Shared Transformation
Introduction to Issue 5
Being able to send out this issue on schedule seems miraculous to me. Since May, I've been completely
immobile and helplessly trapped flat on my back in bed, suffering the torturous pain of a ruptured disc. (Although
a rare consequence, sometimes such a rupture can occur when the Kundalini becomes strongly active in the spine.)
Fortunately, I had written most of the article herein long ago. We're using a single-article format this time
because frankly, it's easiest to do. The topic for Issue #5 -- Kundalini Symptoms-- was also decided upon long
before my current crisis, but as often seems to happen these days, it is synchronistically appropriate. Recently,
someone who doesn't know me well gave me a misdirected lecture about the error of glorifying pain--of regarding
it as an ennobling experience. For most of my life, my stance was just the opposite--I was filled with outrage
and grief when confronted with any suffering in sentient beings. Only recently have I begun to understand that
sometimes suffering is an unavoidable consequence of purposeful and ultimately beneficial growth. Still, I pray
for mercy for myself and all others who are in the jaws of pain. Consuming physical anguish is one of the most
abject, humiliating, and annihilating experiences one can endure. Yet even these most hellish descents can become
gateways to immense inner healing. This, hopefully, is the message of this issue.
-- El Collie