What is The Energy Behind Life?

[Jill’s Note: If you prefer to listen rather than read, please scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.]

I grew up without any religion.

While my parents are Jewish by birth, other than eating deli and knishes on occasion, I didn’t (and still don’t) know anything about Judaism. There was no talk about God (either for or against) in my house. And very early on I decided that God was simply something people believed in because it provided them with comfort. Religion, I felt (and still do), was necessary to provide some basic guidelines for those who need rules to live by. (They’re the same ones who need rules for SEO, by the way!)

I, on the other hand believed that we should try to live the best life we can by being the best person we can. While also enjoying life to its fullest!

And then we die.

My belief, both then and now, is that we are all inherently good.

I think we all want to be good, but sometimes shit happens. I don’t believe that the “wrath of God” or any sort of religious rules for behavior is what keeps people from doing or being bad. Nobody wants to do bad things regardless of whether there’s a God or not.

But I had never thought much about the energy behind life.

It never occurred to me to wonder what powers us. Nor did I wonder what causes the acorns to become oak trees. Or what causes our bodies to heal themselves from cuts and scrapes with nary a thought or doing from us. I believed that life, in general, could be explained through physics, chemistry and biology, etc. I didn’t have to understand those sciences for it all to happen just as it’s supposed to.

Yet how do we explain consciousness? Or our individual thoughts?

I asked my genius, non-religious, neuroscientist son these questions recently. While he could explain the biology of where they happen within the brain, it seems that there isn’t much scientific consensus on where they originate, nor how. (Not quoting my son there, that’s just what I took away from our conversation.) Scientists do seem to agree that our thoughts are made up of energy, just as everything in life is.

So where do our thoughts come from? And how are we able to create amazing things through the power of our minds?

It appears that the answer lies in that part that’s deep within us. It’s where our intuition lies. And it’s what can help guide us in life–if and when we listen. But until recently, I never made the connection that what I thought of as our inner guide is also our “true self.” Or if you want to get really deep–perhaps even our soul. In other words, it’s that “person” deep down inside of us that is unaffected by all the ego slime we’ve had thrown at us since we were born.

It occurred to me recently that the energy behind life is actually same thing as our inner guide.

This same energy has been labeled through the ages by philosophers, religions, new age theosophers, self-help gurus, and others using a variety of terms. For instance, in the language of what’s known as the “3 Principles” (my current favorite way of looking at the world) this inner guide is simply called “Mind.” Or sometimes it’s described as innate wisdom, the intelligence behind life, or our inner wisdom.

But it’s all basically the same thing–that untouched goodness within us.

And when I recently re-watched some Eckhart Tolle videos, it became clear that what he calls “The Now” or “Presence” or simply “being present” is also this same inner wisdom I’m referring to.

It’s also what Christians call God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, or The Lord (but they generally believe it’s something outside of ourselves).

“A Course In Miracles” which uses Christian language, refers to this guiding energy as the Holy Spirit, the Christ Mind or simply Spirit.

Athletes and high functioning business people may think of it slightly differently. They call that part of themselves they often access when competing, “The Zone” or something similar.

Yet all of these mean approximately the same thing:

Inner Guide, Spirit Guide, God, The Zone, Being in Flow, Divine Mind, The Divine, “Angel on your shoulder,” “Goddess Within,” “Your Gut,” intuition, mindfulness, a hunch, Guardian Angel, higher energy, higher self, “The Intelligence Behind Life,” The Source, and source energy.

Whatever you want to call this somewhat illusive power, it’s clear that the more we access and use it–the better off we’ll be.

Now that I understand what some people call God is some sort of creative energy within and accessible to all of us, the more it makes sense. And in fact–the more that life makes sense. Whether or not this aspect of ourselves is gone forever when our physical bodies are dead and gone is a whole ‘nother can of worms to think about!

–Jill

P.S. This post is my opinion and how I see things at this moment in time. It is not meant to offend anyone’s belief system or disparage anyone’s religion. As always, I welcome your thoughts and opinions below.

Prefer listening? Click the green arrow below!