I don't know the whole story on chakras, but my feeling is that they are connected to each other and don't represent separate selves. It seems like they serve functions, and represent how our energy gets distributed. For example, that which allows us to see non physically, exists at the third eye area.

I agree with Romaine. When we start doing intense pranayama for kundalini, and in a few other instances, there is a sense of the various chakras "lighting up", rather like power sub-stations along an electrical distribution route. The spine seems like a massive conductor in which energy flows. Also, the "petals" seem to move, a sensation as if they are opening. In this sense, the chakras appear to correspond to levels of energy development and regulation. Doubtless this is why they tend to relate on a one-to-one basis with other people's chakras. A well-known body worker (whose name I have forgotten) terms these connections "cording", and she emphasizes that they can be either useful or draining, depending on how the connections are made.

If you get really curious about your chakras, they make a great meditation target. There are supposed to be a specific number of "petals" or "spokes" to each chakra ("spokes", because the word chakra means wheel ) and it is possible to trace out every one of them. The ones around the heart and throat are relatively complicated, but they can all be found with a little effort.

If you look in different references, you may find that the number of chakras varies with different traditions. In general, Tibetan, Chinese and Taoist traditions lump the top two and bottom two chakras together, giveing a total of five. Indian and Western traditions usually use seven. And occasionally you hear eight, when the manipura and kundali chakras are viewed as being two separate structures. The kundali chakra (whichis where Kundalini is rooted) is the lower half at the navel region in which we deal with spontaneous energies, while manipura is just above it and deals with intended energies and control.

I like your suggestion that chakras might take on an activity of their own. The usual explanation is that we focus on and and through the chakra to take on a specific personality quality. Thus, the most obvious is probably the lower two chakras and our tendency toward becoming absorbed in sexuality when they are stimulated. I had always thought of this in the sense of a white light (personality) shining through a chakra-colored filter, but to suggest that the chakra itself is the active mechanism makes sense, both in terms of how it feels when we take on a powerful attitude, and also the connections to others that selectively reflect that attitude.
PUL
d.

Thank you so much,
Dear recoverer, romain, dave a_mbs, and laughingrain,

You've taken care of my concern,
       so I go now to work on my pain,
and hopefully won't have to bother you again!

(   Bet that limerick is an example of why we don't have a Poetry and Creative Arts Section on this site.  )
Love,
Bets