This is my interpretation after reading and hearing about Rudolf Steiner's work. It resonates and matches my personal experience of my kundalini awakening and dark night. Some of us receive a surprise call shall we say, through an energetic activation or through the dark night of the soul. Rudolf Steiner, teacher and philospher calls this phase one of the inititate, trial by fire. Not all of us are students of a guru and have to find our way through the process. While the kundalini goes from the bottom to the top, the crown, Steiner's emphasis is on the heart where hopefully we all end up.

Reference: Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and It's Attainment by Rudolf Steiner