THE WEB OF LIFE

by John Davidson

Part 3
Sex and Water

This series of articles is derived from the authors book,

The Web of Life, (publ. C.W. Daniel, 1988)

John Davidson is the author of a series of five books on

Science and Mysticism which look at the natural world from a mystical perspective.

The author is a Cambridge science graduate with a

life-long interest in mysticism.
8 Copyright 1988, 2014
John Davidson
www.johndavidson.org

The Svadhishthana Chakra and the Jala Tattwa

The second centre is that of Svadhishthana, situated at the root of the genitalia, with six
energy aspects or petals and a colour variously spoken of as vermillion or whitish-black.
The Hindu deity is Brahma, in his limited procreative aspect, or Vam, who is seated
symbolically upon a white Makara, a mythical creature of the water, similar to an alligator.
The watery tattwa of Jala or Apas is the dominant facet of the subtle matrix administered
through this centre, providing the energetic basis for the procreative aspects of our physical
being. Blood, urine, lymph, semen and all the other bodily fluids are also a part of this
energy field in its outward physical manifestation. Our bodies are said to be sixty-five per
cent water and the embryo itself develops within the fluid-filled, amniotic sac. Water is the
basis of all life-forms on this planet, being the medium through which almost all
substances may pass, conveying not only solids in solution or suspension, but also electrical
and magnetic energies. Water, too, in both its subtle and gross states is said to be a matrix
for the conveyance of subtle energies. The pranic energy at the level of the jala tattwa is
known as Vyan and it is responsible for the circulation of blood, as well as the maintenance
of all body fluids in balanced condition.

The Gonads, Sex Hormones and Sexual Polarity

The hormonal or endocrine glands taking their patterning from this centre are the gonads.
Here, in humans and in most other species, we have the interesting condition of separately
polarized sexes, appearing physiologically and indeed in all other aspects of our being -

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behavioural, mental and emotional. Since yin and yang attract and interact to make a
balanced whole, so man and woman come together, though it would be perverse to
maintain that the result was always one of harmony and balance! Ideally, however, this
would be the situation and it does indeed occur within the limitations imposed by physical
existence, where imbalance and the play of the gunas is of the essence, first one
predominating and then another, with - in many instances - only brief periods when the
sattvas guna of harmony has the ascendant role.
The gonads, being polarized into male and female, produce hormones with masculinizing
and feminizing functions. Interestingly enough, all the sex hormones produced in the
ovaries and testes are steroids, capable of being transmuted by the body, one into another.
Even the female hormone, oestrogen is very similar in molecular appearance to the male
hormone, testosterone, though the polarity of the subtle causative patterning is strong
enough to ensure that under normal circumstances female remains female and male
remains male. This phenomenon of very similar molecules having opposite properties is
not at all unique to sex hormones but is found throughout all living organisms.
According to yogic philosophy and the mechanisms inherent in the laws of karma and
reincarnation, the soul takes a birth with those parents where its previous actions, desires
and inclinations lead it. The parents and the child are inextricably bound together and each
unwittingly have already penned the invitation to each other for the conception and birth to
take place. The sex, characteristics, innate strengths and weaknesses both mental/emotional
and biological, are already written.
The embryo therefore develops and - say the mystics - the soul, which is designated to that
embryo, wakes up after three months, when a consciousness of its situation first arises. By
this time, all the major organs and systems are laid down within the embryo. All that is
required then, is organized growth.
From the moment of conception, the karmically encoded pranic vibrations begin to operate
upon the differentiating cellular patterning of the embryo, according to the destiny already
laid down for the life of that soul in incarnate form and partially expressed as the DNA
within the nucleus of each and every cell. By the time the child is born, it already has the
means for expressing its individual personality and its lifes course is already set.

Men and Women

The entire mental-emotional-physical energies of men and women would appear, then, to
have male and female, yang and yin characteristics expressed throughout. As we described,
the sex hormones themselves affect not only the sexual functionality of the physical system,
but also almost all aspects of physiology, as well as the emotional life. Generally speaking,
women express yin and receptive characteristics in both their psychology as well as their
physical sexual structure. Conversely, men, archetypally, are yang and outgoing. One is on
shaky ground here, especially in these modern times, and these are, of course, very broad
generalizations, especially at the psychological level! But without the softer, yielding,
receptive, more adapatable and giving warmth of a woman, the child cannot receive the
early affection that helps to mould these human qualities into his own personality.
Similarly, the firmer role of the father or man adds tone and (again, very generally
speaking) the qualities of rationality and determination in outward expression. Although
these qualities may be mixed, psychologically, between and within individual parents, the
polarity of both characteristics is required for the balanced raising of any child.

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So women generally, have a warmer heart and a more emotional approach, while men are
more determined and rational. And the question is: how, therefore, does their subtle
energetic constitution differ, giving rise to these differences?
Some clue to this lies in the psychological qualities of the watery tattwa, those of sensitivity
and feeling. And the primary division of sexual polarity lies in this procreational tattwa and
organizing chakra. Within the confines of the extremes, all polarity can be relative. Thus,
while water is yin in respect to the drive of fire or the lightness of air, within water itself or
any of the other tattwas, there is also a polarization. The yin of water is its flowingness, its
warming qualities and its non-confrontational approach, its yang is the restless and surging
drive of emotional force, the raging torrent or the cold, storm-tossed ocean.
Female sexual polarity, therefore, expresses the yin aspect of a yin tattwa, while the male
takes on the yang characteristics. And the primary patterning for this lies in the
antashkarans or human mind. These yin and yang attributes are present within each tattwa
and depending, therefore, upon the individual mental patterning, each persons personality
will contain a preponderance or a balance of these possibilities within the emotional or
subtle tattvic spectrum.
And just as the inner or superior energy, in this case the mind pattern, rules the outer or
inferior - the emotional and physical - so too does the inferior rule the superior through the
flow of the return current required to complete the circuit. This polarity, therefore,
expressed at the outer biochemical level of endocrine activity, can therefore affect the inner
level of emotional functioning, as we can observe with the side effects of the contraceptive
hormone Pill. In fact, there are emotional changes associated with all endocrine activity in
particular, and more generally with the ingestion of many, if not all substances at a
molecular level, whether they be drugs or food.

The Sensitive, Psychological Characteristics of Water

Psychologically, water is the tattwa of sensitivity and emotion, in the more restricted sense.
The primary response from one whose dominant keynote is that of water is emotional and
receptive. Experiences great or small are taken into themselves and felt. Their nature is truly
of the fluid element. Water will permeate with enveloping sympathy, perceiving subtleties
and nuances left unobserved by others. To one with little active water in their constitution,
the reactions and mode of being of watery types is an enigma. The dryness of the other
tattwas finds comprehension of the sometimes surging emotions of the watery types, a
subjective exercise of considerable difficulty. In fact, we instinctively call a callous or
hard, insensitive individual, a dry-fish - an interesting expression, since a fish is
essentially of the water element. Fire will scorch water by sheer insensitive drive, while air
will loftily overlook waters quiet sensitivity in its airy conceptualizations and ideals. Earth
may feel at home with water, if the need for sympathy is felt, but the solidity of earth may
injure the waters feelings on the one hand or provide a welcome containment and relief
from emotionality on the other.
Water is not assertive, seeking more to flow around obstructions than to knock them aside.
Watery personalities are intuitive and often psychic, sensitive of vibrations and influences.
In their most positive state, they are warm and sympathetic lovers of creation, the solace of
many weary hearts, receptive and good listeners, able to understand the feelings of others
empathetically rather than rationally, comforting to the dryness of the other tattwas.
Those whose watery nature is overactive and imbalanced find themselves awash with
emotion and feeling, full of reactions and undercurrents which confuse the minds of other
types, who may have no personal experience of that degree or depth of feeling. They can

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become highly impressionable, seeking continually for signs and portents, apprehensive
and self-protective. Water-logged by emotion, uncertainty, paradoxical feelings and
absorption in how they feel about themselves and their life experiences, misery and
depression can become their day-to-day companions from which they can see no way out.
So self-absorption, dwelling in ones own emotional ocean, is the major source of the
difficulties faced by this personality type. If this can be turned to positive advantage, then
the inner well-springs of love will give rise to feelings of compassion and understanding.
The tendency to become overly introverted also means that such people readily run away
from difficulties rather than face them. Easily worn out and devitalized by their worries and
concerns, they can become fearful of the events of life, being under the sway of their
negative reaction patterns.
In association with air, considerable inner conflict can arise as the light and fast moving,
conceptual idealist is brought into contact with the grossness of life, experienced and felt
deeply through the watery tattwa. The result can be swings of mood and activity, at one
time rushing about under the sway of air with the latest new idea seeking expression, and at
the next moment cut to the quick, stopping dead in their tracks as some event, seen as a
source of difficulty to the airy nature and associated with the manifestation of their airy
concept or ideal, grips their emotional reaction. Resentment and hurt may then set in as the
mode of expression, until the next cycle of new thought rises to the surface.
The imaginative capacity of air combined with the introvert tendency of water towards
feeling hurt, can lead such a person to be a dreamer, an escapist and a spinner of fantasy even around their mundane outer life.
Air and water, at their best and most integrated, combine intellect with emotional
sensitivity: the grasp of the abstract with an intuitive feel for lifes inner processes. The
result is that there is a depth, humanity, and a synthesis of many points of view expressed
in their ideas, through the watery appreciation of others manner of thinking, combined
with the fleetness of conceptual linking derived from air. These kind of people have fertile
and active imaginations and are creative in whatever their sphere of life. Their ability to
tune in to others and to readily verbalize their perceptions makes them excellent in the
healing and counselling professions or in any activity involving both people and creative
thought.
Life is a struggle and a superficial approach might lead one to believe that the combination
of opposites or extremes, whether within oneself or in relationships, is a recipe for disaster.
However, a mastery of these apparent opposites within oneself and a bringing together of
these facets under the eye of greater consciousness, gives one a broadened perspective and
a far higher outlook and understanding. To bring the effect of all these tattwas into
integrated harmony within ones being is to move towards the ideal of the perfect man, one
who can function well in all spheres of life and with all manner of people. For all of us,
however, hemmed in by the karmic patterning from our past, such an ideal can only be
realized within, by rising above the tattvic energy fields into higher realms of inner
consciousness, love and bliss. And this does not happen so much spontaneously, as by
many years of sincere meditative practice of a high order.

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