Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences!
The shamans tell us we are born with all the energy we will have for this life. They claim that the quality of the energetic charge at our conception determines our energetic allotment. Laughingly, they claim that most of us were the product of a “bored fuck,” hence, our energy stores are quite limited. For these shamans, energy is everything: awareness, parting the veils, dreaming, journeying in infinity – all require energy. Those bent on achieving these feats in this life must become energy misers.
As energy misers we examine our habitual patterns, what Jeanne calls rituals this week, and determine which habits compromise our evolutionary imperative. This process is reflected in the chorus of Michael Jackson’s song, Man in the Mirror:
I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change, yey
Na na na, na na na, na na na na oh ho
As we peer into the mirror we will discover, for instance, what relationships we engage in that spend our energy by upholding a familiar life, such as repetitive conversations, redundant stories which reaffirm who we are, who we have always been, and who we will always be. These comforts of familiarity disperse and bind our energy and squash new possibilities. The shamans go so far as to suggest that we erase our personal history in order to remove the energetic bind of expectations from familiar sources, which keeps us imprisoned in a known world. In a modern sense, this might mean breaking the mold of our own self definition by doing something new, alone, rather than repeat the known rituals of the self. On the other hand, we might discover a pattern of staunch independence where energy is spent refusing a practice or making a commitment. Beware of this compromise of energy as well. Look carefully in that mirror, as you might discover a hidden puer or puella who refuses to engage in the adult world.
Taking an honest inventory of habits and behaviors of everyday life is another means of identifying energy drains. These can include items of worry, incessant judgements of self and others, or unnecessary doings, i.e.: staying busy or always being available to others. We may discover that many of our habitual patterns or choices are not necessary and are, in fact, a means to keep us distracted from deeper truths. This leads into recapitulation where we have the opportunity to recondition old energy, dispersed and attached to fragments of our past. As we relive our past we reclaim energy that has remained frozen there, a part of the self that is unresolved. The ability to relive the past allows its dilemmas to be put to rest, whereby freeing the energy that was caught. This then gets added to our energetic stash, available for use in a new way.
As we retrieve our energy, both through recapitulation and retiring energy draining rituals, our energy revitalizes and becomes available for true adventure.
I welcome your comments. Should anyone wish to write, I can be reached at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com
Until we meet again,
Chuck