The collective being
Less than 2 years ago, the World Health Organization declared loneliness to be a "global public health concern”. Also in 2023, the U.S. surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy and his office produced an advisory on the healing effects of social connection and community. He also co-led the WHO commission that produced its report just a few months ago. Interestingly, the report states that “less is perhaps understood of the drivers than of other aspects (e.g. scale, impacts) of social connection, social isolation and loneliness.” This is an interesting statement given that it is about an issue that research has shown to be as bad for people's health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day…
But it is not surprising. From outside, the knot of internal and external potential causes and their complications seems to be so complex as to elude our grasp. But we need to remember that even what appears as “external” factors are just outer manifestations of our internal makeup. The importance of collectivity and of the ability to have natural, balanced and clean relationships is so great that they are the main tasks of one of our chakras. It is the Vishuddhi chakra, in our neck area. It controls all outer aspects of our communication and gives us the power to relate to and understand others. When enlightened, it starts manifesting the power of witnessing - watching something in all details without reaction. It also automatically makes us feel as part of the larger whole - be it nature, humanity or, at subtlest level, the all - pervading power itself.
As one of the higher chakras, its’ function is impacted by how the other chakras are doing. When we have troubles at heart level, we will not be able to hide them when we communicate or in our relationships. Similarly, when there is a serious imbalance in our Nabhi chakra, be it chronic insatisfaction, too much attention on money, etc. this will also be very quickly apparent, and so on. The epidemic of loneliness, the polarization of same opinion / same interest groups, the rise and spread of all sorts of extreme adversarial discourses are as much symptoms of the state of our Vishuddhi chakra at collective level as well as they are cumulative symptoms of issues with the rest of our subtle system. And though some external barriers can potentially be improved or removed, the biggest obstacles in moving into a world of collective enjoyment and sharing are inside us.
The good news is that we literally “have it within us” to achieve that level of a collective being. After Self realization, the process of general balancing as well as the improvement of specific chakras and their manifestations becomes a daily routine. The cumulative effect is automatically reflected upwards and when that touches our Vishuddhi chakra, through its intrinsic power and qualities, it generates a positive feedback loop that further amplifies and accelerates the whole process. As the chakra name implies - it means perfect purity - we can go beyond any impurities and achieve an ethereal state of mind, as ether is the defining element of it. And the best part of it is the feeling of complete freedom —like an enlightened dust particle carried by the wind…!