Solar Plexus Center / Solar Plexus Chakra / Third Bandwidth

Solar Plexus

As humanity is still very much polarized in the emotional body, these writings about the energy centers reflect mainly the challenge of overcoming emotional imbalances.

The third bandwidth finds its expression through the solar plexus. It has its entrance point at the 12^th thoracic and the 1^st lumbar vertebrae and is related to your pancreas, stomach, digestive- and elimination systems, intestines, liver and gallbladder as well as the spleen. If we have not been able to harmonize our imbalances of fear and/or relational issues in the two bandwidths below this one, they spill over to the solar plexus which governs our overall emotional state of health. Here we make all issues very personal and we know the “crunch” of the solar plexus when we feel angry or upset.  This center connects us strongly to our emotional body and to the unconscious and is the primary center for moving energies upwards. The solar plexus can be over-active by emotional over-reactions and/or blocked in those who are fearful of their own or other people’s emotions. Most astral lower, often glamorized psychic phenomenon is connected to this center. In the esoteric philosophy it is often called the “furnace” of emotions. We find moodiness, worry, tension, agitated excitement, stress, temper, irritation, selfishness and obsession here. All of these can be said to be psychological cleavages, both deep-seated and superficial.

Even though this center is still highly emotional in its nature we have moved from an unstructured bandwidth to a more structured, mental one and this center quickly responds and reacts with thought. Through it we try and create order and structure and initial release from any emotional upset. When we are in this center we believe our thoughts and emotions, many live on and for their emotions. A thought comes in, for instance “I am angry or jealous” it initially provides a relief of naming the emotion we are dealing with. We try to think our way out of any uncomfortable emotion or conundrum of thoughts. Initially this gives us relief, yet potentially only pushes the real issue into the unconscious. We rationalize, intellectualize and project our discomfort outside of ourselves, anything which helps us avoid actually feeling what we are feeling.  In our mind, the reason we have discomfort is usually someone else’s fault, a specific person, a boss, a company, a society, a system, life itself – our reasons are endless. In our effort to control our emotional body we resort to inhibition, suppression, resulting in the solar plexus becoming a “great reservoir of retained energy”. The solar plexus can be very over-whelming. What is required, and comes with the opening of the heart center, is the transmutation of the emotions we have stored in the solar plexus into aspiration, altruism, compassion and love. The heart center reveals the solar plexus and with enough of the heart open a person seldom gets too embroiled in other people’s affairs.

Thought pollution is our single greatest threat emanating from imbalanced solar plexus’, but also from the two lower bandwidths. The world is a mere reflection of our individual and collective mind. The pollution that is choking our very life force arises from within us. Yet, we have created this system and we can undo it if we do our inner work to catch our own portion of the pollution and are able to nullify its effect on the collective field. The external reality we live in is merely a reflection of our individual and collective mind-set. What you will need to ask yourself is what kind of light are you spreading, what is your inner climate and how does it need to change. Where is your consciousness focused and how are you mirroring and receiving someone else’s light and/or distortions, the question must be what kind of energy are you disseminating? It takes some vigilance, as you are both the light and the mirror. Any negative thoughts you send out, will eventually return – in this respect we could say that climate change is an inner process.

Unfortunately our current one-sided reliance on mainstream science and academia belong here, they have become our new church if followed blindly and dogmatically. We think rational thinking is the pinnacle of our being and we are for instance not allowed, in most places, to bring our emotions into the workplace. Because this is a structured bandwidth, it gives us initially safety, and we try to resolve and control our more unstructured, often chaotic emotional expressions by pushing them under the radar of the socially acceptable norm of behavior. We put the lid on! This is a massive cul-de-sac. If we distance ourselves from our emotions we easily become arrogant thinking we are better, cooler, more sophisticated, more intelligent therefore better than our fellow human beings. We make a lot of comparison in this bandwidth to boost our self-esteem and our sense of self-worth. If we distance ourselves too much we get totally cut off from our emotions and create a very sterile and numb environment. The mind is a very beautiful tool, but it needs to be used wisely and not alone rule the show. Life can become very dry.

The issue here is superiority vs. inferiority. The body is seen as a machine, a power house of fitness and vitality. The emotions are either suppressed or controlled with all possible mind-games and means or alternatively dumped on others when we lose our control. We fear our own rage and anger, we fear our own weakness and vulnerability and we grow impatient and frustrated when confronted with these emotional states from the lower bandwidths, whether they surprise us in our own being, puffing up from below our self-created armor and lid or come toward us from other people. We just want everyone to behave!

This is where we maintain a fixed image and idea about our ego identity. It is something we defend if needed with passion. We have opinions, show ambition, we compete, judge, criticize and blame.  We can feel extremely self-righteous and actually what we are trying to do is to look better than others. There is intellectual rigidity here and a sense of superiority as others threaten our ego identity or challenge our beliefs. We seek mental validation and want other people to agree with us. We always know best and have answers to everything. It can become a very closed and arrogant circuit if we aren't willing and able to let go.

This bandwidth is the basis of all competition and striving for material success on the expense of others. The thinking is: “you can’t succeed without someone else loosing”. The American dream: "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" has turned sour if we, as so many do, only seek self-gratification and forget about other people and other life-forms.

We find validation from our attainment, status and recognition. All “isms” – apart from optimism, are here. We feel relieved when we acquire, control, harness money and possessions, power, influence and dominion. This bandwidth is very good with and works with words as it is the sphere of our lower mental capacity.   

This is also where we want to conform, not rock the boat – nobody wants a troublemaker. Yet we want to stand up as an individual and validate our individuality, yet we suffer if and when we compare with others endlessly and they may be more successful than we are. Alternatively the spiritual seeker turns this into “I am more spiritual than you are, my teacher/teaching/lineage is better than yours...etc.” The holier than thou people are found here. Because this is the “one-man-ship” bandwidth with everyone for him- or herself mentality we exploit, try to be special and have a desire to get ahead of the game.

We find the whole business, corporate, political and financial sectors mostly in this bandwidth. The missing piece is consciousness itself as it is not recognized nor factored into these spheres. The result of which we now see in the terrible exploitation of natural resources, in the environmental degradation, in the distinction of species and life on Earth, in the financial crisis’s and shortsightedness of corporate gain as well as in the endless increased of governmental bureaucracy. We are not in right relationship with life and we need our hearts to open to see this.

We are reluctant to forego ego as it is a threat to individual supremacy. People with power like their power, often over others and over existence itself. There is a huge delusion and a misunderstanding about the true source of power, i.e. spiritual power. The current awakening and grass roots movement under way, opening the collective human heart and searching for right relationship is a huge threat to the established order, operating primarily in this bandwidth, and therefore we see many fascist and controlling methods striking back at the revolutionary energy sweeping the planet at this time.

In this bandwidth we are conscious of self-image, our identity, ego, reason and perceptions of others. We may have a nagging fear of exposure, constriction, numbness, rigidity, smugness and we may feel indignant and keep secrets. It creates a lot of stress in our body system, not to be allowed or not to allow ourselves authenticity. We do not show our weaknesses but hide behind masks. The roles we take upon ourselves to play in this bandwidth are a cause of a lot of illness and disease (not at ease) in our being. The stress in our corporate and governmental institutional cultures is huge! Sometimes we take ourselves to exhaustion, burn-out and break down, we give up and the mind becomes quiet as we recognize that we cannot continue anymore. We do not see and we forget our own light and beauty, we cannot see the fullness of our being nor the light and beauty in others.

For a person studying the inner mysteries of life, this center represents a special challenge to overcome. When the solar plexus is highly developed and when it already connects slightly with the lower heart (self-awareness) and touches occasionally its corresponding higher buddic level, or touches the solar plexus' higher counter-part the atmic, abstract mind level, there is a risk of another illusion of exclusiveness and feeling special, of thinking one knows more about the hidden mysteries of life than the average person - and one usually does, but that is not the point. This is a plague that especially finds its home in esoteric groups and any hidden body of teachings found in all religious traditions. During the two thousand years of the era of Pisces patriarchal and male dominated hierarchical structures have seeped in everywhere and have loved this mental dominance and power over attitude, thus such manifestations are found in most religious institutions both in the East and the West and the energies of past karmic debts are still with us. Thankfully this is breaking down with the increasing influx of the energies of Aquarius which are much more inclusive and group oriented in their nature. Finding the balance point of inner masculine and feminine energies is the key and correcting force which eventually will bring the "cosmic dewdrop" into right balance between his/her humanity and divinity. But there is much work to do in this area as the sacred feminine has been suppressed and relegated into the shadow for such a long time. If this kind of superiority complex is still active and there is no willingness to embrace the heart; inviting its surrender, humility, equality and vulnerability or if there is no courage or awareness to enter the lower bandwidths to do the necessary healing of the shadow of the age of Pisces, we will not see, or it will take much longer to bring about, a more heart centered approach to goodwill, an orientation towards right relationship of humanity as one unified collective and a healthy custodianship towards Mother Earth. Remember the solar plexus is still a "one-man-ship" center of separation.

The panacea and elixir to get past this bandwidth is to open our hearts, yet people are initially afraid of this as it will take us back to an unstructured bandwidth again and we may momentarily lose control.  Consciousness starts to wake up in the solar plexus bandwidth but initially it is focusing just on self and identity however superb the intellect.

The challenge as we approach the heart center is to allow humility, equality, to relax our rigidity and control a bit and admit that we cannot do it all alone. In the corporate arena we may admit that we aren't superman or superwoman after all. We allow others equal space. When this bandwidth has run its course it cannot maintain itself but starts to melt the structures, roles and prisons. It eventually leaves us disconnected and we know something essential is missing and we open ourselves to gentleness and vulnerability, loosening and softening the structures we have created. Consideration of others enters and we learn to use our power and knowledge in a more responsible manner. The practice becomes surrender and letting go and in the letting go something greater enters.

Spiritual practice may enter and it helps us to soften. As we melt our own self-created prison, we soon learn that we cannot skip stages and find ourselves re-entering our lower bandwidths to heal fear and doubt. We practice embracing ourselves as we are, thus the heart slowly develops more courage and starts to open, trust in life’s magical unfolding can re-enter. We cannot take our fear and doubt into our bliss. 

Inspired by my own journey, study in esoteric philosophy, the ancient wisdom tradition, especially esoteric soul based healing and notes from a recent workshop with Jeddah Mali.