Bindi

I have come to see the psyche not merely as a mind in the psychological sense, but as a layered energetic system populated by subtle forces. At the heart of this view are the subconscious emotional and mental currents, and deeper still, two complementary unconscious currents that I’ve come to think of as the Shiva aspects and the Shakti aspects. The emotional and mental currents we’re all familiar with, but the Shiva and Shakti currents are less obvious, so I will go into some detail about them. They can be recognized through many vivid symbolic pairs: Wildfire / Fireplace The dynamic blaze that consumes and transforms. The hearth that holds the fire safely, giving it purpose and warmth. Fish / Fishbowl The darting, elusive vitality moving through hidden depths. The clear bowl that contains, supports, shapes, and protects its motions. Cat / Dog The graceful, sensitive, easily startled nature that seeks comfort. The loyal guardian that stays close, watching over and calming. Fearful / Protector The trembling instinct that recoils from perceived danger. The steady presence that stands firm, offering safety. These pairs are not idle poetry. They illustrate how the unconscious houses instinctual forces that must evolve together. The Shakti aspect represents a dynamic, vital current — the drive toward life, transformation, emotional vitality, subtle creativity. The Shiva aspect provide containment, the instinctive intelligence that knows how to protect, restrain, channel, and nurture what would otherwise be chaotic. In each pairing: The dynamic life-force is untamed, vital, transformative. The caring containment is protective, shaping, enabling that energy to flourish without harm. They are co-arising: the wild needs the safe space to exist meaningfully; the container finds purpose in cradling the life within. If one seeks only to awaken the dynamic energy (as in a blind kundalini pursuit), without fostering the complementary instinct to contain and guide it, imbalance is inevitable. The system can flare into anxiety, delusion, or emotional overwhelm. This is why so many teachings stress that cultivation is not merely about amplifying energy, but purifying and preparing the mental and emotional channels first, so the deeper forces can safely develop. To purify the emotional and mental currents tangled by personal history, they must be witnessed and brought into greater flow. They are the first terrain of inner work, and through methods such as shadow work, dream exploration, deep feeling and understanding etc, their dysfunctions can be gradually resolved. Only then can the deeper unconscious forces, the Shiva and Shakti layers, find their ground. Importantly, it is the Shiva aspect that must awaken the Shakti aspect, otherwise containment will not occur, and the Shiva aspect in its turn has to first be activated by the flowing current of the emotional and mental currents. Recently, my dreams have begun to show me that when these two deep unconscious instinctual layers find each other and start to mature in their interaction, something new emerges. In symbolic terms, this is represented as a smaller, independent vehicle that will one day travel on its own. This resonates with images from Daoist Neidan (inner alchemy) where an alchemical child is born - an autonomous subtle body that eventually can separate from the main system. This smaller independent vehicle or child is the fruit of a long interplay between mature containment (Shiva) and vitality (Shakti). But the picture does not end here. Overseeing all of this is the witness self, the faculty of clear seeing that stands apart from the energies it observes. This witness is the part that learns to trust that the humble, instinctual containment field is capable of guiding the system more wisely than the anxious grasping of the conscious mind. It slowly informs the conscious mind, which may then serve as the executive agent, ruling not by force but by insight. In the end, I see the conscious mind, gently taught by the witness, becoming the wise steward of the system - allowing these deeper layers to do their work, neither interfering unnecessarily nor abandoning responsibility. Thus the entire architecture of psyche - subconscious, unconscious, witness, and conscious mind - becomes integrated. Each layer performs its unique role, culminating in a new life, an independent vitality born of the interplay between our deepest instinctual forces. A compact visual map (Divine / Mother/ Highest Source) ↓ Witness Self (objective seeing, clear awareness) ↓ Conscious Mind (steward) (makes decisions based on witness insight) ↓ ----------------------------------------------- | | Emotional Stream Mental Stream (Subconscious patterns & biases) ↓ ---------------------------------------------------------------- | | Dynamic Vital Force Containment Field (Shakti aspects) (Shiva aspects) - wildfire, fish, cat, fear - fireplace, fishbowl, dog, protector ↓ Interplay gives rise to: Smaller independent vehicle (new independent ‘entity’ directed by the conscious mind)

I’ve been reading a bit about about Saiva Siddhanta which is classed as dualist as opposed to non-dualist, and I see certain statements that appeal to me, for instance: “Prelude to the descent of divine liberating wisdom into the soul is purification of the soul by removal of impurities (malaparipakam).” I always like methods which look at cleaning/clearing within, it’s in the Neiye “Clean/clear the heart/mind/Xin, and the numinous spirit will come. It’s also in the external yellow court scripture “Cleanse the heart/mind/Xin to self-heal rather than wither from impurity.” Both the Neiye and the external yellow court scripture also refer to the descent of something important into the heart/mind/Xin/soul, in the Neiye “the numinous spirit will come,” in the yellow court “From above, the Heavenly Qi is received, granting increased life. In Christianity there is also the ‘Holy Spirit’ descends from above. Very likely confirmation bias is operating here, I believe in cleaning/clearing within, and I gather quotes to support this view. But there is also the further stage that these few references above speak about, the holy thing that comes into the purified vessel, the thing beyond that is not “I”, the thing greater than “I”, which perhaps defines an important difference between dualism and non-dualism.

I believe that ‘Judge not’ warns against ego-based condemnation that feeds separation and karmic entanglement. But there’s a world of difference between reactive judgment and the clear seeing that arises from compassion and alignment with truth. IMO Jesus wasn’t condemning out of wounded pride, he was cutting through hypocrisy to protect and awaken. So we might say real spiritual maturity knows when silence is love, and when fierce clarity is love. It’s not about never discerning, but about where it’s coming from within us.

Clearly Jesus hadn’t attained much spiritual progress then, evidenced by his condemnation of the Pharisees.

I think there might be two levels of intuition, one decidedly based on the intellect, and the other based on a higher knowledge source within. From https://positivepsychology.com/intuition/ Processes involved in intuition Herbert Simon’s research in the 1950s into the concept of bounded rationality guides much of the work on intuition. Simon suggested that people often make decisions – and reduce their cognitive load – based on what is good enough. Rather than arriving at complete and entirely correct answers, when faced with specific tasks, we often resort to heuristics – or rules of thumb – that help form intuitive judgments (Simon, 1955). The use of heuristics is considered commonplace and the default approach for making decisions (Epstein, 2010). The process of recognition – a fundamental evolved function – is also crucial to intuition. It appears separate from other parts of the human memory in the brain, capable of persisting in the most challenging conditions with accuracy sufficient for practical purposes. Intuition appears to rely on the automation of the decision-making process. Newly learned tasks often rely on declarative knowledge; we must consciously consider each move or action. As a result of practice and learning, this knowledge becomes automated or procedural. Such tasks are acted out without conscious intervention, saving significant processing power and freeing the mind to focus on more intensive or newly acquired actions. Forward and backward inferences also play an essential role in intuition (Hogarth, 2010). The knowledge we have acquired through experience helps us predict, intuitively, where the ball will land or why the child tripped and take action. Indeed, the vast knowledge we build up over time allows real-world predictions, enabling us to act quickly and effectively in situations that most of us have encountered many times before. Learning and retrieval are also highly relevant to successful intuitive processes. Having experienced objects and scenes before, we are highly adept at pattern matching to support our ability to decide and act quickly and effectively. For example, when we walk into a coffee shop, we recognize a cup as something we have seen many times before. We also understand, intuitively, that it is likely to be hot and easily spilled on an uneven surface. Intuition appears to arise – like an epiphenomenon – out of the interaction of many distinctive cognitive processes, rather than a single one. They combine to deliver a fast and effective response when it is most needed. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ive experienced the other level, where instinct brought me at the right time to the right place or guided me to interact in very specific ways with a few different people. That was inexplicable, but it was in the company of a particular person and it didn’t continue independently. The first sort of instinct is quick but not necessarily reliable, the second is astounding but unusual without developing a very good communication channel with the higher self. Neither use of these intuition forms has changed my life in any particular way, intuition is not something I aspire to or have wished to cultivate. Intuition of the second sort may develop as an outcome of consciousness flowing freely in all channels, and that sort of intuition is likely to be reliable, but for the path I’m on it’s not required on the way. What is your experience with intuition?

Maybe, though not from my perspective. I take the subtle body level as fundamental, and to me the reality of the subtle body is that there is no interaction between the relative and the absolute levels until the relative is followed and leads to the absolute - in other words consciousness cannot enter the central channel until the side channels are clear and flowing. The side channels are the relative channels, the central is where the absolute can be found. To me until consciousness is in the central channel all spiritual concepts remain just that, concepts, spiritual notions to practice and believe in but not actually ‘spiritual’ in any sense other than intellectual.

Do you dismiss Welwood along the same lines? On Spiritual Bypassing and Relationship Article by John Welwood Spiritual bypassing is a term I coined to describe a process I saw happening in the Buddhist community I was in, and also in myself. Although most of us were sincerely trying to work on ourselves, I noticed a widespread tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks. When we are spiritually bypassing, we often use the goal of awakening or liberation to rationalize what I call premature transcendence: trying to rise above the raw and messy side of our humanness before we have fully faced and made peace with it. And then we tend to use absolute truth to disparage or dismiss relative human needs, feelings, psychological problems, relational difficulties, and developmental deficits. I see this as an “occupational hazard” of the spiritual path, in that spirituality does involve a vision of going beyond our current karmic situation. Trying to move beyond our psychological and emotional issues by sidestepping them is dangerous. It sets up a debilitating split between the buddha and the human within us. And it leads to a conceptual, one-sided kind of spirituality where one pole of life is elevated at the expense of its opposite: Absolute truth is favored over relative truth, the impersonal over the personal, emptiness over form, transcendence over embodiment, and detachment over feeling. One might, for example, try to practice nonattachment by dismissing one’s need for love, but this only drives the need underground, so that it often becomes unconsciously acted out in covert and possibly harmful ways instead.

Along the same lines people at various sorts of ‘how to get ahead’ type conferences are told the rape you experienced and your beliefs around it can just be let go of, everything is just a mind story that you don’t have to buy into. Without your story you can be rich/free/enlightened - whatever they’re selling on the day. People are fairly easily manipulated especially when in a large group all entertaining the same ideas. Utterly destructive in a holistic sense, but quite often a win in the moment for the leader of the conference and the attendees who have bought into the premise.

My take on where emotions come from: I see the two subtle body side channels as being literally the channels of emotional and mental energise, from my perspective emotional energy goes up Ida Nadi and mental energy comes down Pingala Nadi. Note these are side channels, and this equates to the importance of thoughts and emotions. Important, but not as important as the central channel which carries “Shiva and Shakti’ energies. In my framework, if energy isn’t flowing up Ida and down Pingala, the fundamentals of the system are not in order, and the central channel can’t start operating, so for me emotional flow is the first thing to establish (as we seem to have a lot more trouble with our emotional flow than our mental flow), and everything else flows from that.

I see emotions as part of a holistic feedback system, designed to safeguard an individual and lead an individual to make positive life choices. Problems arise when emotions are ignored or overridden by mental strategies, in which case the emotions are stuffed away. This leads to a shutdown of this aspect of our system feedback, which is similar to caging a tiger, the emotional system doesn’t disappear but remains tense and agitated, lashing out at inopportune moments. There are multiple strategies that have been devised to deal with this caged tiger, few of which directly address the fundamental issue. Emotional flow has a place in the ultimate setup of a human being, but it is only one part of the entire system, and not even the major part. But when emotional flow is blocked it can be the major problem that we face. Ultimately we need to go beyond being led by our emotions, but only when emotional flow has been re-established and is healthy. For that matter the same can be said of our thoughts, we need to go beyond being led by them but only when our mind is fully healthy. Being emotionally in tune with the people and things in our environment is valuable, and knowing when these people or things don’t have our best interests at heart is also valuable, even if this isn’t our ultimate guide in life, and is only a part of the ultimate system. Personally I’ve worked with dreams to establish emotional health, and though it’s a very long (decades long) and hard road I think I have finally achieved it.