“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is lead, your whole body will feel of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

This is a quotation from The Bible, from Matthew 6:22-23 (NASB). While, of course, it is not written about anything concerning the Andean mystical tradition, it certainly applies! For me, it is an enlightening (pun intended!) statement about the importance of our attending to the state of our energy bubble, our poq’po, including the chunpis (belts of power) and the “eyes” of the belts, the ñawis.

In this quotation, the light can be equated with sami, refined energy; the lead/darkness with hucha, heavy energy.

In Matthew, I believe the “eye” refers to our perception—our way of seeing and being in the world. The more we cleanse our perceptions, divesting ourselves of hucha and filling ourselves with sami, the more productively  and joyously we can live. We do this cleansing using saminchakuy, the practice for releasing hucha and filling ourselves with sami, and through hucha mikhuy, whereby we transform hucha into sami. The chunpis play a role in this.

The chunpis, or belts, are a bit like chakras, as they are energy centers in our poq’po that interpenetrate our physical body. There are four primary chunpis: the yana chunpi that is like a girdle around the lower trunk and the root of our spine; puka chunpi at the belly (qosqo); qori chunpi at the heart or chest level; and the qolqe chunpi at the throat. There is also somewhat of a fifth belt, called the kulli chunpi, at the forehead that encompasses the two physical eyes and the “third eye.”

Each of these belts has an energetic opening, a ñawi. So in effect we have seven “eyes” in our body, the two physical eyes, the third eye and the four ñawis of the primary chunpis. We can “see” through these seven eyes, and they are related to our conscious evolution. If you remember, there are seven levels to human consciousness, only four of which are manifest so far on Earth. So, if we follow the message of Matthew and apply it to the Andean mystical tradition, there are seven eyes of the body, seven aspects to our energy, to keep “clean” and “light.” Since these eyes are spread across our body, by keeping them cleansed, we keep our entire bubble and body full of light/refined energy.

Notice the last sentence in the Matthew quotation: If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

Matthew is saying that  light can be “dark.” This, to me, is an incredibly Andean way of seeing energy. But we have to make a shift here to view the darkness not as hucha but as willka, the black light energy.

If you viewed my webinars, you may remember in the first one that I spent quite a bit of time talking about the black light energy, willka, which is the “highest” energy and the most difficult to master, according to the Andean masters. This is quite a reversal of most mystical traditions, which place the white light at the pinnacle. What does Matthew mean that light can be dark? Why do the Andeans valorize the black light instead of the white light? What exactly are we trying to do as paqos?

Let’s start by answering the last question first. As paqos, we are learning to be masters of energy absorption and radiation. We want to be able to absorb and radiate every kind of energy, without exception, though our energy bubble without slowing down the energy (turning sami into hucha).

In the webinar, I used a metaphor to explain this. I talked about how in the electromagnetic spectrum of visible light, black is the absorption of all color frequencies, whereas white is the reflection of all color frequencies. I was using this as a metaphor for our task as paqos. You can’t radiate white light unless you can first absorb the black light. You can’t radiate all possible energies unless you can first take all possible energies into your bubble and allow them to pass through without trapping them there and so turning them into hucha.

This, to me, is the brilliance of the Andean tradition. It teaches you to master the “darkness” so that you can be the “light.” (There is no sense whatsoever of the negative, bad, evil in the word “darkness.” Here I am referring to black—the ability to absorb all possible energies, without exception.) We must first be masters of “tasting” every “flavor” of energy of the kawsay pacha before we can hope to radiate the white light of the All.

So the “darkness” in the Matthew quotation can be read two ways in the Andean tradition. First, as lead, or heaviness—as hucha, which is still light energy (kawsay), only trapped or slowed down and so not contributing to our well-being. And second, as willka, the black light energy that is the highest form of nature/earthly energy and the metaphor for our task as paqos—to be such masters of our energy body that we can freely partake of the fullness of the kawsay pacha, the world of living energy.

The training in the tradition is perfectly sequenced to help you master the art of being a paqo, attending to the light within. The first training, paña, teaches you to perceive energy and to work with your energy body and the kawsay pacha. The second training, chaupi, to activate the chunpis and learn to consciously absorb and radiate energy. And the third, lloq’e, to empower the chunpis and ñawis and increase your personal power.

This long post has one main point and one main question/challenge for you: to be a master of yourself and your life, you must “clear” your “eyes” in every sense of perceiving, from your beliefs to your energy body, so that you can freely absorb the ALL and thus be able to radiate the ALL. How are you doing?

In Part 2, in my next post, I will discuss the aura.