07 Jul The Role of Initiation
Finding Our Values
It’s hard to witness the horrors happening in our world without holding them in a larger context. Why are we, as a society, regressing at a time when we have the most advanced knowledge and technology (even the availability of spiritual technologies) that has ever existed?
What if this is all part of humanity’s initiation? What if these issues of immigration, gun control, climate change, economic disparity, racism, sexism, and power-over politics in general are all challenges in our rite of passage? Challenges that we are being asked to solve to get to the next level. And if we fail, well, we don’t get through the gate that opens to a glorious future.
In order to survive initiation, we have to hang on to our values. Without something to stand for, we have nothing to fight for. Without values we are doomed, vulnerable to the basest takeover. If there’s any reason so many are glued to negative news, it’s because we don’t have a better story to capture our imagination.
The story is that we are on a journey to awaken and realize the Divine.
The chakra system, as a path to human awakening, can at least provide a map to show us how. It can provide a set of values to guide us, not only in our personal lives, but also as a society.
Here’s a breakdown of what I consider the sacred values exemplified by the chakras; qualities that are necessary for a thriving culture:
Chakra One: Health
Everyone should have access to health care. We should be encouraged to eat healthy, to live healthfully, and to have a healthy environment. That’s a pretty good value all around for the physical plane. It provides our sacred ground.
Chakra Two: Pleasure
We want a world where life is basically pleasurable, where people are enjoying their work, their families, and community. This is a world pleasing to our senses. It doesn’t have to be one that caters to every adolescent indulgence, but one that supports people feeling good.
Chakra Three: Power
A thriving society is one in which its citizens are empowered to make decisions, to be sovereign in their lives, and to share power responsibly. It is not a society that gives undue power to one person to rule over others, but one in which we must all find our own power, take equal responsibility for that power, and then collectively combine our power to create a world that works.
Chakra Four: Love
Who wants to live in a world without love? Perhaps the most basic need of humankind, a world of love actually cares what happens to people, animals, and the environment. It is a world that treats others with respect and justice, and a world that respects the most bonds of parent and child.
Chakra Five: Truth
A society that holds a high regard for truth, is a society where its citizens get honest feedback about what is happening, and can therefore be properly informed. A society in which we speak truth and are respected for our truths, is a society that can communicate effectively and work out differences.
Chakra Six: Beauty
Beauty is a highly underrated spiritual value. It has been reduced to stereotypes of physical beauty, rather than an insistence on beauty in our architecture, clothing, neighborhoods, workplaces, and environments. Beauty indicates we close to the divine, which brings us to the next chakra.
Chakra Seven: Divinity
A society with spiritual values co-creates with the Divine. That can mean seeking guidance through meditation, vision quests, prayer, and questioning in general. This seventh chakra value asks that we see life as sacred, that we take time for the sacred, that we are centered in the sacred. Different ways of worshipping should be respected, as long as harm does not take place.
If we had a culture truly aligned with each of these values, we would build the Rainbow Bridge from earth to heaven, each of us a shining light on its path. That’s a society that can create Heaven ON Earth.
Won’t you join me in this mission?
Blessings,
Anodea Judith
Anita L. Schill
Posted at 16:42h, 08 JulyThank you, Anodea! Such an important message and so well framed. In fact, the framework you put forth begs for an equally powerful agenda for action. What can we, as individuals or collectively, do to assure a successful initiation? Organized action provides opportunity so everyone can plug into a role that might not otherwise be evident to them. The prominent “dark” powers are currently so powerful that they must be countered with a connected, spiritually-conscious movement across the rainbow bridge.
Lion Goodman
Posted at 20:44h, 08 JulyThank you, Anodea. I agree whole-heartedly. These 7 values can become a new story of what we WANT to create in the world, in our society, and culture. It is the clash of values that appears to be tearing apart the fabric of our culture. Partisanship, the huge divide between left and right, white and non-white, religious and non-religious, is like trying to navigate the Grand Canyon on a bicycle. We need to find our COMMMON values, the one that almost everyone holds, and you’ve done a beautiful job of articulating the world most people want.
Now it’s time for all Citizens to reach across the divide and ask, “What do we both want? And where can we come together to create it?” We won’t get everything we want – there will be compromise – but it will be a much better world when we collaborate to create what we want as human beings.
Jennifer Moyse
Posted at 23:25h, 08 JulyHello Anodea. Have just purchased two of your books. I live in a remote area ,and am unable to attend live get-togethers. I am an older Yoga Teacher, and yes, I certaily do want to join your mission. It is a shared mission of my own, as I try to encourage myself and others, to take their Yoga off the mat and into daily life.
Life is flying past faster than ever, and I still have so much more to learn. I am diving into your books with great enthusiasm.
A line I read recently: “may you live long enough to know why you were born.” I think you must already know. ⚘
Michelle Marcus
Posted at 14:36h, 09 JulyAnodea, I am with you. I too believe that this is an initiation- a true dark night of the soul for our nation, its leaders and for each sensitive soul who so acutely feels the pain of our weeping Mother Earth and the mothers and fathers who are desperately trying to reunite with their children. Thank you for being a light to lead the way.