Welcome to Part 1 of the Energetic Strength series.
Before we dive into the discipline of cultivating your energetic strength...
What is wrong with the current approaches to Personal Development and Spirituality?
Personal Development Is An INEFFICIENT Use of Your Energy
How could this be true?
Many people have changed their lives after attending live seminars, listening to courses and reading self-help books. This is true.
Then what's the problem?
See if any of this feels familiar:
- You attend a seminar or read a book
- You become excited and motivated. You feel like you are progressing at life just by reading or listening.
- You start implementing some of what you learned. You feel great and your ego gets a boost.
- You start looking at more self-help books and courses and seminars. You become addicted.
- Eventually you feel like you've heard it all, many times before. It becomes boring.
- You feel frustrated that you have not yet reached those goals, even after so much research and training.
- You lose your fire that you had in the beginning
And so on...
This is not a recipe for strong energy.
You may reach some goals doing this. You may even gain some measure of confidence in the process.
But how honest are you with yourself? Are you being natural and whole? or...
- Are you doing it to PROVE SOMETHING?
- Are you doing it for VALIDATION and ADMIRATION?
- Are you trying to BECOME someone BETTER than you are now?
Ask yourself these questions to start getting a feel for where you're at.
If you feel like you have to BECOME SOMEONE ELSE through your personal development, you are not harnessing your PRIMAL NATURE.
You may be simply operating as a SECRETLY INSECURE EGO trying to "fix" itself with personal development
Much of the Personal Development industry feeds on this insecurity. Many so-called teachers driven by greed and manipulative sales tactics. But not all.
Now let's look at spirituality...
How Real and Raw Is Your Spirituality?
It is one thing to say you are spiritual, and then list your beliefs and stories of your life.
It is another to become ruthlessly lovingly honest with yourself, and face your hidden agendas and narratives.
Navigating through the moment-by-moment shifting circumstances and states of life. This takes guts. This takes skill.
Very different to "wishful thinking" and lazy "law of attraction" positive thinking.
Not to mention the ego traps of feeling superior to others.
There are many problems in the spirituality sector. So people go the other way.
It's no wonder "rational people" often tend to dismiss the whole area as nonsense. They pledge their allegiance to the religion of Mainstream Science. They avoid humiliation and disappointment.
In that world, anything that falls outside of mainstream science is "clearly" irrelevant/false. After all, science in general has successfully produced so much of what make our current lifestyles possible, and has proven itself capable at improving our lives.
With this in mind they don't see a use for spirituality.
So they dismiss a whole pool of data that may contain ACTIONABLE and POTENT GEMS.
BUT HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT IS REAL?
There is only observation and sensory interaction.
We can only make MAPS and MODELS of reality using the DATA we observe using our internal/external senses or mechanical/digital equipment we've built.
Does this fact discredit science? Not at all.
It discredits CERTAINTY OF WHAT REALITY is. No-one actually knows. We are in "an ocean of chaos" as Timothy Leary said.
This is Liberating.
The maps and models developed by science have given us incredible things. But we shouldn't let these models limit us.
Nor should we be scared to explore ANY idea that may make life more fun or interesting.
So how do we begin to develop Energetic Strength without needing objective validation?
We sharpen our OBSERVATION of our DIRECT EXPERIENCE of reality
This is your primal truth.
Everything you perceive INSIDE you and OUTSIDE you.
Your ever-present tangible NOW.
If you see something beautiful, or feel something profound, or imagine something, that is DIRECT. No need for belief systems or explanations.
It is REAL, BEAUTIFUL and PRIMAL. It speaks for itself.
How do we move beyond Personal Development and Spirituality?
We shift our focus to CULTIVATING ENERGETIC STRENGTH in our DIRECT EXPERIENCE
No need for external validation or mental analysis. Our keen observation decides if something is working or not.
We don't have to throw out the baby with the bathwater when exploring spiritual ideas, metaphors and models.
We can use ANY data without having to buy in to anything. We can pick and test.
We can wear models of reality like clothes and change pieces for exploration.
We EXPLORE and TEST THINGS to find what makes us STRONGER in our direct experience and MAKES IT MORE FUN.
It is an easy test.
The thing we test either makes us feel stronger, more whole and opened up, or it makes us weaker and more contracted.
Ideas, actions, concepts - are all psychoactive. They influence our neurology, which in turn influences our experience.
These subtle and obvious differences can be observed and noticed by us.
Engaging this faculty can be the beginning of being truly "Multi-Dimensional" in your experience.
Primal strength and intelligence can begin to reveal itself in your authenticity.
Thanks for reading. Keep an eye out for Part 2.
Maxim