EASTERN BODY, WESTERN MIND : PSYCHOLOGY AND THE CHAKRA SYSTEM AS A PATH TO THE SELF BY ANODEA JUDITH
CHAKRA | 1: Muladhara | 2: Svadhisthana | 3: Manipura | 4: Anahata | 5: Vissudha | 6: Ajna | 7: Sahasrara |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IDENTITY | Physical | Emotional | Ego | Social | Creative | Archetypal | Universal |
AGE | 0 - 12m | 6m - 2y | 18m to 4y | 3y - 7y | 7y - 12y | Adolescence | Adulthood |
FREUD | Oral | Oral | Anal | Phallic | Latency | Adolescence | Genital |
REICH/LOWEN | Schizoid (Creative) | Oral (Lover) | Masochist (Endurer) Psychopath Challenger-Defender | Rigid (Achiever/Hysteric) Psychopath Challenger/Defender | |||
PIAGET | Sensory-motor (Stages 1 & 2) | Sensory-motor (Stages 3 to 6) | Preoperational | Preoperational | Concrete operations | Formal operations | Formal operations |
ERIKSON (Corrected+) | Trust vs. mistrust | Separation vs. Attachment++ | Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt | Initiative vs. guilt | Industry vs. inferiority | Identity vs. role confusion | Intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. self-absorption, integrity vs. despair |
MASLOW (Corrected+) | Physiological | Safety | Self-esteem+++ | Belonging+++ | Self-actualization | Transcendence | Transcendence |
WILBER | Pleromatic, uroboric | Typhonic (axial, pranic, image-bodies) | Membership self | Early egoic personic | Middle egoic personic | Centaur/existential, late egoic, mature ego, low subtle | High subtle, causal, ultimate |
KOHLBERG | Punishment/obedience | Instrumental/hedonism | Good boy/nice girl | Law and order | Social contract | Universalism | Universalism |
PSYCHO-SYNTHESIS | Lower collective unconscious | Lower personal unconscious | Conscious self | Conscious self | Conscious self | Higher unconscious, higher collective, unconscious | Transpersonal |
+ Erikson and Maslow's Developmental Stages, corrected according to Anodea Judith in Eastern Body Western Mind
++ Erikson has Trust Vs Mistrust through 2y
+++ Maslow's order swapped for Belonging and Self Esteem stages.
There is some overlap between the beginning and end of each stage in development, from person to person, and the higher chakras \ stages of development will have a wider variability in the upper stages.
A larger cycle begins again after roughly twenty years, on a more complex level, when the child leaves home and begins his or her adult life.
- First: Trust vs Mistrust (Mid-pregnancy to 1y)
- Focused mainly on survival and physical comfort.
"Successful progress through this stage gives us a sense of hope and affirms our right to be here and our right to have. This stage builds the foundation of security and groundedness that enables self-preservation and forms the physical identity."
- Second: Separation vs Attachment (6m to 2y)
- Formation of an emotional identity, interested in self gratification.
At this point, the child is all need, sensation, and desire. Needs want to be satisfied. Sensation gives way to desire. Needs and desires mark the motivation for locomotion—seeing something and moving toward it, merging with it, and incorporating it (most often through the mouth).
- Third: autonomy vs. shame and doubt (18m to 4y)
- naturally self-centered, and establishing a sense of personhood, power, and self-assertivness.
Here the unconscious, instinctual states of the lower two chakras start to come under conscious control, signaling the emergence of the conscious self and the awakening of the ego.
- Fourth: initiative vs. guilt (4 to 7)
- Successful formation of a healthy social identity rests on self-acceptance
Chakra four develops as one leaves the stubborn egocentricity of the third chakra and begins to show interest in relationships outside of the primary ones with Mother and Father. In earlier phases, the heart is open but not intelligent, being unconscious of its loving.
- Fifth: industry vs. inferiority (7 to 12)
- Formation of a creative identity
Now there is a desire to move that energy forward into creativity, into the act of giving something back, of making one’s own offering to the world. The ability to make this offer and be appreciated for it is essential for maintaining ego strength.
- Sixth: identity vs. role confusion (Adolescence)
reexamining their social identity—this time making it a more conscious choice, whereas the fourth chakra social identity is largely created in unconscious reaction to family dynamics. There may be a dawning interest in spiritual matters, mythology, or symbolism, whether through music, lyrics, popular movie icons, or the latest fashion at school.
- Seventh: Meaning Making (Early adulthood and beyond)
- leads to the formation of a universal identity, found by the awakened Self through self-knowledge
The seventh chakra is related to the pursuit of knowledge, the formation of a worldview, and the awakening of spiritual pursuits. Each new piece of information is filtered through the developing worldview (a constantly changing structure), forming the basis of all future behavior.