The seven centres that are so special and unique are, we could say, agents of the soul. They carry the soul’s energy and purpose into the physical body, into the consciousness.
Robert: Welcome to Inner Sight. Inner sight is simply seeing that which is always present but not yet fully recognized. You have within you the ability to see yourself and the world around you in a new way, with new eyes, so stay with us and together we’ll look at the world and ourselves with inner sight. Our topic for today is the seven centres. All the dialogue that you’ll hear in this show emanates from the works of Alice Bailey, the founder of the Lucis Trust Organization, who wrote twenty-four volumes of books. This thought is from Alice Bailey as well: “The etheric body is composed entirely of lines of force and points where these lines of force cross each other and thus form centres of energy. Where many such lines of force cross each other, you have a larger centre of energy, and where great streams of energy meet and cross, you have seven major centres.” Well, this is quite a complex subject. Before we go on with this program, can you recap briefly what we talked about last time?
Sarah: I think the opening thought kind of implies that we’re going to be talking about the distribution of energy. In last week’s program, we discussed that everything in the world is based upon energy and is an expression of energy. Throughout the universe, there is simply energy in various states of motion and concreteness. Even the physical body is a form of energy, made-up of energy. The etheric body is that body that substands, you could say, the physical body. It’s not visible except to those with etheric vision, but it is a factor and the major conditioning factor in making the physical body of any form—not only of a human being, but of any form or object—what it in fact is. The energy is conducted through the etheric body according to its stage of development or not. This whole concept is based on the idea that God is omnipresent throughout the world and that he is the One in whom we live and move and have our being. There is One Life behind all outer manifestation. We all belong to that One Life and are expressions of it. We partake of this One Life, this Universal Life, through our etheric body, which is not unique. It is merged with and part of the etheric body of the planet itself. Last week when we were discussing the etheric body we didn’t have time to mention what I think are two verifications of the existence of the etheric body. One is the phenomenon that people who have had amputated limbs have commented on; people who have lost an arm or a leg have sometimes experienced sensation even in the area of the missing limb, which medicine finds most peculiar. But those who have studied the etheric body would know that the etheric counterpart or component of the missing limb is still present. That leads to another example, which is Kirlian photography. It’s a science that’s developed in the last few decades that is able to photograph plants as well as human bodies with special equipment that shows the energy component behind the outer form. People who are listening have probably seen Kirlian photographs of plants, leaves, and so on that show a vibrant energy field radiating from the leaf or flower or whatever. They’ve even done experiments where they’ve torn away part of the leaf and the photograph will show still the energy body or the etheric outline of the leaf, still whole and complete and perfect, even though part of the physical leaf was torn away.
Dale: They’ve also photographed the hand, and you see the same energy radiating from the hand and the fingers. It’s quite interesting because it’s constantly changing. This etheric energy body changes with our inner disposition and one is affecting the other. So, it’s very evident that there’s something more there than what the so-called normal eye can see.
Sarah: What we were discussing last week seems to lead into the idea of the topic today, the seven centres, because the etheric body conducts or distributes or relays energy through the form according to patterns and lines of energy flow that—as our opening thought said—intersect and cross each other. If one could see the etheric body, I think we would see a great radius or a complex network of lines of energy flowing, much like I think of as a train terminal, where many lines of train traffic are coming into the central station. Where these lines of energy intersect in abundance, a centre is created, a centre of force, a confluence, you could say.
Robert: Would it be appropriate to call that confluence of lines that we’re talking about in regard to the etheric body, chakras?
Sarah: If you want to use that fancy Sanskrit word, that’s okay, you may use that word. (laughter) Chakra is the same as centre. And the seven centres refer specifically to the centres of consciousness. As I understand it, there are many more centres throughout the body than just seven.
Dale: Yes, there are. Actually, there are many minor centres. There are five centres up the spine. They’re associated with the etheric body and along the spine. Then there are two in the head. That makes the major seven.
Sarah: But there are more than that.
Dale: There are more than that, yes. There are twenty-one minor centres. These would be in places like in the palms of the hand or in the soles of your feet or the shoulder blades, or the two breasts, or in front of each of the ears, and so on. These are also little centres, but they’re not the same as the major seven. They work similarly to the major seven, but…
Sarah: The seven centres that are so special and unique are, we could say, agents of the soul. They carry the soul’s energy and purpose into the physical body, into the consciousness.
Dale: Each of these centres, they’re not awake and they’re not vivid, all of them at once. As evolution proceeds, they awaken gradually. In other words, they become more receptive to energies flowing in from the environment, from the astral plane or from the mental plane.
Sarah: Depending on one’s stage of development.
Dale: Depending on one’s stage of development, where one stands on the whole ladder of evolution.
Sarah: But I thought we were all equal.
Dale: Not in terms of the awakening of the chakras, no.
Sarah: What? I’m shocked! (laughter)
Dale: (laughing) We’re all equal in potential, let’s say.
Sarah: We are all precious in the eyes of God, and “we are all equal before the law,” as John Adams said.
Robert: I’m kind of confused. Are we saying that due to reincarnation and personal evolution, that perhaps we’re all on a different level of evolution?
Sarah: We’re all at varying stages of development. We’re all unfinished projects, our soul is doing its best to bring its vehicles, its equipment—which is our bodies: physical, emotional, mental—into a better and better state of responsiveness and refinement. Evolution and experience, suffering, pain, education, and later on the path, real, determined, disciplined effort through meditation and service and spiritual study help to activate and uplift the centres.
Dale: Where our focus lies is pretty much determined by which one of the centres are more active because evolution has us start from the bottom. We might go through the seven of them and discuss them briefly.
Sarah: Okay. The first centre at the very bottom—literally the bottom—is the base of the spine.
Dale: That’s also related to the adrenal glands.
Sarah: We should point out that in every centre there is a counterpart of a gland in the same vicinity. In the physical body, which is the counterpart of the etheric, wherever there is a centre in the etheric body, there is a related gland, and the adrenal glands are related to the base of spine centre. I just wanted to mention that as I understand it, this centre, even though it’s at the very bottom or end of the line, so to speak—if you see these centres as a column—it’s very late in awakening because it has to do with the spiritual will. The spiritual will isn’t really touched or activated until a very advanced stage of the path. I think some people, through wrong spiritual practices, have succeeded in galvanizing this centre into premature functioning through what they call the Kundalini fire. And that’s not a good idea.
Dale: No, we can talk about this now or a little later, but there’s tremendous power that’s locked up in that centre, and if it is awakened prematurely, then it can be very dangerous.
Robert: When should it be awakened?
Sarah: It shouldn’t be forced awake, forced open at all; ever. It awakens naturally in response to the expansion of consciousness. The attention should be on the expanding of the spiritual consciousness, never on awakening any particular centre. But there are teachers and students who do just that, put a focus on awakening a particular centre, and you can do quite a lot of damage to yourself. But unfortunately, that warning is often pooh-poohed by the very people who should be listening.
Dale: Yes, it’s believed by some that if you open up your centres then you’re going to be awake and illumined and more vivified and you can serve better and that sort of thing, but in fact what you probably are doing is opening yourself up to more energy than your physical body can handle.
Sarah: Because you forced it open prematurely.
Dale: Right, and the very atoms of substance that make up your body have not evolved enough to handle this very high potent energy and you could literally end up burning up your brain cells or your etheric body. You’re rupturing the etheric body and that can cause tremendous problems.
Robert: Could you tell us something more about the other chakras?
Sarah: Yes, we don’t have too much time, so I guess we’ll just have to touch very briefly on them. The next chakra or centre—I prefer the word centre—is the Sacral Centre. This is located in the area of the gonads, and it’s one that’s awake and thriving in most people. It’s what gives the sex urge, the very needed impulse to keep the human species on earth regenerating and replenishing our population. So, it’s a rightly demanded urge of the human family that we have this center functioning, but as we know in many people, it’s probably overly emphasized.
Dale: Yes, it is, and it’s overly stimulated by so much attention on the energies that are emitted or controlled by this centre, and it’s something that needs to be brought into alignment with the higher spiritual energies.
Sarah: The energies in the sacral centre can be transferred, and we can talk about that in a little while if we have time, but maybe we should talk briefly about the other centres. The solar plexus is another centre that’s very awake and thriving in most human beings. It’s in the region of the abdomen. It’s associated with the pancreas. The gland is the pancreas, and it’s that capacity that makes us react to emotional and astral energies, whether we are in a conversation with another person or in a crowd of people, the panic response or the mob impulse. It’s also that which gives us the sense of something imminent when we say, “I know it in my gut” or “I feel it.”
Robert: Intuition?
Sarah: Well, it’s certainly a very lower counterpart of intuition. The real intuition is a much higher plane, but the solar plexus reacts in kind of an inchoate sensing, and it is a reactive centre. It doesn’t create or energize on its own; it reacts and responds. So, if you work too much through that centre you are the prisoner of whatever is going on around you. Whatever that outer force and energy is, it’s dominating you and you are reacting to it rather than being the creator of your own life.
Dale: Then above that there is the heart centre.
Sarah: The centre of group consciousness, of the inclusive capacity to love in an impersonal and very broad way; not just one’s own family and friends but to love humanity is an expression of the heart centre.
Dale: And that’s related to the thymus gland. Then above that is the throat centre, which is related to the thyroid gland.
Sarah: This is a creative centre. Here is where we can touch back again on the sacral centre. The energies of the sacral centre, which is a creative centre—it creates the human race—have to be lifted up, transferred into the throat centre, which is more pure creativity, the centre through which the artist works, and interestingly, many artists are kind of a combination of both the throat and sacral energies. I think of Picasso as an example. He had a very healthy and active sex life; I think it’s well documented. He was also a genius as a painter. He was probably in the stage of transferring all of that tremendous creative energy, lifting it up into the throat centre. Above that are two centres in the head, which are really influenced by the awakening of spiritual consciousness. The centre between the eyebrows, which is called the third eye.
Dale: The Ajna centre.
Sarah: The Ajna Centre is the center which awakens when the soul and the personality or the inner spiritual being and the outer appearance fuse and become one. When one is one with the Father in a sense, truly living the life of the inner spiritual being, and there’s no split between the inner and outer purpose. The highest centre is the head centre, which awakens only at a very advanced point on the path. It registers the Will of God and enables one to become a real agent in the plan of God, a real worker.
Dale: And that’s related to the pineal gland. There’s a close connection there between the pituitary gland and the pineal gland.
Sarah: The pituitary is associated with the Ajna center.
Dale: It’s more of the life of the personality it deals with, and the pineal gland is the place where the soul energies are actually anchored in the physical brain, so within the brain.
Sarah: I think the important thing for listeners who are interested in this whole study to realize is that these centres are, as I understand it, effects. They open as an effect of the expanding and evolving consciousness. We are warned by all sound spiritual teachers not to put the focus on awakening these centres. Those are simply indications when they become awake that our consciousness has reached a certain level. The attention should be on expanding the consciousness by learning to live the impersonal life of service, of identification with humanity rather than selfish interests.
Dale: Yes, service is emphasized in the Bailey teachings that this is the safe way of opening and expanding these centres.
Sarah: And they will open.
Dale: They will, but if you force them open, then you’re going to run into trouble because you’ll be exposed to extreme energies that can lead to actual physical trouble and insanity and mental imbalance and that sort of thing.
Robert: I hope we can discuss this on another show. I found it profoundly interesting. You’ve been listening to Inner Sight. Now we would like to close with a world prayer called The Great Invocation. It’s a call for light and love and goodwill to flow into the world and into our hearts. Let’s listen for a moment to these powerful words.
Sarah: Closes the program by reciting the adapted version of The Great Invocation.
(This is an edited transcript of a recorded radio program called “Inner Sight.” This conversation was recorded between the host, Robert Anderson, and the then President and Vice-President of Lucis Trust, Sarah and Dale McKechnie.)
(Transcribed and edited by Carla McLeod)
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