My girlfriend loaned me a pretty good book about the chakra system, called Wheels of Life by Anodea Judith. There’s a really interesting section in the beginning where Judith talks about the two alternate currents that flow within the human body. One she calls the “liberating current” which moves from the bottom upwards towards the crown chakra and pure consciousness. The other she calls the “manifesting current” which moves in the opposite direction, down the root chakra, towards matter. In a lot of ways it’s very close to the idea of a Luciferian (liberating) and Ahrimanic (manifesting) drives which we talked about in relation to Rudolf Steiner and mystical Christianity recently.

There are a couple great passages from this book that I want to capture here. One is from page 31, and talks through an example of how to manifest something downward from the realm of pure thought:

The downward current, which I call the current of manifestation, begins in pure consciousness and descends through the chakras into the manifested plane, gradually becoming denser and denser at each step. To produce a theatrical play, for example, we must begin with an idea or concept (chakra seven). The idea then becomes a set of images (chakra six), which can be communicated to others in the form of a story (chakra five). As the idea further develops, and others get involved with it, we enter a set of relationships that help bring it about (chakra four). We give it our will and energy (chakra three), rehearsing the movements, and bringing its conceptual and physical elements together (chakra two) and finally, manifest the play on the physical plane (chakra one) in front of an audience.

This seems like an excellent depiction of a creative process that I find myself struggling with very often, of how to bring an idea down into the world of manifested forms. Plus it seems like a strong explanation of why ritual is so important in religious and spiritual practice, because it brings ideas down to the plane of manifestation. She then says on the next page something that when I read it really sort of “clicked” for me: “To manifest, we must limit.” In relation to my own spiritual development, up until recently, I’ve been hell-bent on the idea of expansion and liberation - the Luciferian drive. But now I’m finding that drive alone to be insufficient and imbalanced. And thus I’ve been exploring idea of limitation, especially in relation to belief, and how we use belief as intentional stop signs, etc. Judith talks about the need for balancing these two currents on page 32:

The liberating current brings us excitement, energy and novelty, while the descending current brings peace, grace, and stability. In order for either of these pathways to really be complete, all of the chakras need to be open and active. Liberation without limitation leaves us vague, scattered and confused. We may have wonderful ideas and lots of knowledge, but we are unable to bring these fruits to any tangible completion. On the other hand, limitation without liberation is dull and stifling. We become caught in repetitive patterns, clinging to secularity and fearing change. In order for us to be truly whole, both currents must be open and active.

This whole thing reminds me a lot of the battle cry that a lot of counter-culturalists and people into alternative religion rally behind: “WAKE UP!” They yell it at everybody who seems repressed or unliberated. But at the same time, they are missing the knowledge that this is only half of the game. You’ve also got to “wake down,” so to speak, if you want to be able to have anything come of it. Judith has another excellent passage related to this on page 69:

Grounding implies limitation. While the mental energy of the upper chakras is boundless, the lower chakras are far narrower in their scope. Language limits and, therefore, specifies our thoughts. Yet I could name a thousand things I could not fit in a large house, for the physical world has even more limitation. Each step downward through the chakras becomes simpler, more definitive and more constricted.

While frightening to some people, this limitation is an essential creative principle. If we didn’t limit our activities, we would accomplish nothing. If I didn’t limit my thoughts as I typed this manuscript, I couldn’t write. Far from being a negative, limitation creates a container that allows energy to build and gel into substance. To manifest, we must be willing to accept limitation. Grounding is a harmonious acceptance of natural limitation. It is just as crucial to the development of consciousness as any meditation or raising of energy. In the words of the immortal I Ching:

Limitation has success… Unlimited possibilities are not suited to man; if they existed, his life would only dissolve in the boundless. To become strong a man’s life needs the limitations ordained by duty and voluntarily accepted.

- Hexagram 60

I’ve in the past found such thinking very difficult to accept, or else downright crazy. Which is probably why ideas like Philip K. Dick’s Black Iron Prison metaphor have always seemed so invigorating to me, along with the whole anarchist stream in gnosticism. Throw off the shackles, bend the bars, transcend limitations - that sort of thing. But I’m starting to realize that there are some shackles, bars and crosses that are good if you bear them willingly and stand strong in the knowledge of their use and purpose. It’s been a long road for me to understand this - and I’m only just beginning to grasp at it.