KA
To the ancient Egyptians ka was the vital force that infused
everything - people, animals and plants. It was also part
of the soul.
The precise meaning of ka is no longer clear to us, as ancient
Egyptian ideas concerning soul and spirit refuse to fit into
any traditional Western categories, but ka is generally portrayed
in Egyptian art as a double or doppelganger that lingered
on in the tomb inhabiting the body or even statues of the
deceased.
KABBALAH
Also
Cabala, Kabala, Qabalah.
Ancient Jewish mystical tradition that refers to secret teachings
handed down from teacher to pupil and promises spiritual enlightenment
to those who follow it precepts. The Kabbalah is a doctrine
of esoteric knowledge concerning God and the universe. It
is largely mathematical in nature and concentrates on the
configurations of magical words, anagrams, angel and demon
names and the most holy, the secret name of God.
According to Jewish tradition the Kabalah was first taught
to Adam by the Archangel Gabriel and passed on from 'mouth
to ear' through a long chain of secrete initiates. The Zohar
teaches that the ultimate godhead was Ein Sof ('without end'),
a limitless being beyond all description.
In attempting to describe the attributes and essence of this
god, Kabbalists conceived of their manifestation as 10 interlinking
states of activity, called sephiroth, that humanity must achieved
to attain wisdom. The sephiroth form the central image of
Kabbalah meditation, the Tree of Life, and shoe the descent
of the divine into the material world, and the path by which
people can reach up to the divine while in their physical
bodies. The first sephiroth, Kether, is the state of unity
encompassing all the rest and is most closely associated with
Yahweh; the remaining nine culminate in Malkuth, the physical
world.
Today Kabbalah is enjoying a revival of interest. Thousands
of people around the world are turning to the Kabbalah and
finding in it a rich, meaningful spiritual practice, whose
roots reach deep into the past, and whose path can help them
find fulfillment and understanding in the here and now.
KARMA
In Hinduism and Buddhism, karma is the sum of a person thoughts
and actions, which are regarded as determining that person
future states of existence. The law of karma originated in
the Vedic system of religion. As a term, it can be traced
right back to the early Upanishads, around 1500 BC.
In Hinduism karma literally means 'deed' or 'act', and describes
the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction
that governs all life. Karma is not fixed, for man acts with
free will and creates his own destiny. There are three types
of karma: sanchita Karma, the sum total of past karmas yet
to be resolved; prarabdha karma, that portion of sancit karma
that is to be experienced in this life; and kriyamana karma,
the karma that humans are currently creating that will bear
fruit in the future. The playing out of karma can take place
over many lifetimes.
People who undergo past life recall therapy often feel that
their present circumstances are the result of actions taken
in past lives. Although there are cases of anxieties and birthmarks
corresponding to wound from alleged previous lives, scientific
investigation of such cases shows no evidence to support karma.
It has been suggested that feelings related to karma could
be a result of cultural expectation concerning reward and
punishment for good and bad deeds.
Western new age reinterpretation of karma us the concept to
help explain the reason for misfortunes encountered in life.
Karma is frequently cast as a sort of luck that is associated
with virtue: if one does good or spiritually valuable acts,
one deserves and can expect good luck; conversely, if one
does harmful things, on can expect bad luck or unfortunate
happenings.
KINESIOLOGY
Developed by the American chiropractor Dr George Goodheart,
applied kinesiology is a method of diagnosis and treatment
that combines muscle-testing with the principles of traditional
Chinese medicine to access energy function and bodily health.
It claims to induce proper structural and chemical-nutritional
organization in the body, as well as left and right brain
balance. It also claims to evaluate and correct problems of
the nervous, circulatory, lymphatic and skeletal musculature
systems, thereby maintaining health. Its practices are believed
to permit the even flow of cosmic energy throughout the body,
thus nurturing individual organs and systems with the proper
supply of chi energy.
Kinesiology
assumes that illness is caused by improperly balanced energy
fields in the body. Problems are diagnosed by testing the
muscles, each of which is presumed to be connected to a different
organ, to determine what is wrong. The proposed solution is
to apply particular types of muscle massages that are supposed
to release blockages and stimulate energy flow, thereby returning
the patient to good health.
Applied
kinesiology is not a scientific but a philosophy-based medicine,
starting from the idea of mystical energy in the body and
creating treatment based on that alone.
One
outgrowth of applied kinesiology is behavioural kinesiology,
developed in the later part of the twentieth century by John
Diamond. Diamond follows the same basic philosophy, in that
he believes that each muscle relates to some particicular
organ, but he adds to this the central role of the thymus
gland in regulating a person's psychic energy.
It
should be noted that applied and behavioural kinesiology,
which is the study of musclar moement and tension as it relates
to joints tendons and skeletal structures.
KIRLIAN
PHOTO
Controversial technique for photographing people, animals
or objects in the presence of high frequency, high voltage,
low amperage electrical field to produce photographs that
show glowing, multicoloured emanations, said to be auras of
biofields. The technique is named after its inventor, Russian
Professor of Engineering, Semyan Kirlian.
Work with Kirlean photography continues with indications that
it may have diagnostic potential. Experiments using Kirlean
photographs to detect cancer and other forms of disease have
been sporadically successful.
KNIGHTS
TEMPLARS
The largest and most power of the medieval Christian military
orders, and one of the most powerful monastic societies in
Europe.
The Order of the Knights Templars was founded in 1118, in
the aftermath of the First Crusade, to ensure the safety of
the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed towards
Jerusalem after its conquest.
KUNDALINI
is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning either 'coiled up'
or 'coiling like a snake', and refers to a psycho-spiritual
energy said to be sleeping within the body, which can be awakened
through spiritual illumination. There are a number of other
translations of the term, usually emphasizing a more serpent
nature to the word, e.g. 'serpent power'. The caduceus symbol
of coiling snakes is thought to be an ancient symbolic representation
of kundalini physiology.
The power of the kundalini awakening is said to be incredible
and associated with bizzare physical sensations, pain, clairaudience,
visions, psychical powers, ecstasy, bliss and transcendence
of the self. The concept of kundalini is also associated with
religious experiences of an altered state of consciousness
brought about either spontaneously, or through spiritual practice
or through a near death experience. Sometimes it is regarded
by yogis as a sort of deity, hence the occasional capitalization
of the term.
Kundalini is believed to open new pathways to the nervous
system. The pain and extreme physical sensations associated
with kundalini awakening is said to be due to the inability
of the nervous system to cope with it all at once. Yogis stress
that the body must be properly prepared for the shock through
yoga, as an explosive awakening to someone unprepared for
it can cause insanity or even prove fatal.
Western psychologists have determined that people can experience
minor kundalini states. Symptoms may not occur all at once
but build up gradually over a period of time, creating cycles
of kundalini states when the individual thinks, feels and
acts differently to normal. Symptoms include involuntary movements,
pain, unusual breathing patterns, itching, vibrating sensation's,
insomnia, hypersensitivity to environment, intensified sex
drive, inability to think clearly, detachment, dissociation
and out of body experiences. Symptoms can generally be alleviated
through the introduction of a higher calorie diet and the
cessation of meditation.
Scientific research has come to no definite conclusions concerning
the nature of kundailini, due in part to its unpredictability
and to the fact that many of its symptom's are hard to distinguish
from those caused by mental illness and stress.
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