Kundalini, an ancient concept from Hindu yoga and a separate type of yoga in its own right, means “coiled” in Sanskrit and refers to either a feminine “Shakti” or a “serpent” power. When it is raised in consciousness it is often symbolized as seven or more nagas, or snakes, above and behind a meditating Buddha.  This implies that meditation and awakening of the kundalini go hand in hand.  I learned this concept early, beginning in 1963, when I was thirteen, from the son of Edgar Cayce, the medical clairvoyant, Hugh Lynn Cayce, and also from reading passages in Cayce’s readings themselves.  It was the opinion of those readings, as well as Hugh Lynn, that the elevation of this energy was a consequence of proper meditation and that drug-induced altered states of consciousness were dangerous ways to awaken it and could do more harm than good. In retrospect, from over forty years later, the way I understand this is that altered states of consciousness open us up to genuine transformational states that we lack the balance and perceptual development to integrate. Much of my life has been spent, in the development of Integral Deep Listening dream yoga, in developing a balanced, reliable way of awakening or experiencing enlightenment in the here and now, in our secular, mundane lives, without having to go into trance or spend years in monasteries doing intensive meditation.  I believe in teaching what I know from experience rather than what I believe.  I also believe that you should never take what I say on faith but simply put the injunctive methodology of IDL to work in your own life and judge the results for yourself. Any true yoga is not dependent on any particular teacher. The vehicle is irrelevant; if it is genuine, one should be able to get the results regardless of who teaches them, albeit different people resonate better with different sources of instruction.

Personally, I have always been suspicious of altered states of consciousness because I had plenty of them when I was young and they did not last. I got very clear very early that balance and integration had to be my focus. Consequently, instead of enlightenment being a singular model of love, as it is for many Christians, compassion, as it is for some forms of Tibetan Buddhism, or wisdom, as it is for Theravadin Busshism, it is for IDL the balancing of core processes and associated qualities that are associated with the round of each breath, day, and life. Interviewing and practicing becoming potentials is a way of accessing and then internalizing components of enlightenment at one’s present state of development. As this occurs, your sense of who you are expands to transcend and include who you think you are.

What are three fundamental life issues that you are dealing with now in your life?

1. Waking up

2. Cosmic humor

3. Abundance

Tell me a dream you remember.  It can be an old one, a repetitive dream, a nightmare, or one that you’re sure you understand.

A mother and a couple of siblings, perhaps two young boys are being kept prisoner inside an area. First a sound is heard…is it an engine? Yes…but what kind?…a large bulldozer?….Yes. The integrity of the area is maintained by at least a couple of large bulldozers that are built into the structure of the area. Either I or the mother remembers that one of the boys, about six or seven, was taught to drive all sorts of things and could drive a bulldozer.  So he is asked to drive this one. It is a simple matter for him to drive it and crash it into trees or a wall or a building, which he does on purpose, even though his mother and brother are in it.  He knows that the bulldozer is so big they won’t be hurt but it will hurt the bulldozer enough for them to be free of it.  That is what happened – he succeeds in freeing his family, but he is put in jail where he becomes fat.  Although he is very intelligent, it is not developed because he spends years misidentified as a criminal.

Why do you think that you had this dream?

Last night I worked on an interview of the sleeping, child part of myself, personified as a monkey. He came up in the context of being oblivious of how much I eat and also my past and future thoughts that keep me from staying centered when I meditate.  This kid probably is about that.

If this dream were playing at a theater, what name would be on the marquee?

Driving a Bulldozer

These are the characters in the dream, beside yourself…

Mother, two boys, engine, bulldozer, imprisoning area, obstruction,  jail

If one character had something especially important to tell you, what would it be?

Bulldozer

Now remember how as a child you liked to pretend you were a teacher or a doctor?  It’s easy and fun for you to imagine that you are this or that character in your dream and answer some questions I ask, saying the first thing that comes to your mind.  If you wait too long to answer, that’s not the character answering – that’s YOU trying to figure out the right thing to say!

Bulldozer, would you please tell me about yourself and what you are doing?

I am an integral part of this building. My engine is always running. I am always ready, but I don’t move. I give the building bulk and my engine runs things.

What do you like most about yourself? What are your strengths?

I am powerful, even when I am not moving. My energy feeds other activities.

What do you dislike most about yourself? Do you have weaknesses?  What are they?

I am not using most of my capabilities. I am not moving, I am not working. Like the people in this compound, I am also imprisoned.

Bulldozer, you are in Joseph’s life experience, correct?  He created you, right?  Bulldozer,, what aspect of Joseph do you represent or most closely personify?

I am his latent life force, prana. Core physical brute energy.

Bulldozer, if you could be anywhere you wanted to be and take any form you desired, would you change?  If so, how?

I would be kundalini! I would rise! And as I rose, I would transform! I would be different things depending on how far I rose! At the top I would be a winged sun before I cascaded over as pure light and bliss!

(Continue, answering as the transformed object, if it chose to change.)

Pure Light and Bliss, how would you score yourself 0-10, in confidence, compassion, wisdom, acceptance, peace of mind, and witnessing?  Why?

Confidence: 10 There is no death! I have no fear!

Compassion: 10 Everything is a crystalization, a condensation of me! All things are my eyes and ears, my senses!

Wisdom: 10 I am in balance.

Acceptance: 10 What is there not to accept?

Inner Peace: 10 I am wildly alive and at complete peace in my aliveness.

Witnessing: 10 One with all, I witness all.

How would Joseph’s life be different if he naturally scored like you do in all six of these qualities all the time?

Luminosity. Cosmic Humor. Abundance.

If you could live Joseph’s life for him, how would you live it differently?

In my presence.

If you could live Joseph’s waking life for him today, would you handle his three life issues differently?  If so, how?

Not so differently, but with increasing clarity, as he is already working to do.

What three life issues would you focus on if you were in charge of his life?

The same.

In what life situations would it be most beneficial for Joseph to imagine that he is you and act as you would?

Any time he wakes up and realizes he’s off center somewhere, in some way.

Why do you think that you are in Joseph’s life?

You mean, why do I think Joseph is in my life? To give me another way to know myself!

How is Joseph most likely to ignore what you are saying to him?

Mental fuzziness; sleepwalking; addiction to past and future; focus on fear and scarcity.

What would you recommend that he do about that?

Smile! Remember me!

I think Joseph had this dream because

This was about taking the initiative with his monkey mind. He knows it’s not the problem or the enemy but he hasn’t yet figured out how to use it to free himself and to free me. However, he’s figuring it out; he’s getting closer!

I think this dream event happened or (some character) was in the dream because…

The barrier had to be hit to free him from me. As long as he was unconsciously identified with me he was trapped in me, like a seed that is in hibernation. When he is free he can witness me and I can witness him, so we both are free to transform. There is a part of his mind that wants to punish him from breaking free, as it does in him escaping the prison of his marriage. But the breakout is what is important, not how it is done. Becoming fat has to do with putting himself back in the prison of sleepwalking through life.

What have you heard yourself say?

I can usefully view my prana as a bulldozer for me to drive. It maintains my life and the prison of my life drama and life script, but it can be much, much more than that. First, I have to take initiative and liberate both of us and others. Then I have to stay OK about that and not allow myself to fall back into scripted limitations, guilt, or small thinking.

If this experience were a wake-up call from the most central part of who you are, what do you think it would be saying to you?

I am getting close to awakening my kundalini consciously. By remembering this dream, deeply listening to it, and applying it, I speed that process of waking up.

The  implication of this interview is that I have available to me a very powerful power source that must first be recognized then controlled to free oneself.  There seemed to be a second one on the premises as well. It is controlled by a young part of myself that reminds me of a “monkey” potential I interviewed yesterday. There also appears to be a need to separate out my consciousness from that of the life force itself – to use it, but not identify with it.

Such interviews can speed spiritual awakening by conscious participation in the agenda of those potentials that are attempting to emerge. I have no doubt that my access to this particular power source is a result of dedicated, focused, consistent meditation of an effective variety on a daily basis. It does not take a lot: a little bit that is effective is better than a lot of sitting that involves mental games.

Throughout the day following this interview I have felt more alive, with more energy of a deep, inner quality, than I have felt before.  It is something different, a different sort of life force connection than I have ever felt. Very interesting….