Spiritual Energy

Most of my core personal philosophy, and inspiration for my writing ultimately derives from one mathematical– or should I say philosophical concept: the fractal. I don’t know when the first known fractal was created (nor does anyone alive today, I’d wager), but two prominent philosophical figures stand out most for their contributions to the underlying concepts on which it would be built– groundbreaking ideas about the nature of the universe (metaphysics/cosmology), that not only provide a basic understanding of what fractals are, but also extend that understanding to account for all that we perceive, and perhaps beyond: Pythagoras and Heraclitus.

Pythagoras believed that every thing (particular) in the unverse had a number assigned to it, and was characterized and behaved according to that number- existing according to the pattern of that number; he also believed that music was a mysterious force that synchronized with these particulars, serving as a platform by which everything interacted with each other, as well as reacted. If life is an equation, then Pythagoras’s “numbers” are the variables of life, and music provides the mathematical operations that determine how life– and everything, turns out.

Perhaps, as was depicted in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion”, music itself is the pattern, mysterious as it is. It’s probably just part of the pattern though- and, to further complicate things, what we know as music may not exist outside perception. Pythagoras’s “numbers”, and his mystical beliefs about music, are what I believe to have ultimately inspired Aestheticism, as well as my own current understanding of creativity.

Heraclitus independently developed a different, yet comparable philosophy: He believed that the universe is inherently chaotic and operates as such, but that chaos was only perceptive, and ultimately was built on word and order – essentially a pattern on which the whole world was build and operates according to. Heraclitus dubbed this cosmic pattern the Logos- after the latin word logos, which beared both the meanings of “word” and “order”; to him, the Logos was God, and to me, that god is a fractal– the fractal. This concept ultimately inspired the philosophy(s) of logic (especially my own), and I believe it to have played a role in inspiring cynicism as well.

It really is ironic, that in the primitive development of what would become the fractal, two great philosophers came up with the same basic idea, but coming from two completely different perspectives- creative and logical. Although at odds by superficial appearances, there are only a few core differences between the two- one in particular that is important to me: Creativity is the quality of finding meaning by creating meaning where there is none, and Logic is the quality of finding meaning by extracting it from existing sources. This is where spiritual energy comes in.

In an earlier post, “Heart and Soul”, I reached the conclusion that the Ego is the Soul. I know that this is wrong (just as I knew my conclusions on “Pride” were wrong even as I wrote it), but for now they will be assumed true, for the purpose of inspiration- a placeholder until a more accurate understanding is found. It is however clear that the Ego is a vital component of the Soul, and is somehow inseparable from it (by way of some kind of nexus).

To further clarify this relationship: I believe there to be a definite difference between knowledge and truth: Truth is the pure and thus perfect form, and knowledge is the corrupt and thus imperfect form. Note that perfection & purity do not necessarily denote goodness, nor do corruption & imperfection denote evil. That would be “missing the point”, so instead think of it in terms of a person and their mirror reflection. A person cannot see themselves without an optical reflection of some kind, so it would be hypocritical to say that what (to some extent) we love- is evil. Even though perception is corrupt, without it we, as individuals, would not exist– a proverbial “necessary evil.”

Having established that: there are two primary types of knowledg that fall within the limits of human perception: intuition and experiences (empirical).

For a while now, the Id has been a mystery to me, but I’m finally beginning to understand it. The Id, as depicted by its originator (Sigmund Freud), is pure desire, and thus (from what I can well) is as infinite as (or more infinite than) perception allows. That being the case, what role can the Id have that would be compatible with the caliber of its nature? My answer: The Id is the Essence of the Soul., and all spiritual energy is the product of the Id (which would imply that music is a component of the Id). Thus also, the Id is truth. (Now we know why children are so “pure hearted”– it’s because they’re pure Id!).

From this fresh philosophical foundation, I can now begin to understand the other “souls”- the Ego and SuperEgo.

The Ego gives form, nature, and other defining characteristics [to particulars] and the SuperEgo is the medium by which spiritual energy is expressed, shared, extracted, and transferred– with other  people, and with particulars in general. I believe that spiritual energy– that is, knowledge, is held not only by [perceptively] sentient beings such as humans and animals, but also by plants, and inanimate objects as well; in some cases, spiritual energy is stored especially by inanimate objects. Although they might not be aware of, or able to appreciate the potentially massive levels of spiritual energy they contain– even if they are not capable of facilitating the transfer of such energy, many of them have far more than some- perhaps most humans.

Magic, meditation, psychic ability, telepathy, prophesy, witchcraft, and miracles in general (see “Karma” post), are the direct result of channeling spiritual energy- and thus, focus is the most important thing needed to effectively utilize it. This is why prayer is often done with the hands folded and eyes closed, why martial arts involve specialized vocalizations and body movements, and why meditation often includes the iteration of certain sounds and an emphasis on repetition. By focusing one’s spiritual energy, one can better control it and direct it towards specific tasks, rather than expend transfer, and receive it mindlessly and wastefully, as most people appear to do.

The Id is then the source of our spiritual energy- what asian cultures refer to as “Chi”. The Ego gives identity, form, and nature to this energy supplied by our “Chi”, that we might control and appreciate it. Finally, the SuperEgo is the medium that facilitates the exchange, sharing, transfer, and extracting of spiritual energy, between humans, plants, animals, objects, and everything that exists. Here’s another even more interesting thought: We know Zero-Point Energy exists, and is found even in perceptively empty vaccuums, but cannot extract it. Zero-Point Energy is everywhere and yet nowhere- a mysterious force. I believe that Zero Point energy is the material form of the Id.

Another way of looking at it: To use the analogy of a program: Spiritual energy might best compare to source code, in that it is raw and inherently giberish until it is interpreted. Perception- our Ego, serves as the interpreter, and thus what [perceptively] the end-product will be. Everyone interprets spiritual energy a little differently, because all of our Egos are different, especially in this day and age where life has become so overwhelmingly complicated. Just like in source code, we all tend to “comment out” a lot of spiritual energy, simply because we can’t handle it. Mental illness is, in my opinion, the result of the inability to filter out spiritual energy. Those who possess this deficiency like myself- we are extremely creative whether we like it or not– or rather, we are creative because we can’t help it.

Medication can, for some mentally ill folk, provide that filtering, although in the process it takes away one’s control. In my case, however, I was too strong-willed for medication to work that way, and so it ended causing a somewhat opposite effect- desperation. With what I know now, things would not turn out that way, but that just wouldn’t be me. Then again, I could probably achieve more happiness off medication anyway– it’s just at this point happiness really isn’t a high priority- it’s just wishful thinking, at least for now. Sure having more creativity makes life far more difficult for me than for others, but it also gives me a much greater potential, and I like a good challenge anyway.

Not everyone likes a challenge, but for everyone possessing high levels of creativity, we must either learn to control– adapt to it, or let it control us. The latter scenario reminds me of what occurs when a system runs a program it does not have the resources to handle- we must either force ourselves to create the resources (which in an OS would ironically be called “virtual memory”), or we will crash (i.e. a psychological breakdown).

Getting back to the point: “Everyone interprets spiritual energy a little bit differently.” This is why knowledge is so subjective- to know or understand anything, it must be interpreted. The Ego (interpreter) is therefore the most obvious scapegoat for why we are so different- so complicated- and why no person can ever entirely agree with anyone about anything. But the Ego doesn’t care about how it interprets anything- it’s conditioned to care, and continues to develop an increasingly complex understanding of everything that is perceived. It’s not the Logos that conditions it- well, at least not directly. It’s our environment, and more mysteriously– oneself.

I don’t know about other people, but I know that I have a self that is not conditioned by the SuperEgo or the Ego, but another sentience that posesses a strange independence– it feels a lot like having a self from another life- a reincarnated soul proverbially trapped in the back of my head. Perhaps this self is my true soul…

The Ego does have conditions, but does not care about what the conditions are so long as there are conditions; anyone therefore can, if they so desire, be anything and do anything they want. That would make it appear that true freewill is within our grasp. But there is one problem: We have a tendency- and myself especially- to make life complicated. It is after all our nature– the soul was after all born out of the complex tendencies of nature (i.e. evolution).

A person can completely remake themselves every day. if they wish. Granted, this would be a chaotic and confusing lifestyle, and something I don’t think I would ever be willing to commit to completely. But no matter how many times we remake ourselves- that is, no matter how many psychological deaths (see “What I’ve Done” post) we undergo, eventually each and every “self” will become just another blueprint for the Ego, and continually increase in complexity until we cannot even perceive the changes that occur within ourselves.

How to escape from this? The answer I have for now is to treat the self as irrelevant; but this answer doesn’t quite fit right; there are too many philosophical problems that need to be resolved for it to work. But, I suppose it’s a start…