Third Chakra

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Day Three - Third Chakra

 

" No human being can stand the perpetually

numbing experience of his own powerlessness. "

Rollo May

 

Name:::Manipura (lustrous gem)

 

Element:::Fire

 

Purpose:::Transformation

 

Issues:::

 

Energy, Activity, Autonomy, Individuation,

Will, Self-esteem, Proactivity, Power

 

Goals:::

 

Vitality, spontaneity, strength of will,

purpose, self-esteem

 

Color:::Yellow

 

Location:::Solar plexus

 

Orientation:::Self-definition

 

Archetype:::Hero

 

Basic Rights:::

To Act and Be an Individual

 

Cultures with narrowly defined behavior patterns impair

the right to act through fear of punishment and the

enforcement of blind obedience. Most people follow in

the footsteps of others, afraid to innovate, afraid to be

free. When the right to act is restricted, will and

spontaneity go with it and our vitality decreases. This

does not imply that the third chakra profits by senseless

or whimsical acts, but that we do need freedom to

develop our inner authority. A corollary to this right is

the right to be free.

 

Affirmations:

 

" I honor the power within me. I accomplish

tasks easily and effortlessly. "

" The fire within me burns through all blocks and fears. "

" I can do whatever I will to do. "

 

Identity:::

 

In the third chakra, we identify with our will, behavior, and

our actions. This is where we realize that we are a

separate entity with the power to choose our own

actions and consequences. This is the ego identity,

oriented towards self-definition. This type of identification

says, " I am what I do. " When we do something right or

achieve something difficult, we feel good about ourselves.

When we make mistakes or fail, we think we're bad.

We think that what we do is a statement of who we are.

Ego identity emerges from physical and emotional

identity and can be thought of as the inner executive, as

it executes our intentions. This is the identity most

often in charge. But we have to remember—it is

only a middle manager.

 

Demon:::

Shame

 

Shame undermines self-esteem, personal power,

spontaneous activity, and joy. Shame collapses the

third chakra and turns its radiating energy inward

against the self.

 

Shame is inversely proportional to personal power—the

greater the shame, the less we feel powerful and the

harder it is for the ego to form itself. Shame blocks the

liberating current and prevents energy rising from the

lower chakras from forming into effective action. We feel

ashamed of ourselves, and hence of our basic instincts,

which must then be controlled by the mind. As a result,

shame-bound personalities feel stuck and may fall into

patterns of compulsive repetition and addiction.

 

When the ascending, liberating current gets stuck at the

third chakra, the manifesting, downward current of

consciousness is increased. The mind runs the show,

binding the biological energy into controlled patterns,

creating the term shame-bound. Shame-bound people

honor their thoughts more than their instincts, especially

the internal voices that constantly tell them how

worthless and inferior they are. Spontaneity is limited by

internal scrutiny, which finds and disempowers the will.

 

As natural instincts can never be fully repressed, they

periodically erupt in shadow forms that only increase the

sense of shame and inadequacy. When we misbehave,

lose our temper, fall apart, or have lapses in our vigilant

self-control, we are driven to deeper shame. Examples

include the dieter or substance user who repeatedly

binges or the entrepreneur who sabotages work and

success through procrastination and passive-aggressive

behavior. The block in the will keeps the downward

current from entering the second chakra with its

orientation toward pleasure, so these activities seldom

have any real pleasure to them Shame finds its

penance in suffering, and the need to recreate misery

and failure keeps one in a very unhappy false state of

equilibrium.

 

SHADES OF YELLOW

 

One need only pick up the daily newspaper to see

that we are a culture obsessed with power. Headlines

of violence, warfare, victimization, and dominance reveal

a world continually beset by conflict. Strength is often

defined as dominance; sensitivity as weakness. Taking

time to consider important decisions is considered

waffling, while swift, bold strokes are touted as brilliant

accomplishments. Political news reads more like the

sports page than as informed analysis: " President

scores points over divided Congress. " " GOP wins seat

over Democrats. " " Loggers defeat environmentalists. "

We put the hopes of many into the leadership of a few,

remaining in passive helplessness while those in whom

we invest our power spend it fighting each other,

creating stagnation and political gridlock, or waging war.

 

Immersed in our own feelings of powerlessness, we are

fascinated by the triumphs of others, and glean a perverse

satisfaction from following the continual struggles for

supremacy and control--over ourselves, other people,

other nations, and Nature herself--but always power OVER

something.

 

What is power? Where do we get it? How do we use it?

Why do we need it? How do we avoid its unbalanced

duality of victimization and abuse, aggression and passivity,

dominance and submission? Where do we find our own

empowerment without diminishing that of others? How do

we reclaim, with full responsibility, enthusiasm, and pride,

our innate RIGHT TO ACT, free from inhibition and shame?

 

The popular model of power that exists in today's world is

one that can be described as " power-over, " based on

struggle and opposition between dualities, where one side

eventually wins over the other side. In society, we see this

in racism, se+ism, classism, ageism, and almost any other

" ism " we could name.

 

In the inner world, the struggle continues. We think

power is gained by fighting our inferior parts with the

strength of our superior parts. If the right side wins, then

we have a sense of power. If we lose, we feel powerless.

We are asked to exert mind over matter, to prove our

strength by dominating our basic instincts, surpressing

the raw energy of the core self which is the psychic source

of our power. Struggle itself becomes the focus of our life force.

 

There is no doubt that at times, winning this kind of inner

battle is important. But the victory of one part over another

does not lead to wholeness, but further fragmentation. Such

battles rob the system of energy and usually re-emerge

to be fought again and again. It is no wonder that the

recovery movement is full of victims, scapegoating their evil

persecutors, hoping to regain their lost power, not always

realizing that we are the victims of an oppressive social system,

of cultural values that belittle us, and of an outdated concept

of power itself. We have lost the sense of our own sacredness;

lost contact with the power within.

 

To restructure the way we think of power and to channel

and contain that power within our own being is the challenge

of the third chakra. It transforms us, igniting our life with

purpose. To have true power emanating from within renews

the joy of being alive.

 

What is needed to reclaim our power is to enter into an

entirely new dynamic, a new definition of power that lifts

us out of struggle and into transformation, out of past

and into the future, one that inspires, strengthens, and

empowers individuals without diminishing others.

 

The dynamics of power within the chakra system are also

built on duality, but in a way that emphasizes combina-

tion and synergy rather than separation and struggle.

Raw energy is created from a combination of the first

and second chakra's attributes of matter and movement.

The expression of that energy as action is motivated by

survival and pleasure, the instinctual forces that combine

to create our ascending liberating current.

 

Transforming the instinctual impulses into willed activity

is made possible by the descent of consciousness which

gives form and direction through understanding as it meets

and mediates the ascending current of liberation. When

the ascending and descending currents combine, the

raw energy of power is focused into activity. Only through

this combination do we realize that the true purpose of

power is transformation.

 

So we enter the third chakra through the gates of duality.

By successfully integrating both sides of polarity, we

emerge into a third realm that simultaneously includes

and transcends polarity by creating a new dynamic.

Here we reach beyond the oscillating realms of either/or,

win/lose, black/white, and enter the rainbow realm of

multiplicity. Once we have ventured out toward the middle

of the Rainbow Bridge, our choices expand, our horizons

widen. As our options increase, so does our strength

and our freedom.

 

As we exercise choice, we initiate the will. Through

exercising our will, we develop our individuality, discover

our strengths and weaknesses, and begin to build the power

that will steer our lives. We leave the realm of safety and

security, carrying our safety within the ground of our own

body. So many people in recovery are understandably

concerned about feeling safe. But power is not created

from staying safe; power comes from the willingness to

leave the world of safety and move forward into the

unknown. As we meet challenge, it strengthens us by

forcing us to grow. Power, like a muscle, will not increase

by doing nothing.

 

In the chakra system as a whole, the purpose of the third

chakra is to transform the inertia of matter and movement

into a conscious direction of willed activity. Earth and

water are passive and dense. They move downward.

Chakras one and two are instinctual. They follow the

paths of least resistance. The fire of chakra three is

dynamic and light, rising upwards, moving away from

gravity. This change is necessary to reach the upper

chakras and complete our journey.

 

We must be willing to leave passivity behind. We must be

willing to leave the way it has always been, to transform

our habits, set a new course and enter chakra three. We

must be willing to individuate--to step out of the familiar

and expected and confront the challenge of uncertainty.

" Thus to be independent of public opinion is the first formal

condition of achieving anything great, " says Hegel. " You

must be the change you wish to see in the world, "

says Gandhi.

 

Friction makes sparks. Fire transforms matter to heat

and light, and gives us the ability to see and to act. Fire

awakens us from our passive slumber, sparking

consciousness into understanding. Understanding tempers

the fire, binding raw energy into power, direction, and

transformation. Thus we enter the fiery yellow section of

our Rainbow Bridge on the unfolding journey from matter

to consciousness.

 

Eastern Body Western Mind by Anodea Judith