What Is Spiritual Energy and How Can it Help You

The question, “what is…”, is fascinating because it’s never had an answer. What is a tree? It consists of roots, a trunk, branches and leaves. Okay, so what are leaves? Well they’re made of cells, and we can only see these cells with the help of a microscope. And what are cells made of? Well they’re made of atoms and these we cannot see at all directly, not even with a microscope (it only takes a picture). What are atoms made of? They’re made of subatomic particles. What are they made of? Well, who knows. The point being, we already believe in the existence of things we cannot see or experience directly. Although science attempts to describe the “nature of things”, all it has ever been able to describe are processes.

The name or label that we give something is purely for the purpose of communicating a shared observation or experience. Knowing something’s name isn’t knowing what it is. Having the concept of an atom, and the name for it, in your mind, doesn’t mean we really know what an atom is.

When I say the word “tree”, you can bring a tree to mind, even when one isn’t present. That is not a real tree, it is a mental image, an idea. Everything we experience is in the mind. For example, we may “know” that light is made of waves, of energy, but we do not experience light in this way, we experience it as sight which is a completely subjective experience. “Light” doesn’t have an objective existence. It is the subjective experience of waves, dependent on having eyes and a brain to convert that energy into electrical signals and a mind to register the experience as sight. If you were the only person in the world who could see, who had ever seen, would light exist? Of course, for you, but not for anyone else. No one would believe this thing that you call “light” is real. They would not even be able to imagine it. If there were no creatures with eyes, there would be no light, only energy. All sensory phenomena are subjective. Scientifically speaking, only energy exists, and of course we could ask, what is energy? There’s never any end to this question.

Similarly, I don’t know what subtle or spiritual energy is. That is just the name I’ve given to a collection of particular physical, mental and emotional sensations that fall outside the realm of ordinary causes. I interpret these sensations are give them meaning through interpretation, in the same way you interpret your bodily sensations, like a racing heart, as an emotion. You don’t doubt that your emotions are real

Naturally, for those who’ve never seen and felt this subtle energy before, the question for them is; how do I know it’s real? Well the truth is you don’t. There is no “scientific” proof that this thing called subtle energy has an objective, physical existence. So we need to look at what is meant by “real”

When you have a dream at night, your mind instantly creates a whole new world, which, unless you have a lucid dream, you regard as real. For example, a dog is chasing you and you run in fear. When you wake up, you realise that this “wasn’t real” and the fear disappears. However, you can’t deny that you had the experience of seeing a dog, and of being afraid. It only seems “unreal” now, as you realise it existed only in your mind. Well, when you’re sitting on the couch and feeling upset about something that happened earlier in the day, it’s probable you feel, at that very moment like that thing’s upsetting you, but there is no one there, and nothing’s happening to you. The experience of being upset by that person, or that event, is in your mind, not unlike the dream you had. The truth is the mind doesn’t know the difference between what is objective and what is subjective because there’s no proof that a purely objective world exists, at all. We, the subject, are inseparable from everything we know and experience. What makes something seem as if it has an objective existence, is when we can share that experience with other people. When the experience is common enough that people can relate to it.

While seeing and feeling subtle energy doesn’t come naturally for everyone, I’ve yet to meet anybody who can’t experience it with a little effort. It’s called ‘subtle’ for a reason, because you won’t feel or notice it at first without paying very close attention.

few people have knowing experience seeing or feeling subtle energy, there are doubts as to its existence. But just because you haven’t felt it, doesn’t mean it isn’t real. In fact, it has to be real, at least as an experience, since people have been talking about for thousands of years, and still engage in practices today. If people weren’t experiencing anything at all, they would have given up. The point being, it’s about the experience, and not about proving anything. For all intensive purposes, our emotions are our own, and no one can see them. We don’t doubt our emotions are real, and we don’t get caught up wondering what they are.