Sunday, April 17, 2011

Energy

Here in Europe, 'energy' has become a popular term, when things are discussed from a spiritual point of view. Often it's actually used to indicate a mood, a feeling, someone's intent or a subconscious idea. Stuff like that is hard to explain, and when you try, it usually slips through your fingers and withers into something trivial. But when you call it "energy", you don't have to explain anything: it neutralizes all the content, and even the need to understand that content. At the same time, it gives the message that this intangible thing actually has an effect, and by using the word 'energy' the speaker also suggests one can actually feel this power. All that without having to be specific (which obviously takes an extra thinking effort). All in all, it's really a convenient word.
But I don't like it.
 It's such a material term. It says so little. Energy equalizes concepts like electricity, a mood, feeling, or intent. The latter obviously have nothing to do with household appliances or other machinery. Instead of 'energy', it would be better to call it feeling or intent. The word energy is only used to indicate some form of power. Feelings or intent are generally thought to be futile, the least powerful things in the world. That's an illusion, because human intent is one of the most powerful things in the world. 

A Japanese scientist, dr. Emoto, researches the quality of water. He freezes water in ice crystals (like a snow flake), and judges the quality of the water by the strength and beauty of the water crystals. Tap-water in big cities, or polluted water often isn't capable of forming a proper crystal structure. But when water is exposed to prayer, friendly words or classical music, it actually regains its structure. According to dr Emoto, words and feelings are a powerful energy source, and he made this idea available to lots of people. He also uses the 'energy'-word, but at least he indicates what it means - thoughts and feelings. So I chipped in a prayer when he called for communal prayer for the water in Fukushima nuclear plant. It's still a funny idea that this might actually work - thoughts like that easily wander off to funny psychological areas. We're not omnipotent, we don't do everything ourselves - it's more like angels following our attention, and start working where we put it. But no one should underestimate oneself in this respect. What we think and feel is important. It has an effect on our selves, our relatives and our environment.

I've spoken to people who are very much interested in finding new forms of energy - free energy. They're inspired by scientists like Nikola Tesla, J.E. Keeley, Wilhelm Reich and Victor Schauberger. Often they're into conspiracy theories as well. Once I spoke to such a person. He explained that this energy he was looking for, was not like electricity at all. He expected it to be more like a feeling, a precious thing, like the essence of  your heart. I asked him: "So, would you use this essence of your hart to power that lamp?", while pointing at the lamp over the table. He laughed because of the cheeky question. But I wasn't really joking. 


The search for energy is a lot like a goldrush. Searchers have the best intentions in mind (generally about saving the world), but there's an edge to it: a quest for things, that really should be obtained by hard inner work, meditation, and a fearless acknowledgement of one's own moral status. Instead of math and concepts like "force" or "power". It's all about thoughts, feelings and intent.


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