Energy, Part 3

The theme for today is Energy and Practice

Energy is the word we use to try to indicate
that the world is in ceaseless motion.
Movement is the word that refers to one's inside view,
the energy experienced
as self.

The contemporary poet David Whyte writes:

The defining experience at the diamond hard center of reality
is eternal movement
as beautiful and fearful invitation;
a beckoning dynamic
asking us to move from this to that,
the unceasing tidal and seasonal becoming
in which we make and have our being:
stillness being only the physical preparation
for joining the breathing autonomic exchange of existence.

Around 1790 the poet and mystic William Blake wrote with a non-dualistic viewpoint seeking to integrate religion and emerging sciences:

Energy is the only life
and is from the Body
and Reason is the bound
or outward circumference of Energy.

Energy is Eternal Delight

Energy is not "mine" but moves through me.
What qualities does it have as it does so?
When am I too open, or too closed
to this flow?

Let's reflect on the world of energy experience
as a very concrete and personal awareness
and see how it can be expressed and communicated.

Since one abstraction begs another
and though we cannot avoid memory and concept,
let's look for observations
that come from the ground
of direct experience
in this present, or past moments.

What are the many ways energy comes through me?
Me in particular?
Keeping things stirred up
The Weather
Emotions
Movement and momentum
Caring for others
Dedication to tasks, to duty, or a to-do list
Motivations
Distractions
Coffee or tea?
We are creatures of energy
in a very personal way.

What are my energy practices and habits?
Feel free to choose something quite mundane,
small and ordinary.

What do I notice about my personal energy?
Are there special times of morning or night?
Which things or situations energize me?
Which deplete me?

Do I have some "energy intentions" or practices?
What is the effect on my energy
of the things I practice habitually?
Mundane things like eating, sleeping, exercising.

Are there practices I depend on
What happens when I join into activity with others?
Or take periods of solitude?

Or walk into a room?

What's relaxing, exciting, or stressful?
Which do I like, or dislike?

Anxiety and excitement are both states of hightened arousal
that would look the same to a scientific measuring device

but one feels unpleasant, the other pleasant.
What makes them different?

Awareness of energy brings some basic practical questions
for everyday life.
How can I have more energy to function well
when I am tired or fatigued?
The other side of that is
how can I relax and rest
when I'm keyed up or stressed out?

A bit more generally,
how do I know when to push, and when to relax,
when I'm fatigued?
And likewise, when I'm too energetic?

Looking at things this way can be revealing
of my cultural attitudes about what's allowable, what's good
and of divisions within myself too.
Stress reflects internal divisions, not just external conditions.
different parts that could all be honored
rather than held in conflict.

Are there things I've learned to do to direct the flow,
to bring about a particular state
or dissolve another?

What things do I do, that are supportive
or detrimental
to the energy and life forces
moving through parts of myself
and others,
for doing tasks, getting things done,
for potentials of development or realization
for deeper states of being?

What do I need more of?
Have too much of?
How does that manifest as an energy experience?

Each individual has a characteristic style,
a set of abilities
for approaching and withdrawing,
coming to meet and breaking off:
a quality almost independent
of each situation
What's mine?
Am I "better" at one than another,
or have different attitudes?

What are some of the roles or qualities of Energy
in my experience as a whole
or of specific parts of it?

Who am I
as a Creature of Energy?