The Way(s) Of Energy

Work requires energy. So any question as to 'How?' or 'Why?' we work must necessarily include an enquiry into the nature of energy: where does it come from? how many forms of energy are there? can we generate energy? or is energy but that which is transmitted through us, i.e., we are but a channel through which energy travels?

Trying to work without energy--to work while being depleted--is one of the more frustrating experiences for the labourer as well as the manager seeking to get the best from his or her charges. Working in an energy-depleted state tends to result in shoddy work. Quality suffers as our energy wanes. Think about it for a moment. If you have a very important task you are given to handle late in a day that has already been long enough, don't you tend to feel better about that task if you are able to set it aside until morning, so that you can come back and tackle the task with all of your reserves fully charged? I know I do. I know that my work performance is directly related to the degree of energy that I have access to. In an energy-depleted state I tend to get foggy and scattered in my thought processes. I have a harder time focusing. I find it easy to be distracted. It is like I don't have enough energy even to hold my attention steady!

That is how important energy is to work. No energy = no work. And so I would propose that if we are going to be talking about 'Integral Work' then we have to look at energy from an 'integrally-informed perspective'--in other words, we must look at energy as it manifests in three generallly related, albeit distinct, realms. These are:

1) Energy as it pertains to the gross realm.

2) Energy as it pertains to the subtle realm.

3) Energy as it pertains to the causal realm.

While I intend to go into each of these realms in further depth and detail, let me just suggest to you at the beginning that while the energy of the gross realm is very much understood (having been long studied by everyone from nutritionists concerned with carbs, protein, and calories to physicists concerned with thermodynamics) this has not been the case with the energy related to the subtle realm and the causal realm. The energy we have access to via these realms is just as crucial in terms of the work can or cannot do as is the energy related to the gross realm. As Jesus said, 'Man cannot live by bread alone.' And I would add, neither can he work effectively by bread alone!'

For example, if our 'heart is in our work' then I would contend that our work becomes empowered by a reservoir of 'subtle energy' that would not be present if our heart where absent our work. Just imagine an object created by an artist who pours herself into her creations, and compare that with an object created in mass fashion out of molds that number in the tens of thousands. Now tell me what object is infused with subtle power.

The point is that you cannot point to the infusion of subtle energy in an object even though you can sense its presence (or lack thereof). Sacred objects, like talismans, have been known to be charged with a power and force that is not of the 'gross realm.' The energy is not in the gold or the diamonds, but in the infusion supplied by a conscious being who injected subtle energy into the seemingly material object.

It is why every truly authentic artist works with subtle energy in the artifacts that they serve to bring to fruition. And it is why we can all sense the presence of that energy, even if we cannot quantify in the same way that we can quantify mass or charge. It is there. Those artifacts--whether a five-course meal created by a master chef, or a necklace made be a metalsmith--reveals the presence of more than just energy from the gross realm.