Overactive Astral Bodies

     The first question has to be: who gets to define the ‘overactive’ in astral body? The excitability quotient is not easy to ascertain at the best of times, although on occasion it can be obvious.  When I flash on my youth, it is easy to see my own excitability, those energies of attraction, passion, anger, envy, resentment, embarrassment, and all their footloose cousins. It is no problem to see that younger me being mercilessly driven on that carousel of emotions, that boy who preferred the debates of the intellect and the steady accumulation of knowledge through reading and research but could not reign in that wild horse that might gallop off in almost any direction at the drop of a hat.

     And this at a time when esoteric literature, both the traditional and new-age, advised on the benefits of serenity attained through meditation, yoga and silence.  It was the seventies, that decade of gurus, swamis, ashrams, rituals, retreats and temples.  It didn’t take long to see the fake gurus and teachers accumulating disciples, real estate and cash, some glaringly obvious and others quietly working their scams away under the guises of humility and piety.  More than a few acquaintances returned from their treks into the mystic East, even if it was not any farther than Massachusetts.  And of course as many survived the deceptions as did those the rigours of psychedelics.  I satisfied myself with bemused chuckles and further study.

      Into middle age and beyond my volcanic emotions settled, much like any person moving through the years without any specific attachment to spiritual teachings and disciplines. Married friends learnt to park their own perhaps raging emotions to deal with those of their children.  As I slide inexorably into my senior years, where retirement leaves plenty of space for the pleasures of serenity, whether planned or accidental, I can clearly see the turbulence of the astral body as an attribute of youth itself and little to do with personality types or psychological categorizing. Achieving balance and serenity through practice in one’s twenties is nearly impossible but for short stretches. It has become obvious that teachers always knew this but kept their encouraging smiles active so paying students would help keep up whatever costs and overheads were pressing. Like the military and corporations, ashrams, and churches require devotees who are willing to swap their independence for the benefits, material or spiritual, advertised.

    As an old man now it is plain to see the paths that the young follow are rocky whatever their choice, as the turbulence of the astral body takes many years to tame, and that taming is often not the result of practice but the inevitable dwindling of the fiery powers of the astral body, many of which are fueled by the irresistible tingles of the second and third chakra. I was never much with those gurus, now I know why.