Kundalini Experimental Project Overview
Preface
kundalini (ku̇n-də-ˈlē-nē) n. 1. The biological basis of all forms of spiritual experience, religion, genius, and higher consciousness. 2. The evolutionary energy residing in the human body.
The phenomena of religion, spirituality, and mystical or transcendental experience have long been shrouded in mystery. From a scientific point of view, little is known about the biological or evolutionary implications of the religious instinct which has dominated the landscape of human life for at least the past 5,000 years.
Over the past 200 years, works by luminaries such as Richard Maurice Bucke and Gopi Krishna have opened up new avenues of scientific research to empirically demonstrate the existence of a super-intelligent evolutionary mechanism within the body, termed “Kundalini” in the ancient Indian tradition.
Gopi Krishna’s Kundalini theory states that Kundalini is the biological basis of religion, genius, and insanity, and can be voluntarily awakened to accelerated activity. In its awakened state, it may be possible for the brain to achieve new levels of heightened activity and accelerated evolution. Finally, if this process is allowed to proceed unhindered, it is possible for individuals to arrive at a state of consciousness historically labelled as Enlightenment, Samadhi, Cosmic Consciousness, Christ Consciousness, etc. The scientific validation and cultivation of this state of consciousness is the goal of our research. The methods we are using would allow even the most skeptical scientists to validate the existence and operation of Kundalini within the human body.
Kundalini’s biological and empirically verifiable characteristics set it apart from all other forms of supernatural phenomena, justifying it as the primary focus of the Emerging Sciences Foundation. There are many valuable resources available about our specific approach, including important books and online learning materials, available on the Institute for Consciousness Research website. We encourage you join us on the same voyage of discovery which has been the preoccupation of the most enlightened cultures of antiquity.
Overview
The Kundalini Experimental Project is a global research effort led by the Emerging Sciences Foundation to study transcendent state of consciousness and the biological mechanism behind it known as Kundalini. The ultimate goal of the project is to voluntarily awaken this evolutionary mechanism in willing participants.
Kundalini is a phenomenon confirmed by thousands of years of recorded human observation. There is evidence that many ancient cultures understood the life factors responsible for a healthy awakening of Kundalini, resulting in the cultivation of mental abilities. The Indians, Egyptians, and Mesoamericans all left behind written clues and artifacts chronicling their insights and observations of this phenomenon. Kundalini is not the “Kundalini Yoga” found in popular culture — it represents the biological basis of all spiritual experiences and, we believe, a driving force of evolution.
Physical and psychological manifestations of Kundalini vary depending on constitution, heredity, environment, etc. The Kundalini mechanism is theorized to exist as an “intelligent” mechanism working within the human body. Its purpose is to elevate human consciousness to an expanded state of consciousness.
One of the outcomes is to bring a person in tune with specific altruistic and moral frames of mind that facilitate this process. Kundalini’s evolutionary biological effects make it an extremely important area of study, and supports the case for a large-scale, rigorous, and empirical investigation into the phenomenon. Understanding Kundalini is extremely important for the safety and survival of the species past the nuclear age.
The Kundalini Experimental Project is hosted on the Brilliano platform.
Research Approach
- Surveys
- Historical Research / Data Gathering
- Predictive Modeling
- Experimentation of methods to awaken and/or stabilize Kundalini on volunteer subjects
Surveys
- The Spiritual Experience Survey, released in December 2014, measures experiences such as energy sensations, unusual sensory perceptions, mystical experiences and spiritual practices as well as demographic characteristics. People from around the world have completed this survey, many reporting significant transformative experiences. The survey is administered via the Brilliano app.
- The Personal Background Survey, released in October 2017, measures personal information such as lifestyle, beliefs, environmental and hereditary factors that could have a positive impact on the Kundalini awakening process.
The Spiritual Experience Survey
The Spiritual Experience Survey measures the intensity levels of various types of psychological and physical experiences that might be related to transcendent experiences. All analysis techniques and source code is made freely available to the public as part of the Kundalini Discover project on GitHub.
Survey question groups:
- Mystical experiences
- Spiritual experiences
- Psychophysiological experiences
- Psychic experiences
- Talents and altruistic tendencies
- Physical effects
- Psychological effects
The Personal Background Survey
Map personal conditions, both inner and outer, that could be related to Kundalini experiences, e.g., diet, exercise, heredity, etc.
Survey question groups:
- Personal Background
- Heredity
- Spiritual Practices
- Personal Evolution
- Stressors and Traumas and Medical History
- Environmental Factors
- E.g., politics and social order
Analysis Goals
The Spiritual Experience Survey was created to document the types of spiritual experiences people are having, and associated physical and psychological experiences.
Analysis on the Spiritual Experience Survey has a few basic goals:
- Discover groupings of transcendent experiences that occur together.
- Explore the relationship between different transcendent experience types and other physical and psychological experiences.
- Create an empirical, data-driven way of classifying a person’s spiritual experiences.
- Lay the groundwork for future experimentation on Kundalini by providing important measures that can be used to track progress. Future research will focus on potential ways to enhance or accelerate the Kundalini process. Kundalini is seen as the biological basis of all spiritual experiences.
A pre-print of our scientific paper can be found here.