Power

"When born we weep, while others round us smile.
May we live that when we die
We smile, and others round us weep."

- The Good Book: A Secular Bible by A.C. Grayling



I have been touching people. I have been rubbing up against them. We have been creating friction between our skins. And the friction builds heat inside of me. And with that energy, I can create. And with everything I create, I touch more people. And the more people I touch, the more they touch me back. And we begin again.

All my actions have reactions. All the people that I touch, touch me back. All the touch transfers energy.

I feel alive.

With everything we do, everything and everyone we touch, we are engaging in energy transfers. Every action empowers something or someone. Have you thought about what you are empowering with your energy? Is it a worthwhile things to give your power to?

An example of how plants feed me!

Here on the farm, I spend a lot of time and energy encouraging food to grow. I use my energy to help the plants get energy, and in return those plants feed us with more energy.

Some days, I stop in the middle of a row of beans, take a deep breath, and pause for a moment to notice myself actively expressing my own concept of my life's purpose: to share my energy through growing and creating food. I notice the crickets and the grashoppers singing, the roosters crowing, and the sun, wherever she is at in the sky at that moment. We are all rejoicing in that moment. We have power! Love! Energy! I see how we are all part of this continual exchange, this network of life. And I appreciate my place within it.

This weekend I was reminded that energy is not just physical. Emotional and shared creative energy are extremely valuable, in ways I think economists and analysts and physicists perhaps don't give due consideration.

How can you make a calculation for how it feels when the music is so inspiring you just can't help but get up and dance? What equation expresses the energy that is transferred when people you just met make it their mission to warm you up with hugs? How can you express what power you share when you sing to people, and they listen, and they keep listening-- for months, weeks, years?

Music is powerful. Touch is powerful. Creation is powerful. But there is no way to prove this through science, and if there is, I don't really need it. The proof is in the way I feel.

I feel alive. More alive than I feel when I shut myself off, for fear of being alone in a crowd. You don't stay alone for long. People crave touch, and you can touch them. Touch them with your hands, your words, your music. It doesn't matter. Just take your love, your music, your power, and roll it into a big sweet ball of beauty, and throw it at someone. Splat! Like a snowball to the back of the head, right when you least expect it. And see what happens.

I bet you'll be pleased. Pleasantly surprised, even. If you're lucky, you'll hit the person who needs it at just that moment, and it'll open up a door. If not, you'll still have touched them. And whether you know it or not, your touch will change them. Maybe enough to redirect their course. Maybe enough to empower them to touch someone else, too.

With everything you do, you change the world.