Kundalini Yoga Glossary
Cycle of the Intellect
How a message from the Soul gets tainted by personal history on its way to becoming an action.
Meaning
What the Cycle of the Intellect Means
In the pure process of thought, a message originates in the Soul, not as a clear, verbalized thought, but as a feeling meant to unfold into action. That message arrives in the mind, which decides what to do to fulfill it. When the mind stays unbiased, in pure connection with the Soul's intention, the resulting action is pure: this is Dharma, the path of least resistance.
In practice, this process is rarely pure. Between the message and the action, personal history, expectations and fears intervene, and an emotion tied to a specific outcome arises before the action itself. Once expectation enters the picture, the action is no longer only in connection with the Soul, and it becomes biased. This is the path of Karma, the path of greater resistance and suffering.
In Practice
How It’s Used
There are two ways to interrupt this cycle. The first is to act before personality and history have a chance to intervene: recognizing a familiar pattern in ourselves and consciously choosing not to repeat it, so the action stays connected to the Soul's original message.
The second is to let the process continue through to the resulting emotion, and then observe it rather than fight it or let it take over. Allowing that emotion to move through, instead of reacting to it, keeps expectation from fully forming, so the resulting action can still align with the Soul rather than with fear.
