Habitat is a wonderful word, carrying layers of meaning and subtle implications. It includes the physical place where something lives, the environmental factors that support and contribute to its well being, as well as other species that may be key components of this ecosystem. From a physical point of view, most of the planet serves as a habitat for the modern human as we have been shown to be a very adaptable species when it comes to the outer environment. And now we have space stations orbiting the earth, with dreams of Mars and beyond.
But, from a psychological/mental perspective, most modern humans inhabit the tiniest of worlds; one limited by their own narrow minded thinking and fear based ideological beliefs. These self created prisons and personal hells shape our behavior, and are reeking havoc on the environment and ecosystems that support our existence. How did the human become the species that destroys its own habitat?
This was the driving question of Thomas Berry‘s life and it inspired many extraordinary books, including The Dream of the Earth, one of the most important books of the 20th century. One possible perspective is that the modern human has completely collapsed its collective soul. Whether through over-reliance of logic and reason, or just plain fear of the unknown, we no longer inhabit the soul. We some how live outside its domain, the way James Duffy, a character in James Joyce’s short story, “A Painful Case” “lived at a little distance from his body, regarding his own acts with doubtful side-glasses.” In our detachment from what is real and spiritually meaningful, we have forgotten how to nurture the environment that allows the soul to thrive, and barely acknowledge its existence. Because of this, we allow others to decide how big our dreams can be. We allow others to impose limits on our spiritual freedom, never acknowledging or trusting the deep inner wisdom of our own unique soul journey. And we are devastating the planet that nurtures or existence.
Fortunately, the Soul is making a comeback. The Feminine Spirituality that nurtures soulness is returning. Spiritual liberation is upon us, if we can find the courage to plunge into the unknown. For us somanauts, our soul journey is to fully and deeply inhabit this human form we call the body, in its soul dimension, which is the whole cosmos, physical as well as psychic. In the last post there is a brief description of the triune soul, including the Celestial, Mental and Physical Souls. When we can begin to see these soul realms as inter-related habitats, with healthy and unhealthy ecologies, we can begin the process of inhabiting, healing and reconciliation, both within our own soul realms, and simultaneously within the collective soul of humanity, the planet, and the cosmos. We’ll look at the Mental Soul first, and then, for our embodied practice, dive into the Physical Soul. We’ll call upon the Celestial Soul angels to help with both!
Mental Soul
The Mental Soul is the realm of thoughts, ideas, beliefs, creativity, imagination and intelligence. It is also the home of the ego, the realm where both the pathology and the healing begin. The poor ego has become a punching bag for much of pop psychology and pop spirituality, and this misunderstanding is a major obstacle to spiritual maturity. We need a healthy ego to continue to mature. The Samkhya term ahamkara, the ‘I maker’, refers to the natural and essential psychological processes that lead to the development of a strong, wise and unique self sense.
The Mental Soul is also home to the buddhi, or intelligence, and a key role of the buddhi is to keep the ego healthy, but in check. An unhealthy ego oscillates between an over-inflated view of itself with a deflated one, runs wild with imagination and self deception, and makes decisions from these deluded perspectives. What about me me me…? Trouble begins here. A healthy ego just does its job of navigating the incarnational journey without trying to personalize anything, and leaves the key decision making to the buddhi. A strong buddhi is essential for this. To inhabit this realm in a healthy way we need to awaken and nurture this balanced relationship between ahamkara and buddhi.
Thomas Berry’s 4th principle can help us understand nature of a healthy triune soul, and the Mental Soul especially, as it is a fundamental description of Soul health. We need all three of these basic laws Thomas describes to function simultaneously. If one is missing, or dysfunctional, problems will arise.
Principle 4: “The three basic laws of the universe at all levels of reality are differentiation, subjectivity and communion. These laws identify the reality, the values and the directions in which the universe is proceeding.”
Differentiation is simple on the surface. Every form, from atoms to galaxies, are unique. The Universe never exactly repeats itself. To honor our soul, we must allow our uniqueness to awaken and flourish. Differentiation also means we can function as as independent being at all levels of reality. We do not need to be dependent upon mommy, daddy, or guru to live our lives. Ideally, parents and teachers allow us to discover our own inherent freedom. Interestingly enough, this independence is a very clear expression of ego. I am different, I am unique. The buddhi understands that independence is a cosmic law, and really ‘nothing special’, because everyone is unique. There is no need for an inflated, or deflated self sense. However, many spiritual communities, cults and fundamentalist groups cultivate the dependence of their followers as a means of maintaining power and control. We are superior, and you are inferior, but if you do what we say, you will be safe. Yikes! This is not to imply that independent beings cannot continue to learn from and evolve with others, as we will see with ‘communion’.
Subjectivity states that the soul is also the Soul. The individuated self is also the Self, Drashtuh, the Seer. This is the integration of the infinite unbounded Celestial Soul or Atman into everyday consciousness. Infants live here, but the incarnational process gradually draws them into the Physical and Mental Souls, and when these are not well integrated, the Celestial Soul is forgotten and the spiritual world collapses. A healthy buddhi also keeps the ego in check here. Grandiosity can run rampant when the ego discovers the infinite and stakes its claim. “I am a spiritually enlightened being and I can do no wrong”. Naive students can project this grandiosity onto their teacher, and if the teacher is not awake, their own egos can get sucked into believing this as well.
Communion is the reality that the Universe is a Community of Beings, inextricably intertwined within and without each other. Souls need community, and find community at every level of reality, from humans, to angels of the celestial realms, to the animal and plant spirits of the lower realms. Communion is about relationships, where we can safely dissolve egoic boundaries without losing our personal identity. The buddhi monitors and regulates this process and helps repair and restore the inevitable ruptures that take place in relationships.
We also need communities of humans that give us full support to pursue our own wholeness and not tie us down with dogma and small mindedness. We all hold a unique piece of the cosmic puzzle. It is our dharma to unfold that piece, discover how it fits in with the other pieces and share it with the world.
Studies of the attachment process, one of the great contributions of the modern west to the understanding of the developing mind, high-light the role played by emotionally mature adults in helping an infant slowly evolve the ego or “I sense” and the buddhi or intelligence, and thus continue grow to emotional adulthood, and maybe even spiritual adulthood.
The infant begins with no ego boundaries and can merge with its environment. In the idealized attachment process, the parent(s), as carrier of love in the form of nurturing and safety, merges with the infant to provide strength, security and support. The parent appears to the infant/child as all-knowing and all powerful. The mental soul of the child remains latent in the beginning. A mature parent gradually allows the baby/child/adolescent to differentiate. This involves developing its own self sense or ego, and its own ability to make decisions, awakening the mental soul level. All the while,the parents still provide the primary guidance in monitoring and modulating the emotional ups and downs of being alive. Love is constant channeled from the celestial soul, even through hard times and deep disagreements come and go.
As the physical soul matures through biology and healthy living, the intelligence of the mental soul, the buddhi, awakens, and guides the ego towards a realistic perspective on its own unique capacities. Parents own human frailties are exposed and everyone’s humanity is acknowledged. Mature parents have a strong self sense of their own and do not confuse their own needs and wants with those of the child. This leads to healthy differentiation. Healthy parenting provides clear examples of trusting surrender into relationships and freedom to be and become a unique being. This leads to healthy communion. When love is the foundation, subjectivity flourishes. Of course, the process is never as smooth as the idealized projections. Children come into the world with their own past life karma, and parents have the karma of their parents as well, so it is usually quite messy.
The Physical Soul
Inhabiting the Physical Soul requires the activation of perception, as this is the major modality through which it functions. Through perception we begin to navigate the inner world of the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space. In any somatic exploration, we begin with the complementary elements earth and space, also known as weight and lightness. (Please explore and inhabit these in all poses and life.)
Next we move into water and fire, another pair of complementary elements. B.K.S. Iyengar, writing in Light on Pranayama, equates ‘prana’, or our life energy, with the balance of fire and water. Fire warms the water and gets it moving. Water cools the fire and prevents overheating and burnout. Water is yin, fire is yang. In balance you have the whole spectrum of possibilities. The circulatory system is the best place to play with fire and water, so we will now move into the vyana vayu and see what appears.
My favorite pose of exploration these days is supported bridge, where weight and lightness prepare for a deeper experience of fire and water. Near the block, find the bifurcation of the aorta and inferior vena cava and open up the flow in both directions, toward the head, and toward the tail. (Blockages in my neck/throat lead to the excess redness of the face.) Trace the blood vessels as a flow up into the legs and back down as well. Next slide up under the heart and carefully lift the heart/liver so the aorta and vena cava stay long and free. No hinging of the spine! Track out to arms and hands and back to heart. Open soft palate and adjust skull on C-1 to help release neck pressure. Extra height under the shoulders may help here, as in sarvangasana. Now begin to lubricate the mesentery by lifting it up away from the blood vessels and imagining a thin layer of fluid sliding around. This begins the differentiation of the median plane of connective tissue in the body to help liberate front from back, flexion from extension, and the anterior nerve roots from the posterior.
Now, from the space surrounding the heart, feel the mediastinum, especially the posterior, and begin to imagine a linking of the mediastinum with the mesentery. To do this you have to pass through the diaphragm and liver, spreading them laterally to fill the space across the whole torso. Lubricate the ligaments and tendons so the tissue is more pliable and the organs feel more freedom of movement. When the mediastinum, posterior liver tissues and the mesentery meet, knit them together elastically, so in backbends, the whole net stretches evenly. Most students by pass the liver region, giving the table top look to backbends.
B.K.S. Iyengar was a master of exploring the inner world through the elements. This is a backbend from the median plane, where fire, water and the connective tissues are in perfect harmony.
Similar action of the median plane is needed in forward flexion poses such as bakasana and uttanasana. No wrinkles in the median plane, but there is an elastic elongation of the core tissues.
This keeps the organs toned and the fluids reaching into every nook and cranny of the body. Feel free to take this exploration into any of your favorite poses or sequences.
This is ‘inhabiting’ the body, and prepares us for allowing the awakened body to be a gateway to the shamanic realms, where the hidden dimensions of the soul can be liberated and healed.
Next week we will look at rotations and how these poses help expand our perception of the fluids into the discs and spinal canal and how when we can inhabit the inner spine, the cosmic realms begin to appear more spontaneously.