Rising through the spectrum from the reds at the base, orange next comes into view. It is the color of the second chakra, located at the genitals, which surges with the life-giving drive for bodily pleasure. It is the pleasures of the flesh, on the lips and tongue as well as on the genitals, that relates the second chakra to the sense of taste and the element of water. A newborn child, emerging from the waters of the womb, comes equipped with a desire for sweetness. We are creatures of the ocean, salt water held in by the membranes of our cells, and our chemistry demands aqueous solution to perform every bodily function. We taste and reproduce with the juices of life, saliva, mucus, semen, and the pervasive intercellular liquids that allow ion channels to transmit sensation into the oh-so-receptive pleasure palaces of our brains.
In the sensory-motor cortex of the brain, the area dedicated to the mouth, lips, and tongue is second only to the hands for size and number of sensory cells involved. If you add in the genitals, there is no comparison for density of sensation concentrated in these special orifices. We are also equipped with a limbic system that binds sensation to memory with the various hues of our emotions, deepening and saturating our memories according to the pleasure we experience. We are wired for appetite, to crave pleasures, to seek out the tastes that cascade orgasmic delight throughout our bodies and minds.
There are numerous species of plants that take advantage of our pleasure-seeking to further their own reproduction. One way they advertise their desirably sweet nutritiousness is with beta carotene, the bright, bold, orange pre-cursor to vitamin A. Carrots, papayas, yams, squashes, oranges, mangoes, persimmons, apricots, so many delectable fruits and vegetables clearly proclaim themselves as eminently edible with their eye-catching orange color. In a green, leafy world, the earliest simians had no difficulty discovering these delicious treasures. As our species evolved to become cultivators of the land, we assisted natural selection to breed tastier and more colorful varieties for the further pleasure of our palettes.
With our bellies full, we can turn our attention to reproduction. Appetite for sex and appetite for food are so well intertwined that romance is iconically defined by a dinner date. On the flip side, many compulsive overeaters will admit their appetite for food is an effort to suppress their emotional and sexual frustrations. Well-fed populations are populations that breed, whether humans or rodents or anything else. In the beauty of order emerging from chaos, life organizes simpler organisms into more specialized creatures through an ongoing process of eating and screwing. The wondrous complexity of it all shows up in who eats what and whom, and you don't have to be a dedicated sybarite to notice that the oral-genital connection is a viable avenue to mind-blowing climax.
In mythology, the goddess of dawn was associated with rapacious female desire and all-important fecundity. She rose from the sea, the horizon at first as red as her menses, then glowing orange until the day grew bright with the fire of the sun. It was in her honor that the saffron plant was cultivated as a dye for clothing and a seasoning for food. Native to Crete, saffron spread throughout the ancient world, helped as much by its power as an aphrodisiac among the Persians as by its other uses. The association between saffron's color, which ranges from almost red to pale yellow, and the life-giving force of sexual appetite was so strong in India at the time of the Buddha that his followers chose saffron to color their robes as a symbol for what they were sacrificing with their monastic celibacy. The wandering ascetics in India as well have worn that color for millennia to announce their renunciation of household life. It is as if by wrapping themselves in the color of life they show the struggle to sublimate the urges of the body into the quest of the spirit. Even politically, India has chosen a deep saffron orange for its flag to symbolize struggle and sacrifice.
When the kundalini serpent awakens the second chakra, the senses ignite. Whether in the molten glory of orgasm or the breaking water of childbirth, we swim here in the ocean of life. We surge with the pull of its tides, called by the juices in us to mingle with another of our kind in an intimate embrace of kiss and caress, desire and creativity, and the ecstatic sweetness of physical passion ensures the generation of generations to come. For many creatures that is the be-all and end-all of their existence, a lifelong cycle of feeding and fucking, with contentment and satiety lasting only as long as it takes to sleep off a meal. There is more to being human, and the kundalini serpent must slither further up the chakras if one is to avoid the rut of mindless bestiality. However, the journey of enlightenment deliberately navigates the oceanic vitality of our sensual appetites to swell our experiences with the joys of palate and passion. Bobbing on the crests and furrows of pleasure's waves, we can drift in delight and deliciousness, discovering in this way the hydroelectric dynamo whose essential power fuels all life.
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