Part I, click here
Part II, click here

Dear Subscribers,

Well, it's Sunday so here we go.

Many years ago, a high profile lawyer asked my opinion on euthanasia. The context was that she had been consulted by family members of a terminally ill cancer patient. Of course, in my situation, similar questions are posed now and then, surprisingly seldom given the amount of pain and suffering many endure during their final days on Earth.

My response to the attorney was that our structure as created beings is enormously complex. So, while people may have countless different motivations for wanting to die, the actual decision about whether or not to die is managed on an extremely high level of destiny where life purposes, including lessons we ourselves need to learn as well as the ones we are giving to others, are projected. It is entirely possible that on another level where there is less personality integration, conflicting voices cry out with different messages. For instance, a patient may want to escape physical pain but if the entire being were in agreement about this, there is little question in my mind but that the silver cord would snap and the incarnation would end.

Occasionally, actually quite rarely, I have been with people through their processes of leaving. These experiences are always unforgettable, both the instant itself as well as the hours, days, and sometimes months and years leading to this point. It's of course entirely different if the one leaving is oneself or someone deeply loved, but if very attentive, one recognizes that totally extraordinary events occur at the end, but there has to be a process of preparation and this varies for each individual. It goes without saying that the stronger our attachments, the more difficult the separation is, and this is why I am including this subject with the root chakra essays.

Keep in mind that I was writing a book on adrenals at the time I moved here so dribbling out a few paragraphs here and there hardly does justice to the whole subject, but the first point to keep in mind is that the coordination of spirit in matter is not just a string of words but an attempt to explain how our immortality and physicality are related. Regardless of the apparent randomness of conception and birth, life is purposeful and though we sometimes hate our lessons, our experiences eventually make sense. If we only look at them from the physical angle, we might only see capricious winds of fate and never be able to understand why some beings die in infancy and others live what we currently consider to be long lives. For instance, I learned yesterday that one of my old friends passed away at the age of 98. There is a similar fragility and dependency with both the very young and very old; but the physical body is what changes, not that part of ourselves that is already perfected. This part is engaged in an immense experiment of coordinating divine intent with material existence.

In my heart of hearts, I am certain that when we succeed, i.e., when we complete the expression of this intent, we will not only achieve immortality but we will have jointly created with other incarnate beings Heaven on Earth. The concept of spiritual immortality must really annoy some materialists, like the ones who are talking about peak oil and dwindling resources, not to mention overpopulation. What they do not understand is that what supports and sustains spiritual expression comes from the source itself and will not deplete, rather it will be in constant expression or circulation. Energy must however be recycled so flow and sharing are part of the spiritualization of life as well as crucial to sustainability. Hoarding, not to mention pirating, are diseases based on extremely narrow views of the process of living in an energetic Universe.

This is such a huge topic that it's easy for me to digress because the big picture jumps into focus but the language required for describing the various parts of the tapesty consists of strings of separate words.

Thou Shalt not Kill

Probably, and I am pretty certain of this, every mystic understands this commandment. Religions are founded by mystics, not by politicians. A mystic is someone who sees beyond the veil and because of what he or she sees is privy to insights and understanding that are not part of the reality of those who have not had these insights. Mysticism works through the higher chakras and has a downward flow just as survival works from the base chakra and has at some point in time an upward thrust. These are two parts of the whole and they are greatly impacted by the interests of the other chakras which, of course, can cause warping. Let me try to demonstrate how this might be the case and then you can extrapolate from these examples.

If a person says he or she wants to die, that is a statement coming from some part of the whole that is not privy to the first chakra dictates because if that chakra stopped spinning, death would come quickly. In fact, this might be a time to mention hair-brained chakra exercises that sometimes involve reversing the spin of the chakra. This can cause very serious illnesses. Theoretically, it could cause death but really these exercises are mind over matter attempts to influence from the fifth chakra what happens in the first. Because the mind tires, the pressure on the first chakra subsides and most of the time, the chakra manages to reverse to its correct rotation and stabilize. However, repeated efforts can be catastrophic and I have seen people with very serious autoimmune diseases as well as completely undiagnosable medical conditions that could be traced to some weekend workshop. This is not to say that all autoimmune disease can be explained in this way, but some of them might have such an origin.

This chakra can take care of itself. It works below the threshold of consciousness because it is ancient and instinctual, not a fragment of the mind and all its rationalizations and misunderstandings.

Guardians

In previous posts, I wrote about chakra guardians. These are very real. In the Indian system, the root chakra is protected by Ganesh, the elephant deity. In reality, I only know one person whose first chakra guardian is an elephant, but it's helpful to thinkabout this for a moment. The etymology of our word "genesis" comes from Ganesh. You could say that this is where "it" starts. Native Americans depict a similar understanding in their totem poles and if you study these, you will find that they vary in what is carved where.

My experience suggests that people have either a very big and strong animal as a guardian of this chakra, usually an animal with no natural enemies, or they have a very clever and fast animal, one who may be known for its alertness and responsiveness. Examples of the former would be bears, buffalos, lions, tigers, and, of course, elephants. One Native American author said he saw a crocodile in one person he counseled, but this changed as a result of therapy. For those who rely on vigilance rather than power, rabbits, foxes, jackals, and even horses or camels might present. Skeptics often think this is high nonsense, but I have suggested to them as well as those with a sincere interest that they simply invoke their guardians and ask to be introduced. A good time for this is when you are retiring at the end of the day, right after you turn out the lights and before your head hits the pillow. The guardians do, in fact, watch over you and they are often eager to have their presence acknowledged. When you do this, ask for an introduction, name, and some details on your relationship and why the guardian has offered to render you this service. The answers are disarming.

Momentum

Picking up the original theme, we have these conflicting voices. People want to avoid pain or humiliation by hospice or hospital attendants. They may not want family members to see them deteriorate or they do not want hard-earned savings spent on futile treatments. These are all understandable reasons for wanting to escape, but none of them break the silver cord because this decision is made on another level.

Ultimately, my response to the attorney was that I do not believe it is appropriate for the state to become involved in what are essentially spiritual issues. Yes, there may be psychological and even legal concerns but the state is not the proper entity for addressing either spiritual or medical decisions. Deciding who is in right mind to make a decision about medical directives and last wishes is perhaps a matter involving legal issues, but these ought to deferred to the experts in the health field.

It's very hard to resist faulting Obamacare because the entire death process is now threatened by an unholy alliance between industry and government that would come between patients and their processes as well as medical professionals and their patients. To say it is abominable is an understatement.

So, how did it come to this? Simple. In the separation of church and state, which is allegedly guaranteed in our rapidly crumbling system, spirit and matter are also separated and even sometimes believed to be mutually exclusive. If you doubt the case for "mutually exclusive", ask why some religions advocate austerities and equate poverty and chastity to holiness whereas there is nothing actually holy about either. This, however, is a matter for each individual to sort out on his or her own because nothing forces us to accept the doctrines of one religion over another. We are free to choose among the various options or to create a new faith according to our own understanding and beliefs. Alas, this is not true of state because it has usurped freedom of choice and supplanted it with something that threatens our fundamental freedoms and arrogates to itself the right to wage war and rule over such treacherous issues as abortion and capital punishment . . . and now health care.

Though this is an important and related issue, i.e. immense power operating from a warped first chakra, I do not want to go deeply into these issues at this time because people have, as I say, the right to their own beliefs, but to have a proper separation of church and state, the beliefs must not be at risk of political interference. This is important if we are to preserve not just our uniqueness but also move further in the direction of learning to harmonize with others despite our differences. The moment we exhibit disrespect for differences, we are putting our freedom at risk and this is happening on a terrible scale at the moment. We can say, it has been going on for thousands of years, but the same potential for destruction has never before existed, at least not in recorded history. It's possible humans have destroyed civilization many times, but that is for archaeologists to determine.

Meanwhile, what I want to say is that the power to destroy life belongs to no one but the Creator Himself. I suppose this is why kings and tyrants always invoke some kind of thought form about righteous wars and true believers and the faithful because it convinces some fools that God has favorites and that the end justifies the means. This idea stems from a warped first chakra, one that, as suggested in the previous post, suffers from fear that can eventually develop into paranoia. We all need to be concerned about this now because as those with power are being discovered to be the scoundrels they actually are, we also have to think about how people with strong survival instincts will react when they are faced not only with foreclosures and homelessness but starvation and injustice. This, I believe, is the tipping point and why recognizing the principles underlying our manifestation as spiritual beings in a material world ought to be prompting all of us to make much more effort to build sustainability, starting with Nature and including ultimately foreign relations and even intergalactic relationships. We are a danger to ourselves and others unless and until we make a commitment to both respect for life and harmlessness.

Many blessings,

Ingrid

Copyright by Ingrid Naiman 2011

Related Essays:

Part I
Part II

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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