I Absorbed Energy From Plants Once and Now I am a Wizard!
Back when I sold myself to a corporation, I used to ride my bike into work. Although it was a forty minute commute, it was a pleasant ride, taking me through a local park and lake. Having this time to think and reflect was therapeutic, and meditative.
This was also around the time I was experimenting with different beliefs. I saw the mind as behaviorists do: like a box, where the contents determine the box's outputs. However, I took this a step farther than behaviorists. Instead of simply focusing on the outputs, or the behavior, the mind elicits, I was determined to figure out what I could put inside my own mind to change my perception of reality.
So, on many of these trips into work, I was thinking about different ways to see the world. In particular, one instance stands out in my memory. As I was pedaling through the forested park paths, I was thinking about energy as an abstract concept. It was “energy” that was propelling me forward, and in that same line of thinking, it was “energy” the plants around me were creating from the sun. The idea of absorbing this “energy” from the plants and using it for myself came to mind.
Obviously, this isn't mechanically possible, in the way I will describe. However, upon holding that idea in my head for a while, putting my full attention on the way the leaves danced in the wind, a particularly strong gust rushed through the forest. Not only did I feel this physical sensation, but the way the leaves started shining in the sun's light struck me on some level. A cool trickling sensation flowed up my spine. I felt a rush of “energy,” and felt lighter than air. I zoomed forward without any additional effort on my part.
While that instance had a momentary belief that I was absorbing the plant “energy” that was in abundance around me, mechanically something very different was happening. I had filled my brain with certain expectations, and upon receiving a complimentary stimulus, resulted in a different physiological response than is normal. Likely, my perception of a powerful moment led to a release of adrenaline, which super-charged my body to pedal harder. I had tricked my mind into believing something incongruent with the objective reality, which resulted in an objectively positive outcome for myself.
This is something I think many people who think logically overlook. I know because I was consumed with a wholly mechanical way of looking at the world at one point that did not have time for such silly things as absorbing “energy” from plants. But, upon learning more about the way the brain works revealed to me that there is no objectively accurate model of reality that the brain can create. All we have is an illusion that is constructed by our limited sensory data, and this allows us to function well enough to survive.
Expanding on this, we know that what we believe results in different ways of seeing the world. Just look at any argument between a theist and an atheist, and this becomes obvious. Different ways of seeing the world results in different ways of making choices. Thus, we can see the box that is our mind being able to navigate reality in alternative ways that are objectively better in certain situations.
The belief of free will is a great example of this. Many experiments have shown that having the idea of free will floating around in our heads results in us making better ethical choices, and having greater restraint when faced with temptation. Even if we are in a deterministic universe, the mechanics of this universe grant our mental algorithms more choices to consider when we believe we are in control of our destiny.
Likewise, this idea extends to any belief of any form. We can't judge any belief in itself to be good or bad. We live in a universe where it is bad to push someone, but good to push someone out of the way of the bus. Believing something one moment may be beneficial, but in the next it could be detrimental. Understanding this, we must take responsibility of what we choose to believe, knowing that there may always be something better. A person who wholly embraces this idea gains a much wider degree of agency, able to open more doors to navigate as he or she moves forward through time.
As I see it, this is the dominant strategy to human survival. To craft and change different lenses of perception is just an intelligent way to live one's life. Whatever belief system we hold can never contain absolute truth in itself, but by shifting our perspective regularly, we can gain better insights in how to proceed moving forward. Like having two eyes grants us depth perception, not relying on a cyclopian model of reality gives us an advantage to survive and prosper.