Sexual sublimation, the process of distilling sexual energy and drawing it up into the brain, is the basis of Kundalini activity, which, in one way or another, is the basis of self-actualization — what some people call spiritual transformation, or one of its many synonyms: transcendence, enlightenment, soul, samadhi, nirvana, enlightenment, turiya, shunyata, Brahman, Atman.
I say this because the Kundalini experience takes many forms, probably because the sublimation process takes many forms. Hidden channels can open in various ways, intentionally or unintentionally, triggering a flow of sexual energy to the brain. If you read, Deciphering the Golden Flower One Secret at a Time, you are aware that I chose the backward-flowing method — a structured, intentional, formal path — that consists of drawing a distilled seminal essence, or psychic fuel, up the spinal column to the brain. In fact, kundalini calls on all the body’s resources to supply energy, sometimes even from the lymphatic system.
"For a week I observe my breath circulate in the opposite direction without noticing any effect. The mind goes on autopilot and I go back to my uninspired routine: walking, cooking, meditating. Then, two weeks later, about the length of time it takes the backward-flowing process to become permanent, there’s something new. On the day in question, I feel a sensation at the base of my spine like the cracking of a small egg and the spilling out of its contents. For the next month, I observe the fluid-like contents of the egg trickle out of its reservoir and slowly begin to climb my spine. What is this fluid? I can’t describe it exactly. It seems to emanate from the base of the spine and press upward. Each time I sit to meditate, it has risen a half an inch higher.”
~ Deciphering the Golden Flower One Secret at a Time - JJ Semple, Life Force Books, 2007
This approach is derived from ancient Chinese texts, specifically The Secret of the Golden Flower. It took about three months for this process to complete, about 12 months overall. I never felt sexual arousal; I felt a benign hydraulic sensation, as if a liquid was slowly climbing up my back. Contrast my experience, which could be described as "verging on the machine-like," with Dale Pond's account:
"With that, my eyes rolled upwards and began to flutter and I became very sexually aroused but there were no thoughts of sex involved. I began to feel a rising sensation from my genital area and as the sensation neared my heart, it began to beat incredibly fast. I thought if it beat any faster it would leave my body. Then it was as if my mind was being pulled into the tiniest black hole and all of a sudden with a burst it was as if I had expanded and entered the universe. I felt as if I were one of the stars. They were everywhere glittering beside me and then I saw the moon in all its brilliance hovering in the distance. However, not having the discipline that is needed to stay with this experience, my attention went to the sexual feelings below and I felt what was once the rising sensation, begin to descend downward where it had originated. I then opened my eyes and everything was vibrating in and around me. I closed my eyes again and the experience started all over. When it was finished or should I say when I was exhausted, I opened my eyes to find my body in a state of vibration. I just sat there for a moment full of awe and wonder at what had just taken place in my interior.”
Although it is experienced in many different ways, the sexual energy is always present as Kundalini rises. Is awakening always accompanied by sexual arousal? Is there a link between Kundalini and sexual awakening? All legitimate questions. One thing is certain: It must be summoned, whether by intent, such as meditation, or by accident, and it must get to the brain. How do I know this? I know it first hand; it happened to me. What else accounts for the spontaneous eruption of neuroplastic energy that revitalized and re-engineered my physical body? What other energetic entity could regenerate a degenerating body? What other power could quick start a non-existent creativity?
But how do we really know the effect sublimation has on the bodies of those who practice it? An article in Current Biology, Volume 22, Issue 18, R792-R793, 25 September 2012 gives us a hint of this:
"Male sex hormones are responsible for shortening the lives of men, a new study has suggested. The evidence comes after careful study of genealogy records of noble members of the Imperial court of the Korean Chosun dynasty (AD 1392-1910)."
What is this article really saying and how do its findings relate to Kundalini? The article tells us sexual hormones that remain is the prostate region can turn against the body. It stumbled on a rather drastic solution — castration. Now this wasn't determined by an experiment set up in the Chosun dynasty: people were castrated back then for political and social reasons. But the records left by this practice — comparing castrated men to intact men — yielded data for a modern day study that tells us about effects of hormones on men's bodies as they age.
So, is there another solution to "shortening the lives of men" besides castration? Ancient adepts learned that sublimation, the practice of redirecting sexual hormones to the brain, was a powerful factor in longevity, in effect, a substitute for castration. People frequently ask me about the optimal time in life to begin Kundalini meditation. I tell them at the end of useful child bearing might be a time. This study sets another criteria: a reasonable period before prostate damage occurs — at a time in a man's life when family responsibilities are lessening and the "rest-of-life" challenges begin to surface. In fact, the two might work together as a kind of life plan for better senior living. We certainly don't think castration will make a comeback, in spite of this study! But years of creative fulfillment? That's worth considering.
Imagine that you came home one day to find the cat sitting at your computer sending emails. That's the same kind of change that occurred the moment man used the first tool. An outside witness — say an interplanetary observer — would have been astonished. This bestial creature all of a sudden using a club to fight off invaders? What caused it? How did the brain suddenly make the connection? What made the synapses fire? What made the hand suddenly reach down and pick up a club at the very instant the brain realized its deadly purpose? The leap from using tools such as fire or clubs to creating art is a short one — once consciousness kicks in. Sexual energy has two purposes: reproduction and neuroplastic brain development, aka, Kundalini activation. There must be a balance between these two ends. Imagine if everyone took to raising Kundalini to the exclusion of reproduction, civil society would collapse. But think about evolution for a moment. Where is it headed? Look at the millions who are striving for spiritual release. ARE Evolution and those attempting to raise Kundalini not headed in the same direction? Google the term Kundalini. Thousands of websites with their own interpretations. Why, all of a sudden? To what evolutionary end?
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You only need to look at the world around us for the answer. How long can we go on this way? Exhausting our resources, killing and fighting, shouting and screaming, overcrowding and wasting. Look at how evolution is responding to this turmoil. It's sending millions to Yoga, Kundalini, and the like. Imagine, then, that the ultimate in neuroplastic brain development might be the bodiless brain or the ethereal brain or the bodiless being? If we were to exist in bodiless form, what happens to all our problems? Suddenly, they don't exist. Suddenly, we are free. Will it happen tomorrow? Don't confuse evolution with history; the two are not synonymous. It took us millions of years to evolve into our present form. It may take another million to get to the next stage, but evolution is trying to adjust, trying to keep us alive.
One of the big differences among realized practitioners is permanency of Kundalini energy. In some, the energy keeps pumping slowly and continually, like the dependable oil well that never seems to dry up. In others, it comes and goes. Regardless of how the energy acts upon the individual, regardless of the metanormal gifts it bestows, its origins are always sexual. The wonder of it: that our bodies are able to repurpose our reproductive energy into something sublime! No wonder Gopi Krishna writes about Kundalini as being the source of Genius and Religion!
One thing is certain: because Kundalini is related to sexuality, it is difficult to talk about in an everyday social context. A friend of mine says those who don't succeed in raising Kundalini are blocked at the 2nd chakra. "I was just supposing that MAYBE people were blocked at the second chakra because they gave away their power... Dunno if it's a fact. Seems possible if not probable however, considering the way we treat sexuality in most places across the planet. We don't even use the proper names for our genitals when talking to little kids, and we hate disclosing our bedroom practices in front of others, sometimes even to our partner. We're sort of encouraged to be simultaneously ashamed of our sexuality while at the same time we are bombarded with imagery that uses sex to sell... It's a strange world."
SO, would being more open about sexuality help us to achieve spiritual release? Are two such seemingly unrelated subjects intimately tied together? Most meaningful Kundalini literature says they are. And isn't there a price to pay for seminal retention? Good question, because Kundalini doesn't like sharing the Life Force energy.
Nevertheless, if there's one chance in a hundred that something is stuck or blocked because of sexual repression, you need to rethink your sexuality. The last thing you want to do is give away your power instead of using it yourself.
What about those who attempt to raise Kundalini, who work diligently and sincerely at it, but can't seem to get there? I'm not talking about dabblers; I'm talking about those who work hard, follow every step of the method, yet ultimately fail — for whatever reason.
Is it really a failure? Should not making the Olympic team after putting forth the requisite effort be considered a failure? It's part of life — whether for anatomical or Karmic reasons, some make it and some don't. Is it because some little valve at the base of the spine got stuck? I don't know. Whatever the reason, the inability to activate Kundalini shouldn't be considered a failure. Many principles are involved: method, state of mind and body, age, health, discipline, Karma. Sure, it means a realignment of goals, but I never intended to activate Kundalini and yet I did. Why did it happen to me — a person who kind of backed into it — and not to others? I don't know.
It turned my life around, both physically and psychically. Yet it has made me wholly “abnormal" and different. Perhaps, it happened because the Karmic rulers knew I could withstand the stress of abnormality, but others who strived more ardently than I did, couldn't. Again I don't know.
I do know everyone is meant to follow a specific path. But it's only one lifetime. Many more to come. Don't be impatient.
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