Energy

The Short Version:
Energy is just a word for the primary building blocks of life. It is the invisible space that holds atoms and molecules together – that allows us to be physically manifested – it is electricity, calories, and our source of “energy” (I know, don’t use a word to define a word, but our language choices here suck – what I mean is it is what makes us feel alive and peppy, or it’s lack makes us tired and drained). It’s been called Chi (or Ki), Mana, Prana and a whole slew of words in every language from Hawaiian to Egyptian – sadly “energy” is the best we can do in English.

The Long Version:

I always feel that I need to precede this talk with a disclaimer: despite how it appears I’m not really a very Woo Woo person. I’m spiritual, and willing to explore a lot of ideas, but I never approach or apply anything in a woo woo, head in the clouds fashion. At my heart I’m Earthy – grounded and practical. When it comes to these kinds of ideas I follow a philosophy lent to me by trees (yes, that’s right, I said Tree Philosophy).

Keep your roots firmly in the ground while you reach for the sky.

So, bearing that in mind let’s dive right into what Energy is.

What Is Energy?

Every language, and every indigenous (original or shamanistic) culture has a word for it. The Old Testament translates the Hebrew word to Spirit, while we normally convert the Chinese/Japanese Chi/Ki and Indian Prana into energy. I think the best way to explain what energy is is if you know all the other ways that those words can be translated. No matter the culture or language the words all share the exact same ideas and synonyms (something I find fascinating) with their closest English words being: Breath or Spirit.

It is, therefore, the invisible “breath” that breathes you – the thing we have when alive and lose when we die.

In spiritual circles it is more closely associated with the idea of Spirit; sometimes your own (as in your “Higher Self”) and sometimes that of Divinity (like in the New Testament when the Holy Spirit “baptizes” – enters – people).

In Chinese medicine it’s a substance that literally flows through your body like your blood or lymph.

Either way it’s something that inhabits every living creature from flower or tree to human being. It might be most accurately translated as Life Force – though that’s still lacking in it’s ability to convey the idea of how it functions, it’s closer than energy I think.

From Woo Woo to Science

Here’s the thing about the word Energy: it really has two connotations in our culture (and never the two shall meet).

It’s either the woo woo hippie word that refers to crazy things like auras, and ghosts, and all that stuff that logical and practical people will look at you askance for talking about as if they are real.

Or it’s the most primary of elements that we use to light up light bulbs, run computers and make cars drive. A force created by friction or by burning oil, or harnessing the nuclear form. (I actually have a secret theory that these two things are completely identical…)

In Quantum Physics they talk about something called “The Field” which is an invisible (aka Energetic) force, or thing, that seems to intimately connect every single thing that exists. Quantum Physics is full of experiments that show this connection crosses time and space and is undeniable on the smallest microscopic level (the debate for science comes about on whether those laws hold true when it comes to people or larger scales).

For me these two ideas are one and the same, and I’m sure that as more and more scientists push their barriers they won’t be able to deny that any longer. In fact, some scientists are pushing these barriers and getting amazing results – I highly recommend Lynn Mctaggert’s work if you want to learn more about these ideas in a language a layman can get.

The real problem isn’t the concept it’s the language; we just don’t have a very well developed language for the non-physical. Look at the energy of Love as an example; in English we have only “Love” which needs to span the love of a friend, universal or humanitarian love, the love of a mother for a child, and the wild and intimate love of lovers. While many other languages have a clear distinction of at least two or three varieties of love. The same holds true for the ideas of Spirit and energy.

Energy then can also be thought of as potential, possibility, an invisible computer that holds all our programming, or (as someone just shared on facebook) the broth that unites all of us random ingredients into one soup. It surrounds us, makes us up, connects us, and is (and this is the most important part) constantly moving and flowing in, around and through us.

Why Energy Matters

That’s like asking why amino acids matter – energy is the building block that the smallest, most microscopic parts of us are created out of. While we may be more aware of our larger and more immediate concerns those are really only the effects of things that are happening on the microscopic, field of possibilities level of our lives.

For some reason the people who owned the house I lived in before us didn’t pay much attention to the front garden; what started out as piddly saplings growing within a foot of the house soon become strong young trees. I had my father-in-law cut them back, but without hiring the right people the roots are still there. Every summer I have to aggressively trim back the new growth as the trees stubbornly keep trying to grow back. I know that a handful of healthy Maple trees growing that close to my house will easily destroy my foundation, but continuing to cut the new sprouts back isn’t really going to prevent that because the roots are still growing and expanding under ground.

The cause and effect of energy is a lot like that… You can address the surface consequences over and over again, but until the roots are fully pulled out from the energetic level of your life there’s a good chance that the problem will keep multiplying and expanding into new areas of your life. BodyMindSpirit – or Holistic – healing work is all focused on addressing this energetic level of causation (as is Psychology by the way – thoughts and feelings are only energy too).

Also, remember the soup analogy? My teacher frequently says: “We are all in this soup together.” A carrot (that’s you) floating in beef broth (that’s the energy) eventually takes on the beef flavor while sharing a bit of it’s carrot-ness with the broth too. We are all constantly breathing in and breathing out this Breath. Haven’t you ever been in a perfectly nice mood and had your spouse come home, or walked into a room, or met a friend and suddenly – inexplicably – felt your mood shift (or maybe you’ve watched your mood shift the mood of another)? That’s soup flavoring being passed on. Whenever you talk about “atmosphere” or how someone makes you feel – you are talking about an energetic response.

Most of us live our lives being pushed around by this energetic undercurrent of the world. We feel pushed and pulled by life, as if we were in a tiny dingy trying to survive open ocean waves. You know this is happening to you when you say things like: “You made me… (feel, do, say)”. An awareness and understanding of what Energy is (and what power we do and don’t have over it and it’s influence) allows us to become the creators of our lives again.

(It also makes for some fascinating theorizing and conversations…)