Antero Alli in his works describes an interactive relationship between the four 'lower' circuits and the four 'higher' circuits. For each pair of 'lower' and 'higher', he describes how stability rooted in the 'lower' state provides a support for the corresponding 'higher' circuit. In turn, the experience and 'shock' of the 'higher' state strengthens and stabilizes the experience of the 'lower' curcuit.
Today I want to start exploring exercises that takes advantage of the mutual relationship between circuit 1 and circuit 5. Let's start with Alli's summary of Circuit 1:
C-1 Bio-Survival Intelligence...the will to survive
fixations: food, shelter, self-preservation, material goods, safety and security
anchor: degree of physical confidence earned and maintained to assure survival
Of course, this summary is from
http://www.paratheatrical.com/pages/talkingraven/INTOXICATION.html
or perhaps other locations on the internet. The same site summarizes Circuit 5 as:
C-5 Somatic-Sensory Intelligence via the Body and Five Senses
Currents: rapture, communion with nature, body wisdom, tantra (yoga, meditation, ritual), charisma, second
wind, falling in love (endorphins). The shock of Ecstasy and Bliss (absence of suffering)
C1 sounds like the most basic of needs ... without satisfying the needs focused on by the consciousness of C1, you die. Or at least, you are unable to focus on anything else. Certainly you aren't going to be much interested in or capable of operating in any of the 'higher' states. So before anything else in life, you have to have the 'anchor' of C1 in place; you have to have that feeling that you have what you need to survive physically, that you're not going to die of starvation, etc.
Probably most of us have C1 pretty much under control. If we're not stuck on C1 (read that addiction to any of the fixations of C1), we have the confidence needed to progress from C1 to C2 and onwards. And C1 -> C2 and on is the normal orderly evolutionary progression from helpless blob to, oh, King of the Universe or something. Yes, some beings are stuck on C1. That would include most animals, perhaps some sort of craving spirit beings if these exist (I can't recall ever meeting one!), people at the mercy of famine or war, etc. Next step up would be the hoarders, food addicts, bacteriaphobes, etc., who may have the resources to survive but who do not yet have the confidence needed to progress much beyond the C1 stage. But like I say, most of us have most of our C1 issues under control and are probably more focused on C2, C3 or C4.
Now, eventually we want to get all the circuits activated and integrated. What will we be like then? It's pretty much impossible to comprehend in our current condition, but read some of the descriptions of the higher circuits on the links provided in the Welcome post. We might end up as Deities, or Buddhas, or Angels, or something like that. Kind of hard to say at this point, but whatever the final result, 'it looks pretty good from here' ...
Though the most orderly progression is C1 -> C2 -> C3 -> ... -> C8, we don't necessarily have the leisure to go that route in our brief lifetimes. So let's take the tack that we have to do whatever it takes, right now, to activate all the circuits, permanently and safely, as quickly as possible. We don't have much choice; we could die at any time and however far we got on the path, that's all we going to get, at least in this lifetime. Why wait?
I've strayed a bit to give this background, so now back to the point of this post.
Once C1 is fully integrated and C1 issues are not problems for us, we have the support we need to start activation of C5. Without C2 to C4 fully integrated, there are dangers, though. Or at least, classic spiritual approaches are full of warnings about what could be interpreted as the activation of C5. For instance, I interpret the the physical and mental pliancy translated by the Tibetans as 'shin-jang', characteristic of the Buddhist 'Perfection of Concentration', as being at least part of the bliss/ecstasy of C5 activation. The Buddhist meditation commentaries are full of warnings not to get stuck on this bliss; one such warning lists among the faults of incorrect meditation 'attachment to the bliss produced by meditating'. Yes, bliss is nice :-) ... but it can be an obstacle to further growth. When you experience bliss, it's something like a shock to your system, and it's very attractive. This C5 bliss performs like a complete negation of the C1 class of problems. C1 is about sufferings that threaten your existence and physical well-being, and the C5 bliss feels like the absence of all that suffering. When you're in this bliss, you can't even imagine sufferings like being hungry or having sore muscles, and the satisfaction that comes from having a good meal or relaxing on the couch after stacking hay bales all day seem pretty insignificant. So the C5 bliss is something you naturally want to keep going.
Personal observation: Years ago I attended quite a few (two hundred? five hundred? lost count!) Grateful Dead shows. As I attended without the influence of 'music helper', I had the chance to observe a lot of 'heads who had something more than granola and spring water in their systems. And you could group those 'heads into two broad categories ... I called them the 'Party Deadheads', those who were in search of the Eternal High, and the 'Spiritual Deadheads', those who seemed to be focused beyond the hedonism and excitement of the moment, who could be found watching out for each other and for strangers who might be having a 'bad trip', who exuded love instead of adrenaline and testosterone. What was the difference between these two groups? Perhaps the 'Party' group was trapped in the drug-induced C5 bliss and had not yet integrated it as a part of themselves, and perhaps the 'Spiritual' group had a wider viewpoint that went beyond feeling good for their own sake. In other words, one group was C5-activated but more C1+/- focused; the other was C5-activated but had a higher focus. Of course I don't know what these peoples' experience really was, so I can't validly judge or conclude what was going on. But my ignorant conclusion appeared to fit what I was seeing. Don't know that I've ever encountered a more interesting place to people-watch, by the way :-) ...
Anyway, there seems to be a real danger of activating C5 without a solid basis in the lower C's, expecially C1. So I warn against exploring bliss if you do not yet have the confidence of C1 integration. How to tell? How much of the time are you worrying about the issues of C1? If you are addicted to food, material goods, security and the rest, know that these issues need to be addressed as fully as possible before flipping any C5 switches. Otherwise, I fear your C1 survival addictions will give way to escapism, to a pointless bliss-addiction, be it via alcohol, pills, marathon running, codependent relationships, yoga workshops, sitting cross-legged in the snow, whatever. On the other hand, committment to resolving your C1 issues has a bonus result of preparing you for C5 and beyond ... so get working on it!
Next time we'll discuss some really simple ways to use the issues of C1 to activate, in small and quite safe ways, the bliss of C5.
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