Last week I was asked “Do you have any thoughts on how our determination to plan and execute a plan for our lives is influenced by things beyond our control? Is there a balance between our internal energy and external energy?” The questions boil down to “which has more influence in our lives, our own energy or that which is outside of us.” If we want to do something that external energy is against, can we still do it?
There are many components to external energy, including:
- Financial circumstances
- Geography (where you were born)
- Family (including beliefs religious or otherwise)
- Health
- Class or social connections
- Luck
- Other people
The Monolithic Energy in the Room
First of all, I don’t believe in the saying “you can do anything if you put your mind to it”. A child living in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, can put his mind to becoming the President of the United States, but it is never going to happen. I’m sure Christopher Reeves put his mind to being able to walk and function normally, but a spinal cord injury like his isn’t going to respond. Even something more realistic such as a child born in the US to a family under the poverty line can put their mind to becoming President, but there have only been 46 Presidents in 245 years so no matter how hard you work, being elected President is still unlikely. (And if you were born in the DRC, your chances are nil.)
There are some outliers, Steve Jobs was adopted into a lower-middle-class family. Oprah was born to a teenage mother in Mississippi and then grew up in poverty in Milwaukee. John Paul Dejoria, CEO of John Paul Mitchell Systems, started working at 9 to help support his family, ended up in foster care, and after high school served in the Navy and as a janitor.
However, if you consider the millions of people who have big dreams that never go anywhere due to financial circumstances or lack of education, talent, and connections, you can see that these people are outside the norm.
External Energy Can Be a Barrier
Social class, financial resources, health, and the place in the world where you live are all external forces that are out of our control and extremely difficult to overcome. Let’s say you have the best start possible: you are white and middle-class in the United States. You have a four-year degree and no medical issues or personality disorders. Your life plan is set out, but then you get sick or the economy tanks and no one is hiring. These are all things out of our control as well and are likely to have a lot of influence on your life.
This all feels very pessimistic. If we have external energies like these stacked against us, why even try? The key is change. The outside world and its events are monolithic, but each of us is small, mobile, and changeable. Like bats, who can slip into the tiniest cracks, we can find the cracks in the monolith and make our lives there. Like the moths in industrial age Britain who evolved from white to a dirty grey to better blend into soot-stained buildings and plants, we are the ones who have to adapt. And we use our energy to do that.
Luck Bashes Down Energy Barriers
But just when you think things will never go your way, Luck bashes down the door and does a big “Ta-Da” entrance. I think luck is an element of chaos, which is built into all energy, even the monoliths of wealth, geography, and family. Luck is where our own energy pushes back against external energy.
Luck is defined as “success or failure brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions” and “chance considered as a force that causes good or bad things to happen”. Some people know how to attract luck. A family friend wins something in almost every contest or raffle she enters. Seriously. She keeps track and her success rate is in the high 80% range. She tells me that she has a ritual every time she makes an entry. When the prize is something she really wants (like a 4-week trip to Tahiti) she’ll do the ritual several times. (She won that trip, by the way.)
I have no idea what luck is. You can apparently use personal rituals to attract luck, but what is luck? Is it diety? A better connection to the collective unconscious? Nebulous energy that you can prime your own energy to attract? All of these?
Working Against the Energy of Others
Finally, while we can affect the immediate energy around us, we must be aware that everyone else has their energy working for them at the same time. This comes up a lot in relationship readings. A person will want to know how they can “capture” the person to whom they are attracted. While this relationship might be good for one party, it might not be good for the object of attention. Our wants, desires, and wishes are always bumping up against those wants, desires, and wishes of other people. (This is why reading too far into the future is difficult; the energies of others can’t always be predicted)
I hear you all asking “So, Ms. Pessimist, what is the point of trying at all?” Well, because trying presents you with the lessons you need to learn to become a better person. And I do believe that as you improve as a person, as you become mindful, at peace, and practice loving kindness, you will attract the kinds of things you want in life, though perhaps not in the form you initially envisioned.
Note: There is so much more to talk about on this subject and I will be revisiting it in the future. It would be helpful if you comment on what part interests you most!
What Clients are Saying about Sophrosyne Tarot
I was advised to ask open-ended questions instead of predictive questions which I thought was helpful because I never would have known if it weren’t for the reader. The reader provided the reading along with some advice too so the entire reading was very thorough and explained in an understandable manner.
Everything said was accurate and helpful for me to identify my flaws in order to grow as a person. I have learned a lot about tarot and what it does to help me.
Interesting read.
Interesting subject that I haven’t given much thought on. Looking forward to reading more when you revisit the topic.
Yes, it can be difficult to attract what we want in life when there are so many other energies at work. However, that doesn’t mean that we should give up on our dreams and desires. Instead, we should focus on becoming the best version of ourselves possible. As we improve and become more mindful, peaceful, and loving, we will attract the things that we want into our lives – even if they don’t come in the form we initially imagined. We should not give up on our dreams – we should keep working hard so we will eventually achieve them.
Absolutely not, and dreams are important! And there is a small percentage of people who do achieve dreams that seem to be impossible! And I’m a firm believer that the journey can be far more important than the goal.
Hi Diane,
You have given us many things to think about.
Do you think you can teach us to harness the energy of Luck?
Will the same ritual work for everyone?
Thank you, especially for an alternative to the phrase “the elephant in the room.”
Now I can refer to the monolith in the room or the mammoth in the room. 😉
These are some really good questions, Doug! I’m going to make them a new post, likely next week. There’s a lot of thinking to be done because, quite frankly, I’m not sure, but it will be interesting to explore!