The Fantasy World of Kundalini

Ever since I heard of the word kundalini, I was instantly wary of it. The stories sounded really ridiculous to me. I heard others talking about it, and I had nothing to say, because I didn't quite know what TO say. And then a few years ago, after reading Gurdjieff's teachings, I found out my instincts were right on target. The kundalini is a word hahaha used to describe fantasy. When a person supposes they are doing something but they really are not doing anything at all, in other words, no results...that is fantasy. Here's an excerpt from my blog where I had typed out this part from the book In Search of the Miraculous by Ouspensky, who took down Gurdjieff's teachings.


Kundalini Explanation

"In so-called 'occult' literature you have probably met with the expression 'Kundalini,' 'the fire of Kundalini,' or the 'serpent of Kundalini.' This expression is often used to designate some kind of strange force which is present in man and which can be awakened. But none of the known theories gives the right explanation of the force of Kundalini. Sometimes it is connected with sex, with sex energy, that is, with the idea of the possibility of using sex energy for other purposes. This latter is entirely wrong because Kundalini can be in anything.

And above all, Kundalini is not anything desirable or useful for man's development. It is very curious how these occultists have got hold of the word from somewhere but have completely altered its meaning and from a very dangerous and terrible thing have made something to be hoped for and to be awaited as some blessing.

"In reality Kundalini is the power of imagination, the power of fantasy, which takes the place of a real function. When a man dreams instead of acting, when his dreams take the place of reality, when a man imagines himself to be an eagle, a lion, or a magician, it is the force of Kundalini acting in him.

Kundalini can act in all centers and with its help all the centers can be satisfied with the imaginary instead of the real.

A sheep which considers itself a lion or a magician lives under the power of Kundalini.

"Kundalini is a force put into men in order to keep them in their present state. Could men to really see their true position and understand all the horror of it, they would be unable to remain where they are, even for one second. They would begin to seek a way out and they would quickly find it, because there is a way out; but men fail to see it simply because they are hypnotized. Kundalini is the force that keeps them in a hypnotic state. 'To awaken' for man means to be 'dehypnotized.' In this lies the chief difficulty and in this also lies the guarantee of its possibility, for there is no organic reason for sleep and man can awaken.

"Theoretically he can, but practically it is almost impossible because as soon as a man awakens for a moment and opens his eyes, all the forces that caused him to fall asleep begin to act upon him with tenfold energy and he immediately falls asleep again, very often dreaming he is awake or is awakening.

"There are certain states in ordinary sleep in which a man wants to awaken, but cannot. He tells himself he is awake, but in reality he continues to sleep—and this can happen several times before he finally awakes. But in ordinary sleep, once he is awake, he is in a different state; in hypnotic sleep the case is otherwise; there are no objective characteristics, at any rate, not at the beginning of awakening; a man cannot pinch himself in order to make sure he is not asleep. And when, God forbid!, a man has heard anything about objective characteristics, Kundalini at once transforms it all into imagination and dreams.

"Only a man who fully realizes the difficulty of awakening can understand the necessity of long and hard work in order to awake.

"Speaking in general, what is necessary to awake a sleeping man? A good shock is necessary. But when a man is fast asleep one shock is not enough. A long period of continual shocks is needed.