Thursday, April 19, 2012

WHAT'S THE MATTER?


Energy impacts us at all times,
and the frequency at which that energy moves
determines our physical, mental and spiritual health. . .
Why would you give your precious life energy . . . 
to something you [don’t] want?
~Dr. Wayne Dyer
"Harmonized"
(photo of original artwork) 
As a young attorney starting life in a new town on the coast of Florida, I joined a leadership program sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce.  We had to commit ourselves to a year of exploring the nuances of business and industry in our two-county region—once a month devoting a day to visit a local business, manufacturing facility, the school system, the community hospital, a military base where we prepared to deploy as local troops would, exploring area tourist destinations, checking out delicious restaurants—all in an effort to better understand the nature and energy of the place we all called “home.” 

Our first exercise was to attend a SIM-SOC Retreat, where we lived for a weekend in a simulated society. Upon entering the SIM-SOC, each participant was assigned a new name, occupation, political and religious affiliation, family and marital status, educational background, a predetermined set of goals, problems and issues to resolve, and a fake bank account, together with some “cash” in the form of twisty-ties—the kind you tie-up trash bags with—representing our communal currency. 

Some of the participants, to their dismay, were assigned the lives of homeless people and, while everyone else had moderate or posh hotel rooms to call “home”—some sharing rooms with other participants (depending on their financial status)—the homeless folks had to hang out in the makeshift homeless shelter (a large conference room with only cots to sleep on).  We had no contact with the outside world. 

As simple as it sounds, this SIM-SOC experiment led to one of my greatest Aha!  moments as I witnessed the value, power and “energy” that we give to things.  What makes the almighty dollar (or twenty) so mighty?  Money can’t cleanse your soul or fundamentally change the nature of who we are.  I suppose it can solve problems in its own way.  But inherently, it is neither good nor evil, only that we make it so.  We energize it with our thoughts and actions.  So guess what happened when our “currency” changed to trash-bag-twisty-ties within the borders of our simulated society?  The twisty-tie became that mighty thing to give or be gotten, breeding the exact same kind of power struggles, control, greed, infighting, thievery, sharing and great acts of compassion that exactly mirror real life.

Yet EVERYTHING is energy—living, dynamic matter. Even the smallest subatomic particles are engaged in a constant process of exchange with other particles in a never-ending flow of energy, vibrating at different frequencies—light and fast moving particles producing sound and light—and slower, denser energy manifesting as the solid structures we see in the physical world.  Yet when examined under a high-powered microscope even these seemingly solid structures reveal themselves to be clusters of highly active particles, dancing and vibrating at varying speeds, dynamic in nature and part of larger organic energy patterns—reflecting order, not chaos as we might assume. 

This reminds me of a human interest story from several years back telling of the extraordinary sensory gift of Ben Underwood, a young man who lost both of his eyes to cancer at the age of two but then later discovered that he could see the world by clicking his tongue.  The technical term for this ability is “human echolocation,” similar to the built-in sonar device in animals such as dolphins and bats, which helps them navigate their environments by processing sound waves, or echoes, reflected back from objects around them.  In this way, a person capable of human echolocation can identify not only the location of objects, but often their size and basic composition (i.e., metal, wood, vegetation, etc.) based on the vibratory frequency of those objects.  Consider what this reveals about the nature of all things and the energy of life!

            So as you move through the world remember that everyone and everything contributes to the overall energy of your life.  It’s okay to be selective about what you support and how you allow yourself to be energized—for good or ill—by other people and things.  As our most natural law tells us: Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it simply changes form.    

            Ask yourself:  WHAT’S THE MATTER?

1 comment:

TR Hughes said...

Thanks for the great story :)

The timing couldn't be better for my "Acupuncture Contemplation"
~ The Flow of Healing Chi must be restored...

Ah - The Energy In and All Around Us...