The unification of heaven and earth

Chapter 16

The unification of heaven and earth

We hope to have made clear in previous chapters that spiritual transformation is in straight line with the psychosomatic or psychophysical perspective on human functioning. Our body forms a mirror of the soul (energy system) and mind. That something is ‘only between your ears’ is a mistaken belief. Possibly the thought is created between someone’s ears, however what is going on in us, brings very direct change in our energy system, from top to bottom and all around. Sooner or later these changes reflect in our health situation, our physical experience of wellbeing or the lack thereof. When we resist what is happening, we do not let go enough to the earth under our feet and we receive less radiance from the earth.

   This is unfortunate, since it is exactly this earthly power that gives us the stability to go through everything without the feeling that we will fall over. Without this natural stability, you get a tendency to brace yourself. By living from fear, willpower and a strong need to be in control an ego shell will form itself; you no longer live from the depth of your being but from an ‘I’, a self image you possibly frantically try to keep intact. If, in one way or another, your Kundalini-energy is driven to increased activity, it will have to do with the energetic and physical condition as it is. Without preliminary cooperation from the ‘I’, the Kundalini will have to perform a lot of work on you. If the process becomes too erratic, we will have even more to complain. Nevertheless, by becoming even more irritated, the annoyance becomes worse, removing you even further away from acceptance and surrender; this is what it is about on the spiritual path.

   The ground pattern of psycho-energetic derailment is that our being, the original and authentic occupant of the body, is captured by the ‘I’ – and so is the body. The ‘I’ thinks to have problems and wants to get rid of them, whereas the core of the problems is the ‘I’ itself.

In a certain sense, we do not have a problem but we are the problem – or rather: the problem lies in what we think we are and want to be, as well as in the spasms and blockages resulting from that. What it is about is, in the words of the Dutch psychiatrist C.J. Schuurman, that  ‘our being must be released from the grip of the I’.

     This is also the Kundalini’s task, regardless of whether the ‘I’ is willing to cooperate or not.  It helps if you can let go even deeper to the earth, like we discussed in the previous chapter. A bit of knowledge on meridians from acupuncture makes it clearer that your entire energy body but also the organs of the physical body suffer from a lack of flow to beneath. The meridians of, for instance, the spleen and pancreas, liver, stomach, kidneys, gall bladder and bladder have their ends at or near the toes, just like the meridian of the overall cycle of energy, as well as the circulatory system and sexual energy. All these energy channels and their connected organs will fall short if there is no flow, if you do not let go through them and, conversely, no sufficient earth-energy is taken into them.

The polarity of our energy system

The clean up of your meridians and good maintenance of the flow can not only just be beneficial to your psychophysical health but can also be an important step on the inner path. It is not without reason that in the book ‘Meditatie, energie en bewustzijn’ by Hetty Draayer a chapter is named ‘Acupuncture as pathway to the Self’. The meridians contribute to the connection both with the earth and with heaven. We have previously mentioned the governor- and conception meridian, yet there are also other meridians that run over our head and through the front- and backside of the body. Several energy points are situated on the top of the head and can open up to receive the white celestial light, each of them having a specific function in the context of our process of consciousness expansion and transformation.

   Just like we have to radiate energy out into the earth under our feet, a certain radiation above the head is also needed to bridge the connection with the dimension beyond us, heaven. In this way, we can get to the wholeness and unification, which is the essence of the spiritual path: the union of heaven and earth upon which also the work of Edward Podvoll is based (see chapter 12, about psychoses c.q. spiritual crises).

Since this unification is also part of the task of Kundalini, Kundalini-problems will only come to a real solution as a result of this. (Not just psychoses, but all sort of Kundalini problems.)

  Our body with the energy system, within and all around, can be compared to a magnet and its two poles. Indeed, the body has an electromagnetic field surrounding it. The energy pattern shows similarities with a magnet that lies in a field of iron shavings, with the typical diverging lines that show itself at the plus- and minus-pole at the far ends of the magnet. Nevertheless the outlines will wrap all the way around the magnet and the poles together will form one energy field. We are not talking about a dualistic vision here. ‘Polarity’ is not the same as ‘duality’ and is most certainly not equal to dualism. Although a magnet consists of two poles – it remains one magnet.

   It is not the polarity that is dualistic, but the ‘I’ that breaks the polarity, that violates the unity of both poles and indeed traps us in a dualistic perception of the self and the world. It is important to realise this, since every one-sided attempt upwards will worsen the dualism in us. Those who hope to find healing and ‘being One’ in association with heaven only, will not succeed in finding this whilst being alive on earth. Your embodied being will encounter major difficulties in fulfilling its destiny, and there is a chance that the Kundalini-energy gets agitated, possibly with erratic side effects.

The 8^th and 9^th chakra

In Hetty Draayer’s approach, next to the already known 7 chakras, an additional two are differentiated: the 8^th and 9^th chakra. These are the heavenly and earthly poles of the individual energy field. The 8^th chakra, the heavenly pole, is situated 30-40 centimetres above the head. This is where the descending force, the white heavenly light, is received and moderated, preventing the incoming energy, at the crown and crown chakra, from being too much or too strong.

In Hetty Draayer’s approach the heavenly and earthly poles of our energy field are referred to as the 8^th and 9^th chakra. Through breathing from the ‘chi’-point or ‘cosmic eye’ a field of radiation will emerge between these two chakras.

In the midst of this field of radiation the Kundalini- and cosmic energy will be integrated: the ‘pelvic bowl’.

The 9^th chakra, 30-40 centimetres under the feet, is, as it were, your ‘personal earth’, your connection with the earth’s energy field below your feet. It reflects the centre point of the earth. The activation of this 9^th chakra contributes greatly to the circulation past the knees, given that exhalation is done in the correct way. In the 9^th chakra the released tensions are transformed with help from the earth’s healing power.

It is the place where the ‘fire in us’ (the snake fire, the Kundalini) is connected with the ‘fire in the earth’ with which the Kundalini-energy actually has a strong kinship. The holy triangle, with the top facing upwards (the lowest tailbone is located above the lower and front sides of the sitting bones) is, therefore, a fire triangle.

The energy that is transformed in the 9^th chakra radiates together with the force from the earth back to the soles of the feet, where several points absorb the energy and radiate onwards to the pelvic bowl.

And so a reciprocal connection is formed between the ‘breathing middle’ and the earth. This way a transformation process kicks off in the feet; from the feet the rest of the body follows, because the power points in the feet have a link into the cranium.

It is a matter of being transformed into energy; in your self- perception all will become transparent and energy-like, ‘fluid’, in flow, radiant and bright. As dark areas of the energy body are transformed as well and we become more aware, we will come to be more and more in the light.

   This process is also known in Western mysticism, even with contemplative minded people who did not know anything about Kundalini, cosmic energy or chakras, did descend into the pelvic bowl by ‘letting go’ deeply, wanting nothing else than being one with God.

In other words, they were looking for nothing else than surrender - and ultimately this can only mean that all searching makes place for complete acceptance. At this point it may suddenly appear that the heel bones form the first step of ‘Jacob’s ladder’, the ladder that appeared to Jacob in a dream, and, according to the bible story, along which ‘the angels were ascending and descending’.

Opening up between earth and heaven

Hetty Draayer describes the process as ‘opening up between earth and heaven’ – in this order, so first to the earth and then to heaven. Nevertheless, the process of transformation will only be complete through the descending force that we receive from the heavenly pole –hence the sequence in numbering of the eighth and ninth chakra. The first step of the Jacob’s ladder is from the heel bones (rooted in the earth), and from here we open to above step by step; and it is only when the seventh- or crown chakra (on the top of the skull) has opened up to the eighth chakra, ‘heaven’, that ‘the angels’ can descend from there, back to the heel bones and the earth, down into the ninth chakra.

   In short: if both heels, the soles of the feet and the middle toes have opened to the ninth chakra, we can via the top of the skull receive heavenly light via the eighth chakra. The eighth and ninth chakra mirror one another and the ‘healing guidance thread’ connects them both, lengthways, through the midst of all chakras. Then the heavenly white light shines through the body and also throughout our entire personal energy field to the earth beneath our feet.

The Jacob’s ladder is often wrongly equated to the spine, or the main stream of energy that runs through it; however, the complete Jacob’s ladder has the first step through the heel bones, the second through the knees, the third through the sitting bones, etc. In this picture the most important steps of the ladder have been highlighted (basically every vertebra is one step). These significant steps are linked to the chakras but do not entirely fall in line. From the 8^th step above the head ‘the angels descend’ to the 9^th step of the ladder, in the earth beneath the feet.

 
  In several other approaches we also come across an energetic point above the head, as well as a similar point under the feet. For instance in the writings of Bernard Perona, aka Drunvalo Melchizedek, in his two-volume book ‘The Ancient Secret of
the Flower of Life’. We do not mention this here because it proves anything, but instead to let the reader become aware of the universal nature of this theme: this is about the way in which creation operates, the way in which living forms are created according to sacred geometry, the ancient laws of creation and transformation. The cosmic order came into existence this way; these are the ‘rules of the canon’. When we re-align our energy system based upon these natural laws, our individual order can re-align with the cosmic order. This is yet a different way to articulate the same unification of heaven and earth.

   Unfortunately, there are also approaches that just ‘make use of’ an extra chakra above the head. Previously we mentioned Reiki in this regard, where sometimes this is referred to as ‘the transpersonal point’. This one-sidedness is not in accordance with the cosmic laws and can result in losing your roots.

   There are also approaches that differentiate more than one chakra above the head, with sequential numbering continuing upwards. This would without a similar number of chakras under the feet, deeper into the earth, again lead to breaking polarity and balance. It also creates unnecessary complications. We can do with one chakra above the head and one under the feet, and when the energy field gets stronger and wider – in both directions – the space between both chakras will automatically expand within the same energy field.

The cosmic eye and the grail within us

The opening between earth and heaven, allowing the re-unification of heaven and earth to happen through us, is only possible from the core middle, between both connecting points.

It is like Gurdjieff once said: “ The top merges with the bottom, and so creates the core middle”. The opposite meaning of this is that we should not live from any other centre than the core middle; otherwise we continue to make it difficult for ourselves (and Kundalini). Then we would have two ‘middles’, like in a maze where there can be a supposed and a real centre. If we do not have the centre of our breath in the right core middle, we get caught up in a struggle with ourselves and both middles come in disagreement with one another. Given that you learn to breathe from the chi-point, you’ll often notice the breathing will shoot up, for instance when you get scared or as a result of other emotional reactions. Immediately you ‘are’ the separated ‘I’, instead of ‘being’ there from the connection between Self and I and from the unification of heaven and earth.

   The actual uniting centre can only be, as we discussed in the previous chapter, the chi-point. There is no other point in the body that has a similar transforming effect. Based upon the restored flow through the meridians and chakras in Hetty Draayer’s approach, the chi-point opens wider, through the second and third sacral vertebra, and through the skin at the back. A passage opens between within and without, referred to as the ‘Cosmic Eye’ by Hetty Draayer. It is the well-known eye surrounded by a triangular shape, a symbol known in various teachings, all over the world and even in contexts that have little to do with spirituality.

This image shows the tetrahedron (three-cornered pyramid) that forms within the pelvic area through breathing from the ‘chi-‘point or the ‘cosmic eye’ (top) and visualising the holy triangle from the lowest tailbone with both sit bones (the base of the tetrahedron). The cosmic energy (yang) that comes from above will become one with the Kundalini-energy (yin) inside the tetrahedron and so this three-cornered pyramid will radiate in the light of Tao, the Unity. This is the start of a transformation process that will bring body, soul and spirit as an undivided whole, in Tao.  

 
Basically this triangle is a tetrahedron (a triangular pyramid) that appears from the connection of the original chi-point (as top) and the holy triangle as basis (between the lower tailbone and both sitting bones). In some teachings on awareness this tetrahedron is seen as part of a double triangle, also referred to as merkaba (if curious, see the work of Drunvalo). The cosmic eye in the triangular pyramid is not a human invention, but is of heavenly origin: an ancient symbol with a strong uniting force. However, it is rarely realized that we carry this symbol dormant as a form of energy in our pelvis. Naturally the significance of something that has always been in your life form is more meaningful to your transformation process than a ‘transformation-tetrahedron’ that is purchased in a New Age shop.

   The pelvic bowl with its grounding, in fact also shapes the primal formation of the Holy Grail in us, a transforming chalice of light on a pillar that stretches into the earth (to the 9^th chakra). The tetrahedron is within this grail (which, during the cause of our development process, will transform a number of times, thus will change shape several times). Cosmic energy received through the cosmic eye on inhalation, from the space wide around the body, will completely become one with the original Kundalini. Yang turns into Yin and Yin turns into Yang, and the body with the layered energy system within and around it will shift into Tao, becoming Whole. The healing guidance thread unites all chakras – from the 8^th up to and including the 9^th – in the same white light, with the cosmic eye as central point of radiation. The Kundalini finds her destination where she is present, rather than finding it just at the crown chakra, although she is there as part of this energy of the Whole, just as in and under the feet. As we already mentioned before: Shakti and Shiva, Kundalini and Mahakundalini rest inside each other. The individual breathes in line again with the great cosmic Breath.

   The exercises from the ‘cosmic eye’ form a path of initiation, and following this path naturally requires personal commitment – especially by being prepared to exercise and let go. The necessary purification process runs quite smoothly in comparison to unmanageable Kundalini processes, mainly because the necessary connection with cosmic- and earth-energy is built up from the very beginning.

This does not even mean that your transformation process does not go through ‘ups and downs’ any more, or that you would never have to take a step back in order to proceed onwards. Of course, your way of life yet needs to fit your inner process. Overall however, the process will run smoother and more orderly, also since you let go deeper gradually. The emphasis is being put on letting go downwards - through the meridians that run lengthways through the body – and receive from above. The ethereal and physical body are familiarized slowly but surely to the constant letting go and further opening up for the healing powers of earth and heaven; the astral body is automatically included in this process.

   A ‘breathing cross’ will arise within you through faithful and regular exercise with the cosmic eye as your centre; cosmic- and earth-energy will be obtained upon inhalation (the horizontal line of this cross, through the hipbones), and upon exhalation the letting go downward and receiving from above will take place (the vertical line of the breathing cross). Letting go to the 9^th chakra will become one fluent movement with receiving from above – via the 8^th chakra, following the release.

  This illumination of the body – not just the physical body but also our complete multidimensional being – is referred to in Christianity with terms like ‘resurrection’ and ‘transfiguration’.