Cast from a strange kiln

[Walt]

A worming tongue of flame cast open my solar plexus. The usual axioms were followed, breathless nothing And pulsing in the chest rising tangling the heart sometimes twin coursesings of tongues knitting in my flesh. The serpents rose and claimed the brain stem. Frothing solvent of the void bubbling through cracks in the skull dampening the self and the serpents push farther peaking at the crown of the skull imprisoned by bone. Trying to burrow through, my pineal is glowing bejeweled with heat and agitation and joy like oineric somnambulance. Muscles spasming, Dragons in my skull can't escape their immurement so force my cranium skyward, back locks taught in position totally straight. Muscles spasm every few seconds as though i were paralyzed by dream and the burning ever burning sometimes aching contention of it is overwhelming.

A rather intense introduction to chakras while meditating. Has anyone taken this to its terminus, the Kundalini awakening?

[Orange]

I have tried, although not yet experience anything as intense....
I find it sometimes easier to focus and work with these energies when using pot :/
but I seem to be blocked in achieving what you described above.

I didn't think this subject would be to popular on a forum with nihilistic tendencies,
especially when it would come to believing in such energies in the first place.
although personally - the more I analysed the world, the more I started meditating and realising/ working with energy.

Do you also believe in spirit guides? such as shamans believed in their animal spirits?

[Conservationist]

The highest spiritual state I've achieved is pure tautology.

Everything suddenly became exactly what it was.

Included in that was an animating force, but it would be a shame to call it a personality...

But everything made sense, fit together like a vast machine, and I felt that my consciousness had descended from "god level" to being a part of this machine, but fully aware of all the connections around it.

Not sure it compares to the fire, brimstone and dragons, but it was very satisfying and revisits me frequently.

[Nimbostratus]

The highest spiritual state I've achieved is pure tautology.

Everything suddenly became exactly what it was.

"Thirty years ago, before I began the study of Zen, I said, 'Mountains are mountains, waters are waters.' After I got insight into the truth of Zen through the instructions of a good master, I said, 'Mountains are not mountains, waters are not waters.' But now, having attained the abode of final rest,  I say, 'Mountains are really mountains, waters are really waters."  -  Ch'ing yuan Wei-hsin

[Ymir]

Like drugs, meditation alters perception so that "ordinary" things seem new and unfamiliar. Naturally, some brains can't handle such a radical shift in consciousness so their nervous systems will go haywire; hence "Kundalini Syndrome" (which bears no difference from an anxiety disorder).

[roshan]

How do you explain this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof

"An attempt to study the physiological effects of Tummo has been made by Benson and colleagues (Benson et al., 1982; Cromie, 2002) who studied Indo-Tibetan Yogis in the Himalayas and in India in the 1980s. In the first experiment, in Upper Dharamsala (India), Benson et al. (1982) found that these subjects exhibited the capacity to increase the temperature of their fingers and toes by as much as 8.3°C. In the most recent experiment, which was conducted in Normandy (France), two monks from the Buddhist tradition wore sensors that recorded changes in heat production and metabolism (Cromie, 2002)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tummo

[Orange]

Like drugs, meditation alters perception so that "ordinary" things seem new and unfamiliar. Naturally, some brains can't handle such a radical shift in consciousness so their nervous systems will go haywire; hence "Kundalini Syndrome" (which bears no difference from an anxiety disorder).

I have to agree with this, the way meditation and drugs can have the same result.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_death

An ego death resulting from drug use normally has religious references and visualisations,  I believe the brain tries to comprehend what is happening by supplementing
religious symbolism if you lose control - or are already influenced by religion; but it does not explain the state of mind and what is achievable, or what can be learned from this altered state of consciousness.

[JewishPhysics]

How do you explain this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof

Explain what exactly?  The guy is simply good at withstanding the cold.  This seems woefully unimpressive to me, especially in comparison to other human achievements of endurance and strength.

"An attempt to study the physiological effects of Tummo has been made by Benson and colleagues (Benson et al., 1982; Cromie, 2002) who studied Indo-Tibetan Yogis in the Himalayas and in India in the 1980s. In the first experiment, in Upper Dharamsala (India), Benson et al. (1982) found that these subjects exhibited the capacity to increase the temperature of their fingers and toes by as much as 8.3°C. In the most recent experiment, which was conducted in Normandy (France), two monks from the Buddhist tradition wore sensors that recorded changes in heat production and metabolism (Cromie, 2002)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tummo

Two studies and one of them has an N of 2.  There are dozens of factors that can account for changes in heat production and metabolism.  What exactly is the proposed mechanism of action?  Do you have links to these studies and descriptions of the methodology used?  The wikipedia article lacked any.  Proponents of pseudoscience always claim to have scientific evidence.  Take homeopathy for example, there are dozens of scientists who swear by it and have even released published papers claiming to show it's validity, yet it's still complete bullshit.  The same holds true for creationism, everything from the New Age movement, psychics, water dowsers, etc.

[Nimbostratus]

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