The Present Crisis

The importance of understanding Kundalini to the future healthy evolution of our species cannot be over-stated.  In fact, it is the key to the very survival of the race.

When we look around at conditions in the world today, it is immediately clear that we are facing tremendous challenges. Among them are:

1. Political strife / potential for war / terrorism / abuse of human rights
2. Religious and ethnic conflict
3. Economic instability and the debt crisis
4. Degradation of the environment, possibly leading to catastrophic climate change
5. Over-consumption and eventual exhaustion of some essential natural resources
6. Over-dependence on and over-use of fossil fuels
7. Over-population and food shortages
8. Development and use of technology without recognizing its long-term costs, such as adverse effects on physical and mental health, and on the environment

Although some of these problems, such as political, religious and ethnic strife, and degradation of the environment have happened many times in the past, this is the first time in history that they have had global consequences.  Although the potential for conflict between the superpowers with weapons of mass destruction has decreased in the last 25 years or so, it has increased in other areas, especially where there is ethnic or religious conflict.

If our species and many others on this planet are to survive and prosper, a wholesale change in our attitude towards each other and our environment must occur.  But in order to do this, we must first determine the root cause of the crises facing us.

In a general sense, many of these problems stem from material excess, intolerance, and a lack of ethical and moral principles.  But how did we get to this state?  There are a number of factors that have combined to bring about this dire situation.

One primary factor is the attitude of superiority we have about our place in the universe.  We tend to view our highly developed intellect as reason for believing that we are ‘better’ than other species, that our needs are more important than theirs, and that we have risen above nature and have the right to control, manipulate and exploit her for our own gain.

The Role of Faith

The origins of this attitude can be traced back to certain beliefs common to many institutionalized religions.  They believe that their founder or founders were able to communicate directly with the creator and, as a consequence, that we are just one small step removed from divinity.

In light of the knowledge that we have gained in the last 100 years or so about the size and complexity of the universe, this belief can no longer be justified.  Creation is so unimaginably vast and complex that any idea that we could know the nature and intentions of a power that brought it into being is totally untenable.

But despite this, many proponents of institutionalized religion still regard the words of their founder or founders, (and the dogma that came after they were gone), as absolute, inviolable and eternal truth. The attitude of superiority that results from this belief is the root cause of religious intolerance and strife.

This unwillingness on the part of its proponents to allow institutionalized faith to evolve and grow with our expanding knowledge of the physical universe has also led many people to simply reject faith in a higher power altogether.  But in doing so, they have lost the primary strength and value of faith, which is the belief that we are connected to a higher power or purpose, and must conduct our lives according to certain ethical or spiritual principles.

The Role of Science

This outright rejection of faith, and the benefit that comes with it, has unfortunately been reinforced by certain beliefs prevalent in science.  Primary of these are the notions that the universe is devoid of any kind of intelligent design, and that life is totally mechanistic in nature.

For example, cosmologists have determined through computer modeling that if the force of gravitation was just slightly more or slightly less in strength than it is, then galaxies, stars and planets would not have formed after the ‘Big Bang’.  Science’s response to this amazing ‘coincidence’, as expressed by Stephen Hawking in a recent television documentary, is that there must have been an infinite number of universes created, with different strengths of gravity, and we just happen to be in the only one that worked!  Science would prefer an infinite number of failed universes to facing the possibility that the strength of gravity, and possibly many other constants in nature, are not a coincidence.

This attitude also extends to the field of life. Despite the fact that there are many aspects of body function that cannot be explained in purely mechanistic terms, science simply ignores any such incongruities.
For example, it is estimated that there are about 95,000 kilometers of blood vessels and capillaries in the average human body*, some so small that only one blood cell at a time can pass through them.  They dilate and constrict according to the body’s needs at the moment, such as eating, exercising, concentrating, etc. But no explanation has ever been given for what keeps track of all these myriad blood vessels and controls and coordinates their behavior.  

The current scientific belief is that the unimaginably complex human body, with its hundreds of billions of cells working in almost perfect harmony, operates for the most part in a purely mechanistic fashion, and that any necessary coordinating or controlling functions are performed by the brain.  But if asked where in the brain these mechanisms are located, and how they exert control over various tissues and organs of the body, they have no answer.   

Science’s mechanistic attitudes regarding the creation of the universe and the functioning of life come from its long-standing struggle with religion, where it has, to a certain degree, replaced arbitrary divine will with consistent natural laws.  This approach has yielded knowledge of the physical universe and technological prowess unimaginable only a few centuries ago.  But there is no basis, or proof, for the belief that creation is purely physical in nature, or that the mechanistic approach science has used can be applied to the understanding of reality in all its aspects.

There can be no doubt that these attitudes of science have had a profound effect on our collective behavior.  Since science does not recognize a higher power or spiritual dimension to creation or life, there is nothing to temper our desire for wealth, power, pleasure, or the marvels of technology.  

The result of these beliefs is an insatiable consumer society that is depleting our natural resources, poisoning the environment, and impairing our ability to do even rudimentary mental tasks, such as arithmetic or spelling.