If we were to ask someone to define instinct, most people would say that it’s a “gut feeling.” If we were to ask them in terms of animals, most people would say that it is something that most animals “just know” pertinent to their survival. Most people don’t make the connection between human instinct and animal instinct. However, they are the same. Why? Because, whether we accept it or not, we too are animals. The next question to ask would be, do animals think before they act? The answer would generally be no. We find very few species seeming to possess the power of thought. Humans are essentially the only animals that have the capacity to think. This would tell me that the action that results from instinct does not use or require thinking. It simply “happens” as an action that is devoid of any mental interference. How do we know this? Let’s look at a simple example.

 

If we are sitting at a table and swiftly turn from one side to the other knocking a glass off the surface, what happens? Quick as a flash, we snap into action grabbing the glass before it hits the floor. Did we first think, “I must grab the glass before it hits the floor?” No. We simply reacted with a quick movement. If we thought about it before we moved, the glass would have shattered long before we sprang into action. In another example, if we made a fast movement toward an animal, would it first think, “I don’t want to get hit” or would it take a swipe at us defending itself against aggression and then swiftly move away? Its reaction would be almost instant. These actions in our animalistic history go back hundreds if not thousands of generations and have become inbred into every type of living creature. So much so that defensive and survival action has been incorporated into our genes. These actions happen without thought. There is simply a reaction to what we perceive as possibly being a danger to our well-being. It is literally, inbred. We’ve become trained into becoming defensive toward anything that intrudes into the familiarity of our space. No thought. Just action. Now as humans, our threatening situations may move more slowly where we may have the opportunity to think before we act, perhaps like a mugging or car accident. But generally, we have the same “snap to it” capacity to act defensively as do other species of animals.

 

Things get a little confusing when humans talk about a gut instinct. What we really mean is a gut feeling rather than actual instinct. Instinct is purely a survival mechanism connected to the base center chakra. There is neither feeling nor thinking involved. The base center chakra is only involved in tangible action for survival. Whereas feeling is a projective capacity connected to the solar plexus chakra and made functional through facilitation of the lower mind’s ability to discriminate differences in feeling.

This may seem a little confusing at first but if we can look at how we utilize the chakras, we can better understand our different capacities as we move up the kundalini through the chakras. Let’s take a look at each of them.

 

The base center chakra is generative and is almost exclusively concerned with tangible action for our survival. Here are generated the physical actions necessary to create and maintain our continuing survival. In light of humans also being animals, this includes procreation and the survival of our species. The base center chakra is an instinctually active or “do” center. It is devoid of thinking or feeling.

 

The sacral center chakra or Tan T’ien center is a receptive and “perceiving” center. Here is the home of our physical senses, touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. They keep us abreast of our balance in and with the physical world. It is naturally a “listening” center used to assess our status in the tangible world.

 

The solar plexus chakra is a generative and active center. From here we create and project feeling. It is also a “do” center but for feeling. The lower mind focuses on an object or situation, and the generated feeling powers the projection.

 

The heart center chakra is a receptive and “perceiving” center. Here we receive feelings from others and the world. It is the home of empathy. It is also a “listening” center for feeling.

 

The throat center chakra is a generative and active center. Here we project our energy and intention out into the world. It is a constructive center. It is powered by our will.

 

The third eye center is a receptive and “perceiving” center. It is where we perceive energy movement in the world. It is the home of intuition. We perceive it with the higher or abstract mind and lose it when we try to interpret it with the lower tangible mind. Its multi-dimensionality confuses the linearity of the lower mind. It’s like playing multi-level chess but timeless and with many more levels of perception.

 

I will not attempt to classify the crown center chakra. Whatever its expression is, it is well beyond our human ability to define let alone comprehend.

 

So, is there a difference between instinct and feeling? The answer is yes. Instinct is active, mindless, and connected to the base chakra center. It is perceived through the sacral center chakra by the physical senses. Feeling is active, facilitated by the lower mind and connected to the solar plexus center. It is perceived by the heart center chakra through our capacity to empathize. As a race, we are working toward evolving our awareness and center of action to the heart center chakra attempting to make the solar plexus chakra “subsidiary” to it. As we observe our peers, we can see that most people reside in the solar plexus chakra or lower. Speaking of the throat center chakra and the intuition sensed by the third eye chakra would be almost fruitless to discuss until many more of us have escaped our possessiveness and security needs inherent in the solar plexus chakra and mastered listening and using the heart center chakra more.