Fourth Chakra...Fourth Day

[Guest guest]

Fourth Chakra...Anahata/Unstruck

 

Driven by the forces of love, the fragments of the

world seek each other so that the world may come into

being. Pierrre Teilhard De Chardin

 

Riding on the golden flames of our power center, we

now arrive at the heart of the chakra system. Here,

in a band of green, lies the center of the Rainbow

Bridge, the midpoint of our journey. Like the green,

growing plants which push toward the heavens from

their roots in the earth, we too, reach outward in two

directions --anchoring the manifesting current deep in

our bodies and expanding the liberating current as we

reach beyond ourselves. In the heart chakra, these

currents come to perfect balance in the center of our

being. From that sacred center--the heart of the

system--we enter the mystery of love.

 

The basic issues that we encounter in the heart chakra

deal with balance, love, and relationship. Through

balance we find a center from which we can love,

through love we form relationships, and through

relationships we have the opportunity to awaken the

self-centered ego of the lower chakras into awareness

of the larger realm in which we are embedded.

 

BALANCE is the underlying foundation of longevity in

all things. Ancient tantric diagrams depict the heart

chakra as a lotus of twelve petals containing a

six-pointed star, made of two interlacing triangles.

This represents the downward movement of spirit into

matter and the upward liberation of matter into

spirit, meeting in perfect balance in the heart. More

than just a meeting, this is an interpenetration whose

final goal is integration of spirit and mind with body

and soul.

 

Since the heart chakra is the middle point in a system

of seven centers, balance is an essential principle at

this level of integration. This implies both internal

balance between various aspects of ourselves (mind an

body, persona and shadow, male and female), as well as

balance between ourselves and the world around us

(work and play, giving and receiving, socializing and

being alone). Finding this equilibrium supports the

basic issues of love and relationship, for without

balance within ourselves it is difficult, if not

impossible, to achieve healthy and longlasting love

relationships.

 

INTIMACY, as Thomas Moore so aptly points out in Soul

Mates, is about bringing forth deeply interior aspects

of the self. In order to have intimacy we first need

to have a sense of self. We need to be intimate with

our own interior, to know our needs, wishes, fears,

boundaries, and hopes. Through knowing the self

within, we can honor the self that lives within

another. We need to be able to love our own self

enough to offer it openly to someone else. Without

self-love, this cannot happen.

 

COMPASSION means to have passion with. In the second

chakra we encountered passion in the realm of

feelings, through the desires of the soul reaching

forward to meet its own needs. In the heart chakra,

we now reach beyond ourselves and expand that passion

to include an understanding of another's needs. The

ego, when secure in its own autonomy and power, can

now surrender willingly toward altruism. If our own

needs have been met and satisfied, we can now share

our fullness with another.

 

The ability to have compassin for others depends first

on our ability to be in touch with our yearnings and

pain. Expansion of spirit is one of the silver

linings of hardship. Pain opens us to deeper

understanding of others and expands our own limited

being. Only by experiencing our own trials and

tribulations can we share wisdom and understanding

from the tender level of feelings. Thus compassion is

an exquisite balance of upper and lower chakra

expression. Compassion remains centered, yet open,

and it quietly holds the space for change to occur,

providing both the stability of a container and the

freedom of release.

 

Love is the essence that heals. Patience, skill,

training, and talent all play their part, but without

love they are merely techniques. All wounds cry for

the universal medicine of love. As the cosmic glue of

the universe, love is the force that bridges the gaps

that cut us asunder. In the gap between Heaven and

Earth, love is the binding force that holds together

the many-colored steps of the Rainbow Bridge.

 

Unfortunately, due to the damage we have each received

in our lives, we are not always sure how to apply love

to the wounds within ourselves and others. We do not

know what real love looks like or how to create it.

 

FORGIVENESS is said to be the ultimate step in

healing. Forgiveness uses the compassion of the heart

to understand situations in terms of the forces that

were acting on both ourselves and others. We may

still vehemently disagree with the actions taken. We

may say, rightfully, that we would never have done

such a thing. We may even need something from the

other person in order to allow forgiveness--an

apology, some kind of restitution, or an

acknowledgement of harm. But in the end, forgiveness

allows the heart to lighten and move on; it is the

redemptive action of the heart.

 

Forgiveness softens the hardening of the heart and so

renews openness. It is not meant as a process which

allows the same thing to happen again, but it will

allow greater awareness to evolve in situations that

have gone awry. It allows us to unhook the energy

from the negative past and free it up for a more

positive future.

 

The heart chakra brings us to a place of acceptance

and openness that allows the spirit inside to be still

and find peace and stability without constriction. If

the third chakra below has done its work correctly, we

have created a place where the fourth chakra can now

let go and just be. The state of being as oppposed to

doing is the qualitative difference between chakras

four and three.

 

Healing the heart involves attending to the most

vulnerable and sacred aspects within ourselves. Only

through attending to their truth can we drop the

protective armor that keeps us bound to the ego, bound

to smaller parts of ourselves. Manipulation,

derision, criticisms, or command will not work. We can

only melt the armor with the combinatin of feeling and

understanding that is love.

 

Through love we are able to expose our instinctual

core and evolve to the next step of expressing our

truth. Through love we are able to embrace and heal

the larger world around us. Relationship furthers the

evolution of individual souls and the collective soul

of our planet.

 

 

Fourth Chakra: Air, Green, Love, Balance,

Self-reflection, Self-acceptance, Relationship,

Intimacy, Anima/Animus, Eros/Thanatos, Grief,

Compassion, Devotion

 

Eastern Body Western Mind by Anodea Judith

 

(This Chapter is so full...not being able to put it

all here I had to pick and choose. Its hard leaving so

much behind...maybe another time).

 

Here is a wonderful Short Meditative Movie on " You Are Love "

http://www.youarelovemovie.com/