Levels as Energies or Textures

This whole tantra thing has really caught on in my thinking. It brings up the possibility of living with each circumstance either well in some way or not so well. I've thought of that (worse to better) fairly often in relationship to competence with the attentional abilities at each level, but it also fits for our experience of the "energy" of each level. Generally, as we move upwards through the stages, the energies or textures have a subtler feel (with inspiration being somewhat unique because it pulls together the lower levels quite convincingly--the clarity aspect of that level is obviously subtle, though).

Basically, mindfulness allows one to regularly consider where it is one is acting "from". For instance, if I'm acting from the first level of Play/Creativity, there are the positive types of feelings or experience--curiosity, playfulness, exuberance, comfort, etc.--and also the more negative feelings or experiences of feeling threatened or having my comfort attacked. This is less "subtle" than Purpose partially because this energy feels like it is everything, "I'll never feel differently," felt excitedly or discomforted.

At the level of Purpose, we can feel confident, competent, and motivated or we can feel aggressive/dominant, ashamed, or helpless. At this level, we begin identifying purposes with roles. At the level of Understanding, we can begin to become comfortable with not knowing, we really consider. On the other hand, we can keep the world at an intellectual distance or we can roll our dominance-drive into trying to know everything. The feeling of compulsion behind this knowing is different than an open and potentially playful curiosity.

The point with all of this is that we can eventually get a "sense" for which energy/energies we are feeling at the moment and try to "satisfy" them. This follows a very basic principle of motivation. It goes something like: no action potential can remain in potentia or as potential. In other words, when we have a certain type of energy, it will be expressed. (If you smoke the crack, you will feel amped!) We don't always choose what level or texture of energy we are experiencing, but we can affect the expression. While I'm not a big fan of chakra language because it tends to be too metaphorical or metaphysical for my taste, there is definitely something to this description of textures and our ability to notice and work with these textures.

I believe that one of the basic points of tantra and mahamudra is that lower energies, with the right technology and situation, can be invested in moving "up the scale" so to speak. The companion point is that each texture is just fine, wonderful, self-redeeming if you will. That is not to say that we should all be big, selfish babies or toddling tyrants, but that I can recognize the texture of feeling threatened to be the opposite and companion to feeling curious. The situation hasn't changed in the least, but I can affect whether I want to respond to the situation by feeling curious or by feeling threatened (like one is the yin to the other's yang). Certain types of training affect my ability to choose how to respond in different types of situations, depending on what sorts of instincts, emotional reactivity, and conceptual biases are triggered.

In my personal understanding, it makes more sense to me to think in terms of the fight/flight/freeze response (for example) in the brain rather than thinking and talking in terms of chakras, but one way or another, we end up with different textures of action potential. That action potential is basically human--we can all freak out, get angry, laugh, etc. How we respond with that potential, how we express it, is what we can improve with time. As we physically and socially mature, our brains and sometimes our social circles support that improvement.

We can, then, develop a recognition of the various qualities or textures of action potentials (energies) and decide which ways we want to respond. Depending on particular aspirations and weaknesses, different types of training are called for. Depending on different types of action potentials, different attempts to improve the situation may be either bound to fail or likely to succeed.

The same holds true for recognizing the steps in the process of paying attention and feeling motivated in that, if we recognize the steps involved, we can see which ones are lacking or incomplete. Of course, if we have an idea of progress, we can then fill in the blanks to the best of our ability. By looking at situations from two different angles (qualities or textures as well as the process of deploying attention and motivation), we can gain a certain degree of perspective. In other words, when I can't see how it works from one angle, I can usually see something from the other angle. The perspective that we develop in this manner is more analogous to pragmatic wisdom as opposed to the equanimity and ability to observe gained by mindfulness practice. While mindfulness and pragmatic wisdom support each other, some people will feel more of a preference for practicing one or the other. The world is our oyster.