[nprateem]

Kind of related to what I was mentioning on the Godel thread, but IMO the Kundalini (or whatever you call it) experience is the "grand unifying theory" of religion and mythology (although it's not actually a theory, but an experience).

It provides an explanation for where religions may have come from, beyond our typically pompous attitude that earlier generations of people were superstitious and stupid. Instead, it suggests that the founders of religions experienced dramatic shifts in consciousness which they were trying to explain in the language of the day (and which, since their followers rarely had such experiences themselves, were subsequently misinterpreted).

[naremu]

The Perennial Philosophy (both the concept and the book) focuses on more these types of things.

It brings up that even in Christianity you can easily point at the non-personified elements of the theology and find conceptual relation to geographically unrelated beliefs.

One interesting bit he mentions is how dangerous it could be to be one of those people without being in some prophetic or theologically defensible position; Meister Eckhart being quoted heavily talking about the divinity of god being in all things, in a similar way as hinduism or etc might talk about divinity/all being in all things.

Of course he eventually was tried as a heretic in the papal courts, as it seems the beauty of unity revealed to the sage is often the nightmare of the local conqueror.

[nprateem]

Yeah, historically, and even now, there were good reasons for not talking about altered states of consciousness too much. It seemed like a good way to end up being executed.

Now describing some of the experiences that are supposed to accompany altered states (hallucinations, strange abilities, etc) could still lead to reputational damage. Hopefully things are changing though, as Western scientists are beginning to study spiritual awakenings:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8417526/

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-34730-006

[amanaplanacanal]

Is that the same thing as “The mystical experience” as we know it in western writings, or “kensho” as the zen folks call it?

[nprateem]

To be honest, I haven't read into western writing too much, but kundalini certainly leads to mystical experiences. It's closer to the Holy Spirit in Christianity, an animating principle (where the Father is pure awareness).

Kensho sounds more like insight gained into reality. While kundalini isn't required to have such insights, some authors say that attainment of it makes it easier to have them.

Generally, in Buddhism, they don't explicity talk about kundalini, except Tibetan Buddhism, where they have the rainbow body and vajrayana. Several authors do mention it, e.g. Culadasa in The Mind Illuminated and Shinzen Young amongst others. It's also clear from the Buddha's descriptions that he'd awoken his kundalini (at least that's my belief).

[kukkeliskuu]

In my understanding some traditions hold a view that Kundalini is harmful.