Chakras – The Seven Steps to Inner Freedom

"Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it."(Torah - Genesis 28:11-12)

The film Se7en, released in 1997, was written by Andrew Kevin Walker and directed by David Fincher. It tells the story of a serial killer who murders his victims according to the Seven Deadly Sins of Christianity. These sins are: lust, pride, greed, gluttony, wrath, envy, and sloth. Starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, the film is set in a dark, grim, smoky atmosphere that reflects the externalization of sins which taint the human body and drain its energy. But what is the significance of the number seven, which appears as a symbol in nearly every culture and religion?

Seven is an extraordinary number. It symbolizes the law of evolution, and many structures in the universe are based on the number seven. There are seven notes in a musical scale, seven main colors of light, seven chakras, seven days in a week, and seven hills in Istanbul. According to the Pythagorean school, seven is sacred, motherless, and virgin. Its virginity stems from being indivisible; its motherlessness from arising from the addition of a feminine even number (4) and a masculine odd number (3). The sacredness of seven can be found in nearly every religion: Muslims circle the Kaaba seven times, Catholics have seven sacraments, Jews light a seven-branched menorah, and the Egyptian Sun God Ra has seven souls. It is also believed that every seven years, humans undergo a new cycle that brings major life changes.

The ladder or stairway is one of the most important tools for the soul’s ascent and connection to God in esoteric teachings. In ancient traditions such as Mithraism, Brahmanism, and Ancient Egypt, the number of steps on this spiritual ladder is also seven. The image of the ladder that Jacob saw in his dream, with angels going up and down, appears in many cultures. The seven gates symbolizing the maturing of the soul in Mithraism, the seven steps leading from the material world to universal truth in Brahmanism, and the seven planetary spheres in Kabbalah are all different reflections of the same symbolism. A similar description appears in the Qur’an: "We built above you seven strong [heavens] and placed therein a blazing lamp." In Islam, the Tuba Tree, which rises from Sidrat al-Muntaha located at the seventh and highest heaven, is another symbol. In my article titled “The Burning Bush,” I spoke about this Tree of Life whose roots are above and branches below. The ladder Jacob saw in his dream is none other than the metaphor of the Tree of Life, which we now understand to be the Nervous System. The steps of this ladder correspond to the Endocrine Glands—the hormone-producing centers aligned within the spine known as nerve plexuses. These centers are called acupuncture points in China, Sefirot (Spheres) in Kabbalah, Lataif (Subtle Centers) by Sufis, plexuses in medicine, and chakras in yoga. The word chakra in Sanskrit means "wheel" or "disc", and they rotate to carry the Kundalini energy upward. Each chakra has a distinct function and is associated with different psychological states and levels of consciousness.

Even though Se7en is fictional, in real life, there are sins and behaviors that block the functioning of chakras and cause suffering in our souls. As Haji Bektash Veli once said, “The greatest enemies of humanity are lying, indulgence, greed for possessions and status, gossip, indecency, betrayal, and denial of the Truth.” We connect with the outside world through our senses and nervous system. Everything we do and think triggers biochemical reactions inside us. These reactions reflect onto our nervous system and are encoded into the chakras, the spiritual body of our soul.

Below you can find the chakras and their corresponding attributes in Kabbalah:

1. Root Chakra: (Malkuth)

Sin: LustVirtue: Purity, innocence

2. Sacral Chakra: (Yesod)

Sin: WrathVirtue: Pure knowledge, pure attention

3. Solar Plexus Chakra: (Hod, Netzach)

Sin: GreedVirtue: Satisfaction, peace

4. Heart Chakra: (Tiferet)

Sin: Hatred, fearVirtue: Love, compassion, courage

5. Throat Chakra: (Gevurah, Chesed)

Sin: Envy, gossipVirtue: Collectivity, kind speech

6. Third Eye Chakra: (Binah, Chokhmah)

Sin: PrideVirtue: Forgiveness, humility

7. Crown Chakra: (Keter)

Sin: DoubtVirtue: Pure faith, unity

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