V’s words make me stop and reflect. “I like the idea of a ‘solar heart’. That is the name for the merged chakras, I take it.”

“Yes. This alchemical process is the underlying energetic movement from ‘life’ into ‘Life’.

“And just what’s the difference between the little ‘life’ and the capital-L ‘Life’?”

V replies with a question, “This is another opportunity to use your intuitive awareness. What do you think?”

I ponder. “The first thing is right out of my own question. Life with a large ‘L’ seems to put an emphasis on the largeness of living; little ‘l’ means lower vitality. Is that correct?”

“You’re close. Ordinary life—the experience of the vast majority of humans throughout history—is missing a key ingredient. Without that ingredient, experience is flat and empty. Experience moves forward, but at a very slow pace.”

“What’s the ‘missing ingredient’?”

“Obviously, it is consciousness. Your species has always possessed awareness and varying degrees of alertness. But until you match that with the deeper presence—synonymous with consciousness—your view will be flat and two-dimensional. Life, in the larger expression, brings with it the matching power and depth. It brings the opportunity for you to become ‘aware of being conscious’.”

“All right,” I register. “How does Life bring this power to us? What do we need to do to take advantage of the opportunity?”

“You need only listen to your own breathing, and your own heartbeat. The connection between heart and breath is a magical, alchemical one. Listen to the Life within you. Feel the inner vibration and sensation of Life. It has never not been there. However, when you face away from it, resist or deny it, you refuse the key ingredient that elevates your sensibility. You remain in the lower levels of awareness. Humans have been prisoners in the basement of wakefulness for millennia.

“Once you take notice of the hum of cosmic presence in you—in your genes and cells—you are turning toward the Source. Let me give you a short exercise to help with your sensitivity to Life.”

“Please do,” I urge. (more…)