I was exploring the idea that the 7 chakras of hindu/buddhist philosophy is related to the 7 heavens of western religion...is this comparable to the different focuses spoken about on this site regarding the after life?

Not really. The chakra system is based on the passage of prana, or  "nervous energy", along various nadis, or "nerve fibers", that link the major chakras, a term meaning "wheel" or "wheel-like thing", corresponding to the major "nervous plexuses" from the root of the spine to the crown of the head. One of the tasks of the beginner at kundalini yoga (also called "laya yoga") meditation is often to start with a chakra, or "nerve plexus" and trace the various nadis as they radiate outward and connect to other chakras.  The ultimate goal is awakening and controlling the essential energetic nature of the body.

Depending on which system of yoga used the number of chakras is variable. Tibetan and Chinese yoga lumps the top two and bottom two major chakras together to talk about only 5 chakras. New Age and popular yoga mentions seven. Advanced laya yoga adds two minor chakras in the region of the brainstem and hypothalamus (or that's what it feels like) as well as many minor chakras, such as in the centeters of the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and a vast network of associated nadis. This is a "so-called" scientific approach to yoga in that everybody finds their own chakra system to be similar, so we claim it to be a fact.

The focus levels associated with  meditation according to Monroe's approach can be graded in terms of depth and breadth of available awareness. These levels are the focus levels.  They relate to a specific pathway into meditation.

I regret that I can't be clear and specific as to what they are, but I have not "gone there to see for myself" - at least not in the same terms.  I trust that Bruce, or one of Bruce's or Monroe's more adept students can fill i that part.

In fact, I'd like to have somebody to clarify that for me as well!

dave

THANKS FOR YOU RESPONSE...it clarified somethings about the chakra system on the scientific or physical level...but philosophically speaking i think it may have to do with the level of awareness of an individual,.. that is as the individual becomes more aware of the universe or as mankind evolves...is this correlated to the opening and stimulation of higher chakras..ie...higher states of perception and this can then influence what we experience in the after life (different kinds of heavens)...i'm wandering into metaphysics and philosophy here lol!
i think there may be a link between eastern and western concepts here..perhaps "PRANA" the nervouse energy that passes through our chakras, is indeed our spirit/soul energy that leaves the body upon death?

Nice description of the various chakras dave!

PUL,
Cosmic_Ambitions

HI Ka-

I can't say whether or not  the "chakra energy" or the "prana" are specifically the stuff of which the transcendental parts of us are made, because I haven't died and looked.  My feeling is that the chakras and their various energetic flows are actually little more than the internal subjective sensations associated with having this kind of nervous system.  At the crown chakra, for example, there is a sense that the body energies are available, but they still are bodily. There is also a sense of an infinite brilliance that expands outward, but that leaves the body behind.

My personal view is that all of this falls off along with the body. What is left over is the externalization of our identity into the nearby furniture of the world, as if the world is giving us a new embodiment, but in a very different manner. If that is correct, then what we are made of is "entropy", meaning organized information.

To make more sense out of that idea, when you enter a problem into a computer and eventually get an answer, the "stuff" that carries your question through the computer is a flow of information, while its "embodiment" is the chips and transistors and the electrical "prana" that they trade off.

As in the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, we can view the Earth (or the Universe in toto) as a computer, and these energies are the physical dynamics upon which we ride as pure entropic assemblies.

d

hmm..interesting food for thought..thanks for your response..i may have read though on a buddhist site that this energy is what leaves the body at death...it flows away from he different chakra centres and gathers at one point in the middle(hence the body sometimes folds inwards) then leaves...this energy comprises our consciousness , what chooses our existences and experiences...i think the site had to do with the buddhist concept of 'bardo'...when i find it i'll post it.

ka

A few weeks ago (middle of April) on an email list, a gal wrote the following:

A little background, 15 years ago at some program I took at TMI I had a tape experience where my "tutor" came up to me and grabbed me in the crotch and said C1. Continuing "he" touched below my navel and said Focus 10. Going up he touched my solar plexus and said Focus 12. My chest was Focus 15 and throat Focus 21. Touching my forehead he said Focus 27. Lastly he pulled up on the top of my head and said 34/35. At the debriefing when I shared this experience everyone seemed surprised. Even the trainers seemed surprised and hadn't thought of the focus levels like this before.

In May of 2001 I wrote the following,
C1 is the Root Chakra, controlling the understanding of our physical and biological energies.  Balanced, it takes us to Focus 10, the Second Chakra of emotional energy which allows for understanding attitudes in relationships.  In harmony, we approach Focus 12, the Third Chakra of mental energy providing discrimination and control of the environment.  Mastering our being, allows us to approach others in Focus 15, the Heart Chakra, and become connected with our world.  With a perception of oneness, we touch our communication energy in Focus 21, the Fifth Chakra, realizing awareness of guidance.  Feeling this power opens the energy in Focus 27, the Third Eye Chakra, for our perception and knowledge of non-physical orders.  And lastly, we cross the border into other dimensions in Focus 34 and 35, the Crown of the Head Chakra, where we evolve beyond the concerns of Earth.


Love, Mairlyn ;-)

 Interesting stuff there Mair!  Thanks for sharing that ;) :)

 I believe there is a correlation between the 7 main Chakras and the 7 main dimensions of the Earth system, though not necessarily the "7 heavens".  

 But these 7 main dimensions have many sub planes/levels for lack of a better way of putting it.  

 Rosiland McKnight's guides (one who is an Elder) also make this connection between the different dimenions and Chakras.

 In turn these Chakras can be related to the 7 main Endocrine gland system, and like Augo. said, also there is a correlation to the Planets in our system (though this is not clearly delineated in the E.C readings as some think).  

 As well as color, sound, etc. correlations...

 So i wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some kind of correlation with the Focus levels.

 I believe you can correlate brain wave states to glands/Chakras, and there seems to be a connection between brainwave states and the different focus levels, so...

 For example, high beta to high alpha or low beta is clearly C1 consciousness which is Base/Root Chakra and Gonad Consciousness...

    Or deep delta is clearly a deep Oneness Crown Chakra type consciousness (though i don't know what this would correspond to focus levels, though Mair's suggestion on this is intriguing).

Peace

 

 Btw-- i would say Heart Chakra is more human Oneness, and the Crown is more super Cosmic Oneness...  Obviously the first has to be fully open, active and balanced for the last to be fully opened and balanced.

BTW, there was one other person who responded to her and said that he got basically the same message in one of his programs.  Interesting stuff anyway. ;-)

Love, Mairlyn ;-)

Thanks for added info - I'm not as experienced with Monroe's system as the more traditional ones.  Superficially, I get the impression that the various focus levels are an attempt to pin down meditative experiences to numeric references, and that Monroe's system is sufficiently repeatable that it allows discussion of the levels of experience of his trainees.  Still, I'd like to hear from someone who has more experience with his system.

I've observed that any time we see things with similar numbers we tend to try to relate them. There is often some kind of relationship, however subtle or indirect. But I usually resist this as an often misleading activity, since it can shift emphasis to an insignificant coincidence. The seven planetary correspondences, for example, sort of came into disrepute with discovery of Neptune and Pluto, and worse with the most recent discovery of two or three additional planets (depending on how big something has to be to be called a planet).

Yogis tend to resist a direct relationship between prana and energy. The reason is that energy is a objective, a well defined term from physics, having to do with gravitating mass and acceleration, while prana is subjective and related directly to awareness

Marilyn - Last time someone grabbed me by the crotch I decided that I should go drink in a different bar. It didn't occur to me that she was offering me a "yoga experience".  I don't think it occurred to her either, but I may have misunderstood. My wife has offered to provide me with a near death experience if I should try to find out just what she was offering.


love
dave

Quote:

Marilyn - Last time someone grabbed me by the crotch I decided that I should go drink in a different bar. It didn't occur to me that she was offering me a "yoga experience".  I don't think it occurred to her either, but I may have misunderstood. My wife has offered to provide me with a near death experience if I should try to find out just what she was offering.

ROFLMAO  Thanks Dave, I needed that. ;-)

Love, Mairlyn  ;D

Dave wrote,
Quote:

But I usually resist this as an often misleading activity, since it can shift emphasis to an insignificant coincidence. The seven planetary correspondences, for example, sort of came into disrepute with discovery of Neptune and Pluto,...

 At first glance, it may seem that way, but when you get into the study of it, things may appear differently.

 For example, Neptune a relatively new planet.   Both through astrology and aura research, i've realized that Neptune's energy is quite similar to Jupiter's in many respects, they are on a similar 'wavelength' though different.  When Jupiter is very strong in a chart, i often pick up a strong purple colored energy of some kind in the aura (mid-blue isn't uncommon either), and with Neptune there are more blue violet shades varying from amethyst to lilac, to lavender, etc.   Both are quite fast vibrations and no wonder why these two Planets both rule (resonate with) the last sign--Pisces.

 So, they may be within  the same general dimensional consciousness.

 Pluto from my intuition and studies doesn't seem to directly correlate to a specific Chakra, but rather to Kundalini energy itself.

 I will go a bit more into Pluto after this other quote from Dave,
Quote:

...and worse with the most recent discovery of two or three additional planets (depending on how big something has to be to be called a planet).

 First off, there are major harmonics, then there are sub-harmonics...  This needs to be taken into account, there are mini-dimensions or sub-planes within the major ones.

 But in any case, even before Pluto was discovered someone asked Edgar Cayce, what are the principle planets and their effects.  

 He ticked off all the known ones and then mentioned "Septimus" as Consciousness.

 Septimus of course is Latin for 7.   Pluto is the 7th Planet out from Earth.

  And Cayce was consistently over time quite emphatic that the Planets correspond to both glands and to other nonphysical dimensions, but what isn't clear from his readings is whether there is a direct correlation or is it more symbolic or representational.

 It's interesting that Cayce called Septimus/Pluto that as of Consciousness becaue to me Kundalini is raw unorganized consciousness (what Bruce has labeled RUC), which when filtered through the various Chakras (i.e. transformers) organizes and distributes this energy differently according to each different Chakra which co-resonates with each major dimension.


 Yeah funny one there Dave, i think my Fiance would leave off the "N" of NDE in a case like that!

 Peace y'all

Hi people,
a bit amazon style here, if you are interested in this thread you might be also interested in these:

http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=afterlife_knowledge;action=display;num=1133198149
(the ten levels of our being)
http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=afterlife_knowledge;action=display;num=1132891653
(the-five-level-system in my view)

Dave, some impressions of the Focus Levels:
________________________________________________________________
The following is taken from the "The ten levels of our being" thread:

Hi Kathy,
thinking about your and Monroe's system, I remembered what multi-facetted experiences I had listening Focus 21 HemiSync (and without listening when I thought I've learnt the trick enough):

1. A place to meet the higher self, in my case it was a gathering of ghostly looking beings in a kind of sports stadium, they then came towards me, looked at me and went by. Two of them introduced themselves as speakers of my higher self. This place is obviously connected to other places to meet the higher self, as in Focus 27 I can go upwards to do it.

2. A place of energy exchange and energy blending. There's not only energy coming from "above" but also from "aside", meaning extraterrestrian life systems. Symbollically (I think) I got a picture of a huge spaceport. There was a hall with many holes which are gates to other worlds. Much work is done to control energy levels and harmonisation, I saw what looks like an enormous mixing table for music, but was to adjust the energy flow of everything on earth. There were holograms of people which signs what they were in need of.

3. There is an invisible but still recognized border around the earth. Only beings with permission can cross this border. Once they did, they will incarnate. I saw this once from close distance, a ghostly being was getting permission, then the being at the counter grabbed the other one, kinda folded it together so it became a little glowing sphere, threw it behind where other beings identified it and sent it to the right place down to earth. This little multi-colored glowing sphere to me looked like a sweet innocent baby!

4. There is what I call "The Human Embassy", a little-village-like place where a human-looking guy gave me some advice where to go to and how.  

5. The atmosphere when I arrive at Focus 21 usually is windy, grey, sense of movement and flow all around. Also there is an infinite area of high mountains. Helpers did tell me several times that all I see is symbolic but still appropriate, as long as I keep in mind that it's symbolic. Alternately, they presented me Focus 21 as black space with little star-like dots. Also they said several times that Focus 21 is very close to the physical, actually it is somehow at the same place as the physical, but not the same. The first times I arrived at Focus 21 I saw spinning objects, wheels, tornados.

6. I asked if I could go from Focus 21 back down to earth close to the physical to see how that would look like. At first, I saw nothing but long tubes, some larger, some thinner, some hard, some flexible. I interpreted it as symbols for connections. Then I saw a street scene in my home town, but it looked like what is frequently reported of LSD trips, bright unreal changing colors everywhere, beams of colored light sent out from people to other people, one guy was walking in a street in between rows of buildings, and he sent out beams to the left and the right, it was as if he would "scan" his surrounding to keep his feeling of his surrounding stable. A group of people had a big shared flame above their heads, and also trees in the park of my hometown had a big flame above it. I saw people in their appartments, one guy had this black tary stuff attached to him (like what Bruce told about) and it was hanging down and went through the floors/ceilings in the ground. Today I was meditating about levels, and could distinct this colored "LSD" level from one denser which appeared in grey. It was like adjusting sharpness on a camera to phase between the two which was quite delicate. If you saw "Lord Of The Rings" this grey dense level looks just like the effect when Frodo took the ring on, a little blurred, grey, and the shapes like affected from air movement. Add colors and rays and you have an impression of the "LSD" level. In the grey and the LSD levels it was difficult to decide who is physically alive and who is only etheric, attached to the physical; generally, the "ghosts" were looking more "present" than the physically alive people.

Numbers more or less randomly chosen.

Of course I don't know if this all belongs to Focus 21, there are no signs which indicates where I am. But if we take this complex maybe it could have a place in your second dimension with it's seven levels. For me, Focus 15,12,10 feel different like what I told above. Focus 15 is great for moving in time and space, Focus 12 is a mystery, I use it not often, and when I did I had sometimes rapid picture movement or looked at strange landscapes in a SciFiction style or maybe like Monroes (first book) locale 2. Focus 10 is the basic relaxation and imagination focus level, can get you everywhere. You know, there is this method to reach Focus 21 inspired by a channeled entity called Miranon, the move through the seven colors blue, red, yellow, rose, green, purple, white (from F15 to F21). Don't know if this relates somehow to your 7 level system of the 2nd dimension.
__________________________________________________________________

I'd like to add,
Focus 10 seems to be what others call a light trance. It's possibly the state a hypnoticist would choose for a person who is sitting at the dentist with a phobia or an anesthetics allergy. You can imagine to be at a nice safe place. You can go and make an imaginated walk (or flight), or think over problems, or just be receptive and get pictures or sounds or messages. At TMI they said also healing can be done in this state.

Focus 15's characteristc to me is that it gives you relief from the everydays hurry, out of physical time. The mind becomes free for an overview of the personal life from a distance. It's very well for relaxing. I met some sort of "club" of elderly men there, which are somehow close to me, or represent me, but they seemed much more experienced than my presently me, they are serene, relaxed and had an aura of wisdom. They took me to some places, including childhood.

Focus 27 to me is a heavenly place, development and evolution, self-exploring and self-healing and service and assistance is it's characteristic purpose.
To meet helpers, find "new friends" as RAM said on his tapes, to build your own special place. It's free and liberal.
To me, the feeling this place mostly radiates, is airy, not very stable in its visual appearance, reacting to what you expect, but not in every degree. I tried to change the weather, but it always snapped back into some indefinable diffuse atmosphere. There can be a lively and refreshing haze.
It's also a place for self-expression and costumes.
And it is an important place for getting "higher" into more formless regions, where space is more and more collapsing, like you don't know if all is endless or in one point together. This is, I guess, the step when you, in the more traditional meditation, go from the beginner's states to the more advanced ones, like the body of illusions and (maybe) it's dissolving, or look what the void is or the all, or God or Buddha or Nirvana.

Spooky

Hey spooky, I enjoyed your extrapolations on the various focus levels.

I was wondering... while meditating one night, I saw this, what looked to be, a ferris wheel type of device/mechanism. It was spinning very fast, however, I knew that I could stop it with my thoughts at anytime, so I tried to slow it down and stop it. However, everytime that I tried to slow it down/stop it, it sped up! So, I tried speeding it up, and it, in turn, slowed down and came to a stop.

I remember reading about something like this in one of Bruce's books, whereby this place was the place of opposing ideas/thoughts... If you think one thing, the exact opposite will come into fruition.

Do you think that this is could be the case with regards to my ferris wheel excursions?

PUL,
Cosmic_Ambitions

Thanks Spooky - that helps.

Rob - I agree in principle. The actual physical influences of the various planets are quite small, varying as the cube root of their gravitation, but repetition and harmonic resonances make sense as a means of coupling to what we do here.  Thus we have a subtle influence that is often hard to track, and which has thus far defied experimental testing.  

But that is a far cry from what people usually think of when they think of reading their horoscopes in the daily news, and assume that their natures are determined. I suspect that the published accounts of what we "should" experience are more influence than the surrounding planets.

One way to approach this might be to look at a culture in which there are few or no newspapers.  We then would make two hypotheses. First, we propose that birth date will lead to clustering of some kind, based on the attitude of the actors in the cohort, and regardless of what "classical astrologers" might tell us.  Second, we hypothecate that this clustering will differ from pure chance by a significant amount.  Our null hypothesis would then be that no difference exists.  Then we could do a longitudinal study of a few hundred people for a few years (that kind of program provides job security for graduate students in the real world), and then have a look. If we find a difference that implies significant clustering, the next step might be a factor analysis to try to isolate what the differences actually are.

If you get into this, I'd be interested in what you discover.

dave