Precept Dedication Prayer- Free Download

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This is an excellent Buddhist prayer for the relief of the suffering of all beings, revised by His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and Rev. Keith Hall of www.inner-tranquility.com The Precept Dedication Prayer is attributed originally to Shantideva (Santideva) who was an 8th-century Indian Buddhist scholar and renowned as the author of the Bodhicaryavatara (aka Bodhisattvacaryavatara).

Shantideva, author of Bodhicaryavatara

This download is free and is in a PDF format. The antidote to difficult emotions and the world’s hatred, violence, and greed lies in exercising compassion for all beings, in all situations. Downloading and reading / meditating on this mantra is considered to be a form of Compassion in action.

There are three available formats all in the same download: Print, Greeting Card, and E-Card, complete with images of Golden Buddhas. The text font in the cards is a Garamond script.  Here are some screen shots of the cards (not full size) below:

Print:
This is an 8 1/2 inch by 11 inch print of the Precept Dedication Prayer as an annotated photo suitable for framing and hanging on a wall, or placing on your home altar.

Greeting Card.
This is an 8 1/2 inch by 11 inch PDF with the text of the Precept Prayer and photo formatted on two pages so it can be printed on both sides of 24 lb. paper or card stock to create a greeting card. Folded in half, the dimensions of the greeting card are 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches.

E-Card
This is the same card formatted to be a one page e-card, approximately 11 1/2 inches by 6 inches, a suitable size for viewing in your Adobe Reader or Email browser window. You can send it as an attachment. You can also imbed it in the body of your email by opening it in Adobe Reader, clicking “select all”, then copy and paste into an email as an embedded image. Click on the image and drag to resize within the email. You can send it to yourself and use it as a mantra to help focus your Right Thinking throughout the day. Keep it in a minimized window while you are at work, then maximize it occasionally to center your heart and mind.

Precept Dedication Prayer e-card

This format can also be printed out and framed or put on your altar or hang on a wall (you will need to use legal size paper to print it, then crop and / or mat to fit your frame.)

Send it to your Buddhist and non-Buddhist friends alike and help spread the Light!

If you would like to leave a donation, you may do so here.

or click on the donate button on the side navigation bar.Thank you.

May you obtain an ocean of happiness and joy,
Keith
Go to our store to download.

Whatever joy there is in this world
All comes from desiring others to be happy,
And whatever suffering there is in this world,
All comes from desiring myself to be happy.

But what need is there to say much more?
The childish work for their own benefit,
The Buddhas work for the benefit of others.
Just look at the difference between them

– Shantideva

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At the Pinnacle of Power is Surrender

In Taoist cosmology, the entire phenomenal world evolves from the interplay of the forces of yin and yang. In both an enlightened society and a healthy individual, these forces are co-equal and in a dynamic state of

Waves of Yin & Yang

balance. Just as a mountain needs the valley, and soft receives hard, impetus needs receptivity to fully empower and balance it. You can’t surf on crests alone, you need a trough to create the wave.

So it is with people. You can’t control your entire life and all of the world. The universe isn’t designed on Yang alone. And it is not wise to turn your power against yourself through resistance. This is an unhealthy effort to suppress, to freeze the flow of yin and yang. In this state you can neither will change nor surrender to it, and it takes the majority of your available energy to engage in this struggle. Attempting to use this stratagem, we eventually become like a pot ready to boil. If we do not remedy this, we are apt to harm ourselves or others through outwardly directed violence, or inwardly directed dis-ease.

“…ultimate freedom is surrender.”
–Vajrama

Many times you have heard that people can’t change. This, of course, is not true. Though it may be statistically unlikely that a person will alter their core programming, people can change. We can evolve. We just don’t want to. More precisely, we are afraid to change our defenses, our ego structure, our perception that it is our resistance that has allowed us to survive. Many of us choose the illusion of safety by erecting a fortress around our most tender parts, denying all access. The promise of joy, freedom, and fulfillment that we have yet to consistently experience is insufficient motivation to let go of the suffering, anxiety, frustration, and defensive / aggressive temperaments that make us feel so safe. Safe because we know these dysfunctions so well. They seem to have allowed us to survive, and we’ll be damned if we let them go. Better to forgo freedom and joy for a hunkered down safety. Look around you, is it not so?

We stop ourselves from surrendering to our spiritual yearning with fear and an unconscious stubbornness. Stubbornness born of our anxiety and belief that we cannot safely Be another way. So we acquiesce to both the protection and prison of our ego and habits. We allow ourselves to remain stuck between resistance and letting go, will and surrender. Between our animal history and our evolutionary future. We enlist our power in resistance, in being scared and stubborn. And a little lazy.

“At the end of our wanderings there is only the soul’s yearning to return to God.”
–Ram Dass

Throughout our lives we have been taught to use our power, our life force, to pursue the material world. We have lusted after romantic love, and for pleasures both gross and refined. At some point, it would behoove ourselves to invest similar vigor in turning our yearning to the care and nurturing of our soul. It takes all our will to journey to the threshold of self-realization. Yet we cannot enter by will alone. We have to surrender.

The mating of spiritual willpower with yearning gives birth to this Divine surrender, this yielding to the Higher Self. True emotional and spiritual freedom is really the purpose of spiritual power and its mate, surrender. Yang begets Yin and, whether directed inward for self-liberation or outward in service to others, power manifests its highest expression in surrender.

Trust. Relax. Let go. Allow yourself to fall into the waiting arms of the Divine © 2008 Keith E. Hall. all rights reserved.

The 3rd Chakra and the Spiritual Purpose of Power Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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Chakra Balancing

The Power, The Key, The Gate
The sense of yearning is a coded message that the soul is sending to our ego. Yearning takes on different characteristics depending on one’s state of evolution, one’s level of consciousness. To the individual awakening to higher consciousness, first the physical necessities must be met. Then desire drives us until the social / emotional domain is filled. Yet a yearning remains. It cannot be satiated by any quantity of money or sex, romance or power. We desire to attain these things, yet when we do we eventually remain unsatisfied. This is like a dirty little secret that we can tell no one.

No matter how great our material achievements are, how sexy our trophy spouse is, how much status and power, there always comes a time when we become aware of a gnawing sense that we are not fulfilled. Why are the wealthy so propelled to accrue more than they could use in a hundred lifetimes, whatever the karmic cost? Why are the socially well heeled secretly so miserable and judgmental, and control freaks so driven to manipulate others? Libertines can exhaust themselves in the pursuit of pleasures that are never enough, and career workaholics are forced by the stress of chasing their own misplaced ambitions and aspirations to dig their own graves. And why do the majority of people who marry their soulmates end up having extramarital affairs? What can be missing?

“The grief you cry out from
draws you toward union.
Your pure sadness
that wants help
is the secret cup.
Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
That whining is the connection.
There are love-dogs
no one knows the names of.
Give your life
to be one of them.”
– Rumi, “Love Dogs”

Sometimes alone in the wilderness, or sleepless in the wee hours of the morning, with external distractions absent, we can feel a longing for something. A vague feeling that we require something or some state of being that we know not. A longing for something that our basic drives cannot assuage. It might appear as a quiet desperation, or perhaps a personal crisis. For some it can be discerned as a yearning of the spirit so deep, so profound, that it moves one to tears.

In spite of the smiley face we put on for others, we secretly know we are not fulfilled. We suspect there is more to life than this, and we often cannot understand what we are yearning for. Our intellect and the desires of the lower chakras are no help in traversing this pit. Like Eliot’s “hollow men”, we are unable to communicate or express what might fill the secret abyss in our gut and heart. We have tried everything the material and social world has to offer; yet the chasm remains. Exhausting ourselves with work, duty, and diversion, we seek an unknown opiate to dull our aching spirit. Alone in this most secret of times, we long for a caress of compassion from One who understands, for we do not. Are we not like dogs, chained and moaning for Love in the dark night, hoping to be invited to our Master’s bed?

“Resistance is futile.”
–The Borg

Desire cannot be safely suppressed. Resisted and turned inward, those energies can only become twisted and concentrated, becoming dangerous to oneself and others. One Tantric approach to desire is to fill any edacity you have, to appease that domain of your consciousness with whatever it desires, within reason. This is not to be done reflexively, but as a meditation, with full attention on what you are doing, while taking responsibility for both your desire and your actions in filling it. This is a middle path, neither denying what the mind, body, and emotions lust for, nor chasing your desire unconsciously until exhausted.

Over time, one begins to notice that less is more. Being fully attentive and karmically responsible elevates your consciousness. You require less to satiate the hunger of the lower chakras, and the processes of attentiveness and self-responsibility become satisfying to some degree, in and of themselves. This is one of many Tantric techniques for Transmutation, the letting go of old programs, and the recycling of life force trapped in those habits. Tethered less to lower agendas, consciousness begins to yearn for more experience of its higher aspects, to agendas of the heart and soul.

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“Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together.”
– Eugene Ionesco

Will and power both help us meet the needs of the lower chakras, and empower us to maintain a spiritual practice. Ten to twenty minutes of practice each day is enough to make progress, if the technique is sufficiently efficacious. When the yearning for evolution, for a relationship with the Divine becomes great enough, and joins with authentic, powerful technique and pure intention, the gateway is revealed.

The Gate of Yearning can physically be felt at the solar plexus, and this is the key. Turn that key with purity of intention and high Taoist Tantric methodology, and admittance to the next evolutionary level is attained. The intellect, with its concepts, ideologies, and philosophies cannot by itself find the Way. Our dreams of unconditional love, of living in gratitude and compassion, of being fulfilled from the tips of our toes to the top of our soul, have a somatic pathway. This dream, this promise, lies slumbering betwixt the belly and heart, dormant in the solar plexus.

Once an aspirant realizes this spiritual desire, only anguish will remain if he or she stubbornly resists. It is one thing to wander through the desert of an unconscious life, being pushed and pulled by the mandates of the material world and whatever subconscious urge or resistance that bubbles up within us. It is quite another to know that the Promised Land exists and to travel part way, only to turn back. When called to Awaken, we are compelled to let go of our old habits and antiquated self-definitions. The time comes when we must surrender our insistence on suffering, the pretense that we don’t know better, and the illusion that we are powerless to change. Only fools turn back from the Gate of the Kingdom. © 2008 Keith E. Hall. All rights reserved.

Part 9: At the Pinnacle of Power is Surrender

The 3rd Chakra and the Spiritual Purpose of Power Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Tantric Qigong™

Presencing™: Learn to Be Present

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Empower Your Higher Self