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WCN Library Article # 7: |
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Section 1 Introduction Within every action in life, from the simplest to the most complex, there is an energetic balance point that can be found. Our understanding of our self and the world begins to change when we experience life in terms of flowing or blocked energy, energetic needs, and balance points. This article is based on a paradigm I call wholism; an integrated way of living that encourages us to move toward balance and harmony in everything we do. Wholism is an attempt to understand the big picture of how the universe operates and then apply this knowledge in practical, daily actions. The wholistic model is both wide and deep. It describes universal laws, systems, the movement of energy, interconnected relationships, the full use of all resources, and the need to live with self awareness, co-operation, and compassion. The term wholistic is very "in" these days and has become associated with the New Age movement, West Coast lifestyles, alternative approaches to healing, etc. These associations are the small tip of a very large iceberg. Wholism is based on laws that have existed from the dawn of time and have been described in different ways by different cultures throughout the billions of years we humans have been living on earth. Wholism is nothing new. It is simply re-discovered knowledge that needs to be disseminated whenever the world is dangerously out of balance, as it is right now. As I approach my sixty- second year of life, I now understand that I can never really be sure if anything I write or say is true in the Universal sense. I can only hope that this article may prove helpful to you. Michael Greenstein
Section 2 Key Concepts Energy: Like the wind that cannot be seen but whose presence is felt in all that it touches, energy moves through our universe stirring everyone and everything into action. Wherever energy is present there is life, vibration, movement. Energy moves with purpose to where it is needed. It flows from high to low, from abundance to scarcity, from donor to recipient. Understanding the many kinds of energies that exist and how we are enlivened by their presence within and around us is a vital part of understanding our life. Relationships: Moving energy to where it is needed is done through energetic transfers or exchanges. I simply use the term "relationships" to describe these ongoing transfers. The goal of every relationship in our universe, whether it involves humans, animals, chemicals, etc. is to create energetic balance and harmony for each of the relationship participants. When we are "low" in energy we often look for human connections as well as food, music, exercise, etc. to help lift us energetically. When we are highly energized we often transfer some of our excess energy to other living beings through acts of service, expressions of joy or anger, artistic expression, etc. We are all dependent on a variety of relationships for our complete wellbeing. Balance Points: Life is a balancing act involving our dual roles as energy donors and recipients. Each of us is continually radiating and absorbing a wide range of energies. Whether we are a donor or recipient depends on our energetic state at a particular moment. A balance point occurs in our relationships when both we and our relationship partners are each getting our energetic needs met. As human beings it is vital that we learn to identify and create balance points in our life in order to contribute to our own state of harmony as well as the harmony of other living beings around us. Section 3 The Three Vital Balance Points In Human Life 1. Balancing The Use of All Parts of Our Being Within our own being we have everything we need to become aware of and derive meaning from the many energetic relationships happening within and around us each day. We have our visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses that provide us with raw information. Our interpretive assistants work with this information and produce thoughts, beliefs, emotions, intuitive understanding, and more. Each part of our being provides us with specific feedback and assistance according to its own specialty. A balanced understanding of this world requires a complete mix of sights, sounds, touches, tastes, smells, temperatures, pressures, etc., transformed into a wide range of rational thoughts, specific feelings, intuitive understandings, and spiritual insights. If we rely only on a limited number of these resources as our primary sources of information we will get an unbalanced and distorted picture of what life on Earth is like. Imagine working in a garden on a warm, sunny, day with sound as our only sensory input. No bright colours, or wonderful smells, or the feel of the rich earth in our hands. What an incomplete experience it would be! Not only would we lose many flavors and experiences but we would not be able to recognize the needs of the plants we're working with. Or imagine forming loving relationships with our family members, life partner, and friends through the use of our rational thoughts alone. No feelings of admiration and affection, no enjoyment and connection through hugs, just logical reasons for forming or dissolving the relationship. What if we tried to run a computer business by relying on our emotions alone; could it be successful? Extreme examples, perhaps, but you might be surprised to learn how many of us go through our lives limiting our life experiences by using only a small part of our complete package of personal resources. When we make use of all parts of our being we get a complete picture of what life is like at any given moment, not only for ourselves but, equally important, for our relationship partners. Using all our personal resources requires the regular practice of self observation and self awareness; the "being" part of the doing-being spectrum. We need to observe the different energies we are receiving, how we are interpreting them, and how they are being transmitted to others. If this sounds like we have to be observers of our own life, then you have understood my meaning. We must supervise all our relationship assistants, ensuring that they are all actively "checking in" with us and providing us with a complete picture of life. With careful self observation and awareness we can identify when one part of our being is either underactive or overactive and take action to correct this unbalanced state. Taking action is the "doing" part of the doing-being spectrum. We can consciously decide to adopt some form of meditative or calming practice to quiet our overactive thoughts, make use of massage and gardening to stimulate our underused sense of touch, work in a food bank to stimulate our feelings of compassion, start an exercise or dance program to strengthen underused muscles, get involved in politics to transform noble thoughts into concrete actions, etc. Today our industrialized societies promote the dominant use of our visual sense and rational thinking as our two primary feedback and interpretive mechanisms. This approach has led to an unbalanced world of advancing technology and deteriorating relationships. Rational thinking is a wonderful tool for "doing" things but needs the help of our "being" and feeling resources to help us remain in harmony with our self and others. The balance point is the full and active involvement of all parts of our being, each in an appropriate way, in order to become people who are both clever and kind. May you find that balance point in your life. 2. Balancing Our Needs and the Needs of Others Wholism encourages us to stop relating to other living beings in terms of "them" and "us" and recognize that we are all interconnected and dependent on each other for our wellbeing. Therefore co-operation must be a guiding principle in all our daily interactions with others. Co-operation means going about the daily business of getting our energetic needs met while simultaneously being aware and supporting others in obtaining what they need. It is a state of being that requires the necessary self awareness to identify our own energetic state at a given moment and the willingness to manifest love, compassion, and sensitivity in assisting others. Living with self awareness, love, compassion, and a willingness to help others are the actions of a spiritually mature person. Co-operation is a vital part of creating a life of balance and harmony. It's not only the human thing to do but it makes common sense since we are all totally dependent on each other for our wellbeing and survival. There is however one important condition required before we can fully co-operate with others; we must have our own house in order first. A mother cannot nurse her child if she doesn't take care of herself by eating and drinking adequately. A socially aware business cannot make charitable donations until it has made a profit to distribute. A therapist can't continue to work with troubled people without taking time for regular periods of recreation and re-energizing. A municipality can't create parks, libraries, sports facilities, etc. unless it generates sufficient resources in the form of taxes, volunteer labour, etc. The balance point is ensuring our own needs are met and, from that healthy state, helping others meet their needs. May you find that balance point in your life. 3. Balancing Our Doing and Being We are on Earth in physical bodies in order to form mutually satisfying relationships with plants, animals, material objects and other humans beings. To form these relationships we need to act; to do things. We need to physically move around, meet other living beings, make plans, discuss things, read, study, develop new skills, eat, drink, exercise, etc. Without this active involvement in the world we are limited in the number of relationships we can form. Forming a rich variety of relationships is the doing part of our life and requires activities and actions. This rich variety of relationships provides us with the raw experiences we need to learn what it means to be human, what our needs are, and how we can be of service to others. I use the term "raw" because our experiences have to be "processed" in order for us to derive meaning, understanding, and wisdom from them. Processing means becoming aware of what is really going on in our relationships, i.e. the types of energies being exchanged, how these energies are effecting us, and how our energies are effecting our relationship partners. If this all sounds like a lot of work, you're right! Working on ourselves can be hard work and creates more complexity and choices than simply moving through the world without self awareness. The good news is that once processing becomes a daily habit, it gets easier to do as the months and years pass and provides us with the ability to really choose our actions instead of just reacting to the energies and agendas of others. Processing can either take place while a relationship is actually occurring or at a later time. It is vital for our growth as human beings to stop our normal doing at regular intervals and give ourselves the time to process what has and is happening in our life. We can have quiet periods at the beginning or end of each day, go on multi-day retreats, use hourly "check ins" to sense what's happening within our body, etc. Deriving meaning, understanding, and wisdom from our relationships is the being part of our life. The balance point in the doing-being spectrum is an active involvement in the world accompanied by continuous self observation and regular periods of quiet reflection. Some specific examples of the doing-being theme are:
May you find all of these balance points in your life. Section 4 Using The Balance Point Approach In Daily Life The balance point approach is not a theoretical idea. It is a realistic and practical way of moving through the world. Like all new approaches and behaviours it takes time and practice until it becomes a beneficial habit. This approach involves looking at energetic flow, blockages, and the mutual satisfying of energetic needs. Here are examples of using the balance point approach in two important life areas: Resolving Conflicts: We can choose to get caught up in personality conflicts with others or we can see things in terms of balancing the energetic needs of our relationship partners and our own. This approach changes the nature of potential conflicts from reacting to the "bad behaviour" of others to recognizing needs and mutual co-operation. Focusing on personality traits; "He is so selfish" or "She is always angry" does not help resolve conflicts. We need to look at what any undesirable behaviour tell us about excess, insufficient, or blocked energy and what energetic actions are needed to balance and harmonize the situation. This approach transforms character assassination to a process of creating energetic win-win situations. We may not always be able to satisfy the needs of others but the sincere effort of trying to do so makes us more compassionate human beings. Meaningful Communication: When communicating with others or processing what others are communicating to us it may be helpful to not only consider the content of the message but also the motivating energetic needs being expressed. Communication is the art and science of expressing and getting our needs met. When we can clearly identify our energetic state and real needs before we communicate, our communications will be more authentic and congruent. When we can identify what others really need as they communicate with us, we can make a more conscious choice of whether we can or want to satisfy those needs. Freud was wrong, a cigar is never simply a cigar, there's always something more to it! Lets learn to see-listen-feel behind the content to the underlying need. Section 5 Conclusion The universe, as I understand it, has been designed to give every living being the opportunity to experience a life of energetic balance and harmony. All systems and all relationships are constantly working toward this goal. As human beings we all have this same wonderful opportunity as long as we act according to our true human nature and work with the natural flow of energy, not against it. It's so simple and yet so challenging at times! It' s especially difficult these days because of the widespread presence of three human plagues, materialism, competiveness, and egoism, that are damaging individuals and communities around the world. If we happen to become infected with any of these diseases our behaviour will certainly lose its human quality and our unbalanced state will block the mutually beneficial flow of energy between ourselves and all living beings around us. [Note: An article on the three human plagues and their destructive nature will appear on the WCN website in July 2008] If our life is not in balance and harmony at the moment we need to look at how the universe operates and use three of its guiding principles; awareness, compassion, and co-operation. We can start by practicing self-observation and become more aware of what's really going on within our own being and around us. We can then use our will and the Creator's help to train our heart and mind to manifest compassion for our self and all living things. Finally we can develop the habit of co-operating, not competing, with all the living beings we encounter in our daily relationships. Through the complete use of all parts of our being, balancing our doing and being, and working to satisfy our partners needs as well as our own, we can and will create a life of balance and harmony. That's just how the universe wants it! May what we want and what the Creator knows we need both be the same. Michael Greenstein, wholistic educator |