I certainly hope you have enjoyed our journey with the Tao, for we have now reached the final marker! From the beginning, I have emphasized that the center of our consciousness must be shifted from the visible, material world to the invisible, spiritual world and the world of vital energy. So let us discuss how to achieve completion through the principles of Tao. In other words, how can we manifest the spiritual world in the material world of present reality?

System for Spiritual Completion

First, realize there is no completion for the physical body. Completion is a concept based upon the soul. The perfect system for completion of the soul is the dahnjon, or chakra, system, which comprises the body’s energy systems. If you understand how our chakra system is related to completion of the soul, you will automatically feel that the wonder of the human body, of life, and of Tao is truly profound and mysterious and amazing beyond description.

In order for the energy system of the human body to become complete, the energy of the soul in the fourth chakra, in the chest, must pass through the fifth chakra in the neck, and meet with the energy of divinity in the sixth chakra, the brain. When that happens, the energy of divinity opens its eye wide. This energy of the sixth chakra from the merged soul and divinity is called “Shin energy,” and this energy of “Shin,” or “spirit,” must become bright and strong.

What does it mean for your spiritual energy to be bright and strong? The brightening of “Shin,” or “spiritual” energy, is called “enlightenment.” When your spiritual energy awakens, you develop a brighter awareness and a knowing comes to you effortlessly. You receive universal information in the form of light, sound, or vibration. With brighter spiritual energy, you hear or see high-level messages or moving images. All of these functions arise in the sixth chakra - the brain.

When your divinity has opened its eye, we call it the “third eye.” This eye exists to see the invisible world, the world of Tao, and you automatically see and know the principle of life. The world of Tao is a state of oneness and true emptiness with no duality. In a world of consciousness that has transcended time and space, in an absolute, pure consciousness, you realize penetrating insight that sees all principles of the world through one principle of life energy.

Secondly, what is meant by your “Shin” energy becoming stronger is that you use your spiritual energy to perform creation. You transfer the spiritual world to the world of physical reality through creation. When you truly become enlightened to the Tao, you can demonstrate “doryuk,” or the power of Tao, which can change physical reality with spiritual energy. The brightness of your Shin energy corresponds with how much you can use that energy to change your life, help the people around you, and brighten their consciousness. Shin energy becomes brighter and stronger the more you use it. The new wisdom, joy of creation, and conviction gained through using Shin energy makes it even brighter.

The Enlightenment of Tao

Then what is the basis of concretely determining that the soul is completed? Just as an infant grows inside the second chakra, the mother’s womb, and is born, our soul grows in the sixth chakra, the brain, which we could call the womb of the soul, and exits the body at the moment of death. Just as the newborn infant exits through the first chakra, there is a designated exit through which the completed soul leaves, an energy point called the Baekhwe, the seventh chakra at the top of the head. This is the secret of “Chunhwa” (meaning “to become one with heaven”).

Although we seem to be separate, distinct entities, if we see through the eyes of Tao of the spiritual world, we are all energy waves of the life of the universe. We all came from the same single root, the source of the universe. Those who truly know this principle of Tao not only acknowledge that “I am the whole, and the whole is me” but also take action for the sake of helping the whole. This is called “Hongik” and is the process of creation that moves the spiritual world to the world of physical reality.

The principal agent of this creation is people - people whose souls and divinities are awakened, people who have a bright and strong consciousness, people who cherish profound compassion in their hearts toward the world and people. Doesn’t it make your heart skip a beat with hope to imagine more people like this in the world? Remember that the hope you’ve been looking for is breathing inside of your very own life. Use that life energy within. That’s the enlightenment of Tao. 

— from a message by Ilchi Lee, Dahn Yoga Founder