[CHAKRA SERIES] Rooted Compassion

Jealousy. Rage. “MINE!” Tribal. Family. Forage. Consume. Survival fears.

…what about compassion?

Does compassion have a root in the First Chakra? Is it only in the heart or other more transcendent levels of conscious mind?

As human beings, how do we see, hear, and help others at the root level of life? Can we or should we lift everyone up toward productivity, wellness, sameness, and (our version, ahem…) of happiness.

Or is it best to meet, see, and help people right where they are … letting them be and live right where they are. If that is their personal reasonable choice.

I guess a big question is, when we’re living or feeling at that base level of survival, do we feel our power of choice; or are we too far gone to realize we can change?

Let me tell you a story….

I was on the phone with a long-time friend. I’ll call her Emily, Em for short. We hadn’t touched base in ages and it was about darn time we reconnected! We used to hang out a lot when I lived in Seattle. We were each other’s Saturday night date.

Our conversation turned from work to people. Em told me that her friend Samuel takes her to work several times every week.

On one of these trips, she noticed someone self-swaddled in a crusty blanket, living near a bridge. She decided that on her next trip she was going to drop off some food. “Maybe some Oreos too … or something sweet and familiar.”

Next trip, my friend dropped off the bag of food. “Do you need anything else?” she asked.

The man tugged at his blanket, revealing his face. He growled a groan, and hid his face again.

Back in the car, she and the Samuel started to conspire. Talking about centers to call to get him up and off the street; maybe toward a job and a new life. Ideas sparked like fireflies.

Samuel’s eureka moment was to bring him cardboard. “With cardboard under him, he’ll be warmer. He’d, at least, have a barrier between his body and the concrete.” 

“Great! I’ve got clean boxes we can break down.” Em was thinking out loud.

Em and Samuel were on it.

Next trip, loaded with clean and sturdy cardboard and more food, they pulled up under the bridge and stopped the car.

“I’ll take it to him!” announced Samuel with one leg out of the car before Em could grab the inside door handle.

“Hey man. Here’s some cardboard for you to help keep you warm. What else do you need?” Sam’s voice shifted into soul-to-soul gear.

The man pulled his blanket diagonally across his street-worn face, “Thanks.”

While Em was sharing her journey with me, she kept repeating, “It’s about recognizing one human being to another. If we can help one person we’re helping everyone. I’ll get him underwear ….” Listing little things that would help and not burden him.

Hmm…. Help but not burden. People are where they are. That’s where we can meet them more effectively. Get them what they need and see where we can help them go from there.

Now, back to your root chakra. Many teachers chime on about the negative, tribal, greedy, manipulative aspects of the root chakra. Yes, the ol’ shadow is present and can be activated with a single thought.

Humans are still human. Evolution has not taken us up the ladder very far in the survival category.

Survival nature is required to be a human being. Survival fears can make us turn red and see red, the innate frequency of light associated with this root center of conscious and unconscious mind.

Yet, we also have the power to recognize our Aspen tree-like nature as well -our interconnectedness at the root.

I took this picture outside of the Ryon-ji Temple in Kyoto. It has not been retouched, except by the heavens. Its living metaphor is obvious.

When you turn your root energy and attention toward truth — we are all one — your life, at its base level gets a little easier. At least, perhaps, more understood.

No one can hold you back or hold you down without your agreement.

You’re the one sculpting and managing your base power, its time and energy. You can give it away or not.

You can, like Em and Samuel, extend that power of rooted compassion and interconnectedness with another, lifting them to the degree they can be lifted in the moment.

Bitterness is, unfortunately, filling the airwaves. Yet, you’ll witness more good in us and the world if you gaze into real faces more than screens.

We are evolving out of our more shadowed root. Albeit slowly. The push-comes-to-shove mentality will be a part of our lives for generations, if not eons, to come.

Younger millennials and generation Z have brilliant ideas; yet, these are, what I call, “Children of the Cloud.” The first humans to be born in the high-tech, hand-held generations when cloud technology came into being.

They have innovative ideas, but all are not grounded with feet-on-the-ground, large scale practicalities. I’m confident Gen Z and the generations behind them will bring new roots and continue the evolution.

With tech kicking open door after door into new realms, we are forced to evolve faster than any other sequence of generations in human history.

Every angle of life is experiencing core-level contrasts. They are hard-hitting from every angle of culture, ideology, wellness, and metaphysics — the reality of being. That’s root evolution.

To keep sane, take care of yourself and your family. Get rooted there first.

Then help one human being or a group of people at a time. See what you can do to lift them to where they can hold it and then support them in helping another, while you do the same.

Compassion in the Root Chakra? You bet there is and must be. Integrating and applying compassion requires diligent small steps over time to gain altitude.

The pole vaulter takes small steps, increases speed then leaps. It’s the only way to get over the hurdle.

Think about a root chakra hurdle in your life. An issue where you’re trying new things all of the time to ‘fix’ it. You know that thing that bugs you and you keep throwing things at it and nothing sticks.

Money. Relationships. Health. Location. Weight. These are root issues. Take one, only one issue. Write is down. Break it down into small steps based on your intuitive wisdom — what does your body/life say it needs? The answer may surprise you.

Breathe.

Drop your mind’s attention to the lower pelvic floor and ask … What is needed (x,y, and z)?

Take the first and the simplest responses. Your body or Spirit does not deliver information in calculus-like long-form responses.

Truth is always simple. So, too, are the steps toward it.

With grounded love,