Cosmic Sage
Member
Joined: 30 Aug 2009
Posts: 370
Location: Lacoochee , FL. U.S.A
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 Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:02 pm Post subject: Prana And The Subtle Body |
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To identify with the One Self we must first identify with prana, the life breath. As the universal force that animates all existance, prana is chi in Taoism, ruach in Judaism, ki in Japan, and Pneuma in Greek thought. In its highest expression, prana is the dynamism inherent in the silent Absolute, its tendecy to vibrate and become the creative energy that generates life.In shaping the world of duality, prana becomes both intelligence and existance, mind and matter, subject and object.
In the graded series of highly sensitive energy fields that constitute the human individual, the stepping down of prana is given different names according to the functions it assumes as it nourishes and enlivens the entire physiology. This is composed not only of the gross bodily physical structure known to Western medicine but also a second, subtle nervous system made of very refined material, often called the "subtle body" in esoteric teachings.
Although this is imperceptible to conventional objective investigation, it is the basis of traditional Oriental health care systems, such as Ayurveda and acupuncture. This subjective nervous system links the gross anatomy with its abstract source, the pure intelligence of the Self, and acts as a filter through which the qualities of the Self are reflected. If the subtle nervous system is pure and unstressed, the qualities of pure intelligence will naturally be displayed on the surface of our life. If, However, as is usually the case, the subtle levels of the individual are out of balance and blocked by the unresolved residue of past experience, then our natural hapiness, freedom, and creativity will be compromised. If these imbalances are left untreated, they will eventually manifest on the gross level of illness.
The flow of prana is quickened and strengthened through spiritual practice, which revitalizes the nervous system, flushes out those accumulated physical, psychological, and emotional impurities that are the legacy of aberrant life patterns, and gradually promotes a more benign neurochemistry.
As we evolve, more and more of our karmically seeded latent tendencies emerge into the daylight of conscious awareness, from where they can be purified and released- either by being transcended or by being acknowledged and, if necessary, acted out. Through this process of inner alchemy, the entire nervous system, gross and subtle, becomes progressively freed from its karmic dross and increasingly able to reflect the pure and luminous awareness that is the Self. Self-realization takes us beyond even the luminous realms of the gods who, from this point of view, represents stages of our own development yet to unfold.
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Wisdom Begins In Wonder |
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