Seven Stages of Consciousness Awakening

Part 2 of 3: The Growth of Kundalini

The Divine Architecture of Consciousness

In the biblical account, Jacob dreams of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending upon it. This powerful image has been recognized by mystics across traditions as a profound symbol of the human journey from material consciousness to divine awareness. In the yogic tradition, this same ladder is mapped precisely through the seven chakras—energy centers that transform the primal creative force through progressively higher frequencies.

As Elisabeth Haich articulates: “Just as logos, beyond man, and at all levels of creation, manifests and creates itself as different forms of energy, so do we human beings bear the whole Jacob’s ladder of logos-manifestations, that is, entire creation as the various aspects of our own Self.”

As we established in the last blog in this series, David Hawkins’ consciousness research provides empirical validation for what the ancients intuited, that the chakra system is the biological and energetic mechanism through which consciousness actually makes these frequency shifts.

Each center in the body thus must be activated and integrated. As we shall see, kundalini energy or sexual energy in its dormant form, provides the essential ‘fuel’ for this ascent.

The Seven Chakras: Centers of Transformation

The Sanskrit word ‘chakra’ means ‘wheel’ or ‘disk,’ referring to vortices of energy that receive, transform, and transmit life force throughout the human system. These seven major energy centers are distributed along the spinal column—the 33-vertebrae pathway that mystics across traditions have recognized as the sacred architecture of human transformation. From the coccyx (the coiled serpent’s resting place) through the lumbar, thoracic, and cervical vertebrae to the crown of the skull, each chakra corresponds to specific nerve plexuses and endocrine glands, demonstrating that spiritual anatomy and physical anatomy are intimately interconnected.

As Haich explains: “Creative power, the vital current, forms seven energy centres in man’s being, and each energy centre, known in the terminology of Yoga as chakra, has the effect of a transformer which transforms the divine creative power to a lower tension corresponding to the next centre of manifestation.”

From bottom to top, the seven chakras are:

First Chakra: Muladhara (Root Center)

Location: Base of the spine, coccyx
Sanskrit meaning: Mula (root/foundation)
Consciousness level: Unconscious survival, pure instinct
Sexual energy manifestation: Raw biological urge, purely physical desire

At this foundational level, kundalini lies coiled and dormant, like the serpent it is symbolized as. Here, sexual energy manifests in its most basic form—as an unconscious biological drive for survival and reproduction. The person operating primarily at this level has no awareness of love or higher connection; sexuality is experienced merely as physical tension seeking discharge.

As Haich describes: “As long as man is still an unconscious creature, his logos-powers operate in him at an unconscious level, automatically and in accordance with the laws of Nature, as in the case of animals. His sexual energy manifests itself within him as a purely animal-physical urge, driving him to rid himself of the unpleasant nervous tension caused by accumulated potency.”

This is the state of what Hawkins would calibrate as consciousness below 200—the realm of force rather than power, where survival instincts and physical gratification dominate awareness. Yet even at this level, the seeds of transformation are present. When sexual desire cannot be immediately gratified, the energy begins to build, creating pressure that will eventually force its way into higher centers.

Second Chakra: Svadisthana (Sacral Center)

Location: Lower abdomen, above the genital organs
Consciousness level: Emotional awakening, desire for connection
Sexual energy manifestation: Possessive desire, early love feelings, amorousness

When energy rises to the second chakra, a profound shift occurs. The purely physical urge begins to be colored by emotion. Sexual desire transforms into something more complex—a longing not just for physical release but for connection with a specific person. This is the birth of personal love, albeit still in its primitive, possessive form.

Haich observes: “The primitive man, still trapped in the prison of slow, natural development over eons, may start at the third level of consciousness only in some future life. Then he no longer gratifies his sex urge indiscriminately. He becomes more selective and also tries to please his partner. His relationship to the member of the opposite sex changes to a mixture of sexual desire and sense of togetherness coupled with possessiveness, which although primitive and selfish, is already an inferior form of love.”

At this level, calibrating around 125-175 in Hawkins’ system, the individual begins to move from mere appetite to desire, from pure physicality to feeling. The frustration of sexual desire—waiting, longing, pursuing—causes the energy to accumulate and rise. This accumulated energy activates emotional centers, bringing the first glimmers of what will eventually become love in its highest sense.

Third Chakra: Manipura (Solar Plexus)

Location: Solar plexus, above the navel
Consciousness level: Intellectual awakening, will power, personal identity
Sexual energy manifestation: Refined desire, mental engagement, romantic love

As consciousness continues to ascend, sexual energy reaches the third chakra, activating the intellect and will. Here, the individual begins to think about sexuality, not just feel it. Love becomes more complex, involving mental compatibility, shared values, and intellectual attraction alongside physical desire.

This is the level where civilized humanity typically operates. The person becomes selective about partners, seeking not just physical compatibility but also mental and emotional harmony. Frustration at this level, the inability to find a truly compatible partner forces even more energy into intellectual channels.

Haich describes this stage: “He gradually comes to know the pleasure of creative work, and thus, for the first time, he experiences a kind of self-confidence. His self-awareness grows and expands. Time and habit transform his possessiveness and lust for his life-partner, who by this time has become the mother of his children, into a spiritual-human bond, a loving, domestic harmony, an already higher, more selfless form of love.”

This correlates with Hawkins’ calibration level of 200—the critical threshold of integrity and courage. At this point, consciousness shifts from being primarily reactive to proactive, from force to power. The person can begin to consciously direct their life force rather than being driven by unconscious impulses.

Fourth Chakra: Anahata (Heart Center)

Location: Center of the chest, heart region
Consciousness level: Opening to universal love, compassion, empathy
Sexual energy manifestation: Loving devotion, spiritual partnership, tantric union

The heart chakra represents a crucial turning point in human evolution. Here, love begins to transcend personal desire and possessiveness, opening toward genuine care for another’s wellbeing. Sexual energy, when it reaches this center, becomes sacralized—it is no longer merely taking or even mutual exchange, but giving, devotional and a union of souls.

At this level, corresponding to Hawkins’ calibration of 500, consciousness makes the leap from ego-centric to other-centric. Love becomes less about what one can get and more about what one can give. In sexual terms, this manifests as tantric awareness, the recognition that sexual union can be a spiritual practice, a merging of energies that transcends physical pleasure to touch something sacred.

Yet even here, consciousness still operates through relationship, through the beloved other. The energy has been refined and elevated, but it still seeks external expression and completion. The next levels will require a profound shift from seeking fulfillment in another to discovering wholeness within.

Fifth Chakra: Vishuddha (Throat Center)

Location: Throat, thyroid gland
Consciousness level: Creative expression, truth, higher will
Sexual energy manifestation: Creative power, inspired communication, fertile ideas

When sexual energy reaches the fifth chakra, a remarkable transformation occurs. The creative power that was once exclusively manifested through physical procreation now becomes available for higher forms of creation—art, music, literature, scientific discovery, spiritual teaching. This is the level of genius, of inspired creativity.

At this level—calibrating at 540 in Hawkins’ system, the level of joy and unconditional love—the individual can consciously choose whether to manifest creative power sexually or intellectually. The great geniuses of history operated at this level. They could experience passionate human love while simultaneously channeling their creative energy into works that would inspire humanity for generations.

Think of Beethoven, who could abstain from sexual manifestation for long periods while composing his symphonies, yet who understood love profoundly. Or Dante, whose love for Beatrice was transmuted into divine poetry. Or the great yogis who, married and sexually active in their earlier lives, later chose to redirect this same energy entirely into spiritual work without repression or pathology.

Sixth Chakra: Ajna (Third Eye Center)

Location: Center of forehead, between eyebrows
Consciousness level: Intuition, spiritual vision, divine wisdom
Sexual energy manifestation: Universal love, prophetic insight, healing power

At the sixth chakra, consciousness transcends individual expression entirely. This is the realm of the prophets, saints, and spiritual masters—those who have awakened to dimensions of reality invisible to ordinary perception. Sexual energy, fully transformed, no longer seeks external expression at all but radiates as pure spiritual presence.

Haich describes those who have reached this level: “At this level we find the prophets, the saints, the great teachers of the West and the great masters and rishis of the Orient. They have become familiar with the source of creative power and divine-spiritual intelligence and have obtained complete mastery over it. They know that to expend this divine power in the body would undeniably be a sad loss to those who use vital energy as creative power and are consequently able to know and experience the joys and happiness of the spirit.”

This calibrates at 600 and above in Hawkins’ system—the level of peace and illumination. At this frequency, consciousness operates beyond the personal entirely. Love is no longer directed toward a specific person but radiates universally. The sexual organs remain healthy and functional—’the spirit builds the body’—but they serve only to maintain the physical vehicle through internal hormonal processes, not to seek external fulfillment.

Sexual desire has not been suppressed or repressed; it has quite literally transformed into something else entirely. What was once experienced as physical longing is now experienced as spiritual bliss, as divine love for all beings. The energy is the same, but its frequency has shifted so dramatically that it manifests in an entirely different dimension of experience.

Seventh Chakra: Sahasrara (Crown Center)

Location: Crown of the head
Consciousness level: God-consciousness, enlightenment, divine union
Sexual energy manifestation: I AM THAT I AM—complete self-realization

The seventh chakra represents the culmination of the entire journey—the complete reunion of the separated poles within consciousness itself. This is what the mystics call God-realization, what Hawkins calibrates at 700-1000, what the yogis term samadhi. At this level, the distinction between individual consciousness and universal consciousness dissolves.

Haich explains this ultimate state: “At the seventh level man manifests the supreme and highest form of divine creative power from the highest frequencies, and can use them in each form without descending to the lower levels with his consciousness. He experiences life consciously within him, that is to say, in his consciousness he is life itself. In perfect self-recognition, in a divine state of self-awareness, in an absolute state of being, in which not an atom of his being has remained unconscious, he has become consciously identical, consciously one, with God.”

This is why the God-man, exemplified supremely in Christ but present in all traditions, can say “I and my Father are one.” It is not metaphor or poetic language—it is literal description of a state of consciousness in which the individual self has expanded to embrace the universal Self.

Sexual energy, which began as the coiled serpent at the base of the spine, has risen through all seven centers, transforming at each level, until it reaches the crown where it merges with the divine consciousness that was always its source. The journey is complete—the separated poles reunite, not externally through another person, but internally through the awakening of consciousness itself.

The Mechanism of Transformation

Understanding the seven chakras is essential, but we must also grasp the actual mechanism by which sexual energy transforms as it rises through these centers. This is not metaphorical, it represents real bioenergetic processes that can be measured and experienced.

The key principle is frequency transformation. Each chakra operates at a progressively higher frequency, like the notes on a musical scale. Sexual energy at the first chakra vibrates at the slowest, densest frequency—appropriate for physical manifestation. As it rises, this same energy is ‘stepped up’ to higher frequencies at each chakra, just as an electrical transformer increases voltage.

What changes is not the energy itself but its form, its frequency of vibration. As Haich notes: “According to the level of consciousness attained, the outward form, the name, the experience, the inner state, change. But the essence of this power remains what in reality it always was, divine-creative power, logos, which is our own life, our individual Self.”

This explains why transformation requires conservation rather than expenditure of sexual energy. When sexual energy is repeatedly discharged through purely physical expression, it cannot accumulate the ‘pressure’ needed to force its way into higher centers. Like water that must build up sufficient pressure to rise to higher levels, sexual energy must be conserved and consciously directed upward.

This is not repression—a critical distinction. Repression occurs when energy is blocked unconsciously, creating psychological and physical pathology. Conservation and transmutation are conscious processes, involving awareness, practice, and usually guidance. The energy is not denied or suppressed; it is refined and redirected.

The Gradual Path: Natural vs. Accelerated Development

Haich makes an important distinction between natural evolution and the accelerated path of yoga. Naturally, over many lifetimes, human consciousness gradually ascends Jacob’s Ladder through the experiences of life itself. Sexual frustration, emotional challenges, intellectual pursuits, and spiritual yearning all serve to push energy into progressively higher centers.

But this natural process can take thousands of years, requiring multiple incarnations. The yogic path—and by extension, any conscious spiritual practice—offers a way to accelerate this process within a single lifetime, or at least make substantial progress.

The mechanism for acceleration is conscious work with sexual energy. Through specific practices—meditation, pranayama (breath work), asanas (physical postures), ethical discipline—the practitioner learns to conserve sexual energy and consciously direct it upward through the chakras.

Hawkins emphasized that this process cannot be rushed artificially. Premature kundalini awakening—attempting to activate higher chakras before the lower ones are properly integrated—can lead to serious psychological and spiritual disturbances. The nervous system must have sufficient ‘resistance’ to handle higher frequencies of energy, just as electrical wiring must be rated for higher voltages.

This is why authentic spiritual traditions emphasize gradual development, ethical preparation, and usually require a qualified teacher. As Haich warns: “Certain paths of Yoga involve this danger. Among them, for example, the so-called Kundalini and Tantra Yoga. In these forms the higher nerve and brain centres are wakened by drastic methods, ignoring the possibility of a gradual organic, spiritual, mental and physical development, which is somewhat slower but all the safer for that.”

Conclusion: The Sacred Journey

Jacob’s Ladder is not merely a metaphor but a precise map of human potential. The seven chakras represent actual energy centers in the body, each capable of transforming sexual energy into progressively higher forms of consciousness. Understanding this architecture is essential for anyone serious about spiritual development.

The journey from the first chakra to the seventh represents the complete transformation of human awareness—from unconscious animal instinct to God-consciousness. At each level, what we experience as ‘sexual energy’ reveals itself as something more: first as emotion, then as intellect, then as intuition, then as spiritual power, until finally it is recognized as consciousness itself, as divine creative power, as what we truly are.

As both Haich and Hawkins recognized, this is not merely theoretical knowledge but practical wisdom that must be lived and practiced. In Part 3, we will explore the actual process of transformation—the practices, the challenges, the stages of growth, and the ultimate realization that sexual energy and spiritual power are not two different things but one divine force manifesting at different frequencies.

Part 3: The Alchemy of Consciousness – The Transformation Process from Physical Desire to Divine Awareness – COMING SOON

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