Chakras should, long ago, have been studied and examined as a scientific system with the same attention that many other observable layers of the human body and mind have received. It is quite unclear how it is possible that a physiological system, which so many millions of people throughout history have reported about and which is perceived as an obvious direct experience of numerous people, has remained confined within the boundaries of the esoteric.
Chakras are completely within the reach of the common human. Indeed, in the human language they are hidden behind so-called metaphors such as “broken-heartedness” (as opposed to an “open heart”), “cold feet,” “weak at the knees,” “standing on one’s own feet,” “butterflies in the stomach,” a “strong stomach” (as opposed to “having no stomach for something”), a “lump in one’s throat” and the “mind’s eye.”
In the same breath, it is no wonder that Chakras have remained bound to the esoteric field alone. This is because instead of documenting them in a direct language, they have remained tied to traditional names, symbols, colors, mantras and Hindu and Buddhist mythology. This has greatly inhibited our ability as a human culture to observe them as a general human phenomenon that is relevant to far more familiar phenomena, such as the psyche’s structure, psychic development and the unconscious in Psychology, body-mind connection, human relationships, education, and above all – the understanding of the human existence with all its multi-dimensional complexity.
As a psycho-physiological phenomenon, Chakras are directly experienced as sensory centers which clearly come alive in response to stimulating situations and experiences in life. These seven centers are probably the most unmediated interactions of the human system with life:
- The instinctive center designed for physical survival and tribal self-protection.
- The sensual center of pleasure and feeling developed to enable a heightened experience of body and senses.
- A center of individual power, will, competition and ambition formed to empower one in positioning oneself as a strong individual within society.
- A center of emotion and sensitivity, environmental awareness, dependency and compassion to support more complex human relationships.
- A center of higher communication, language and interaction of mutual influence for the sake of spreading information as well as cultural ideas.
- A center of higher intelligence, inquiry, thought and contemplation, designed for understanding life inside and outside us.
- A center of meditation and a direct connection with the phenomenon of consciousness and the infinitely unknowable nature of the universe.
The integral approach of the chakras
The Chakras bring to fulfillment the complexity of human existence – an existence which embraces philosophy and action, willfulness and sacrifice, aloneness and belonging, eternal existence and simple mortal life, instinctive and physiological needs and a transcending human spirit.
Chakras are a system through which one could look at the entire spectrum of human experience and its obvious and subtle relations with the world and the cosmos at large. Enabled by such a vision, we could fully grasp the human system, from the rather puzzling and multi-layered structure of the psyche to cultural phenomena, as a dialogue between the different Chakras.
All worldviews, perspectives and interpretations originate, in this sense, from the Chakras. Each worldview or perspective comes into being as soon as one watches the world and oneself through the eyes of a specific Chakra. With these lenses or eyes, a whole range of values, feelings and meaning follows. This is because Chakras are truly devices which connect us to what I call the “Seven Dimensions of Life.”
This super-concept is the ultimate integral approach, which holds within it an integrative answer to major questions in psychology, health, human intelligence, human needs, education, happiness, meaning, and the entire range of life skills. In this, the Chakras prove to be a highly effective system which enables a full vision of complex structures very quickly, thus making it possible to avoid mental contradiction and to harmoniously perceive each and every situation and challenge, from problems in our individual lives to political and social crises.
Chakras, as such, explain the different spiritual paths as complementary parts of one holistic path, just as they show how nationalities, cultures, philosophies and even types of personalities become much more meaningful and sensible when they appear to serve a greater whole.
The psychology of chakras
The most impressive contribution of Chakras is as a psychological breakthrough: an effective comprehension of the psychic structure that could promote supreme wellbeing, happiness and meaning. In this sense, all the various psychological schools do not contradict each other at all but, really, beautifully complement one another. In reality, each one explores and treats one aspect of the psyche which can be easily reflected in the Chakra system.
When the Chakras are understood as the structure of human psyche, they can quickly teach us the nature of complete psychic health, which necessarily embraces all the possible components of our psyche: from its most instinctive foundations, which include primordial traumas, to the most refined needs of our emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing, such as emotional fulfillment, meaning, clarity of knowing and self-transcendence.
If you wish to study and practice chakras in this way, read the Seven Wisdoms of Life
