The Power Within

There is a force that permeates everything in the universe. It is a force that threads its way in and out of the land and everything on it, within it, and above it. It directs all things and is constantly forming. Some call this force Energy, some Wyrd, or Power.

If we look at this force in terms of what the Anglo-Saxons called Wyrd, we find that it is a force that is constantly being formed before us. With each step that we take, the path before us is being woven and created. This is not a fixed path right to the day we die, because the Cosmos itself is never still, forever changing in a state of motion and flux, and so our lives are the same, as we are a part of that Cosmos, intimately connected to it and therefore, we are it. So we change and move in the same manner in order to move with the Cosmos. As soon as we try to move in a different direction, we find ourselves slamming into a brick wall and getting very frustrated with life.

An example that I like to provide people with is to imagine yourself in a small boat going downstream in a river. In the river are rocks. Some are beneath the surface, others project above the water line. As the boat goes down the river, it is guided by the current. This is the manner in which our lives go. We flow with the Current of Life, and as the Wyrd is being woven before us to form each step that we take, so it forms the Current that we allow ourselves to flow with. It takes us, it guides us, it directs our steps to the places where we need to be moving toward.

If however, whilst in this boat, you decide that this is not for you, that you want to decide what your life will do, then you can put the oar or paddle in the water at the back of boat and move it so that the boat changes course. But what we must remember is that we need to know where the boat is going before we can change the course in that direction. We also need to remember that even as we change that course with the oar in the water acting as a rudder, that those changes will be slight, and all the while we are still being pushed downstream by the current. So it is a case of altering the woven pattern in slight movements rather than one large forceful motion.

What will happen if we try to move against the Current? Well, think of the boat in the river again. Imagine trying to change the direction in order to move from the point you are, directly to the river bank. As you move the boat in that new direction, the current of the river will slam against the sides and will force the boat to roll, throwing you out and causing you to roll in a tumult of water.

This is what most people try to do as they do not like the idea of sacrificing themselves to a force that is directing our lives. However, when we try to move directly opposed to Wyrd and to the Power, then we find our lives becoming a tumult of never ending tumbles. We all like to have control of the things that go on in our lives. There is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes we need to give in order to get. When battling against something such as a force that controls and directs the entire Cosmos, we don’t stand much of a chance.

What also needs to be remembered is that the Cosmos is moving in a particular directly. All of the millions of people on this planet are all moving in that direction because they are all elements of that Cosmos. For one person to try and move against that actual flow, will only result in them being pushed sideways in that direction. The Cosmos is not going to wait for you to figure it out and then get in line, it will just carry on flowing and will take you along with it, kicking and screaming.

As difficult as this may sound to you right now, it does not mean that you are completely abandoned to fate. As in the example above, you can steer the boat with light movements to alter the general course. Take an example of this. If you are in the middle of a large, close crowd of people that are all moving in the same direction, you can continue in that direction, but move to the left or right by stepping in front or behind the person next to you. The new perspective you gain will be different and will affect your immediate surrounding, but you are still moving in the same direction to the same final destination.

Of course, Wyrd will present you with some road blocks from time to time so that you can’t step to the right or left at any given moment, but this is due to the fact that your own personal wyrd will not allow you to do so because to move in that direction may alter something that you must experience in the future in order to get to your own personal place.

As Shrek said, Ogres are like onions with many layers. So too are people and so too is the Cosmos and Purpose. There is the point where you are now, the point where you want to be, and the point where you must be. The Cosmos is also at the point where it is now and the point where it must be. But each point that must be, leads onto a new point that must be. In order for the Cosmos to get to where it is going, each element of the Cosmos must be in its right place at each given moment.

But what, you may be asking, does this have to with the Power within? That “within” being within the body of the person. When we take a good look at Power and Wyrd, we find that all things are connected. You can imagine it as one body that has many cells with lines of energy between them, connecting them to each other and when viewed from a distance, they are all one body, one consciousness, moving in unison.

However, this Power moves into the body in a particular fashion. Many cultures will suggest that it enters the body at the will centre, the point that the Oriental people call the tan tien. However, it is the Oriental people, the acupuncturists and the soft martial artists that have buttoned it down the best.

Two main types of energy enter the body, Yang Qi from above, into the head at the point GV24 (SHENTING(Spirit’s Hall)) , and Yin Qi from below in the earth, entering in the base of the feet at the acupuncture point KID1 (YONGQUAN (Rushing Spring)). The two energies run through the body and meet at the girdle that surrounds the waist and goes across the tan tien point. The point where most suggest the energy enters the body. The tan tien point in question is CV4 (GUANYUAN (Hinge at the Source or Gate Origin)) From the name you can come to understand why people consider this the point where energy enters the body. It is the hinge, and it connects to sections and allows them to move together, the door and the door frame being the obvious illustration. Without the hinge, they are not connected and they do not move in unison.

From there, the energy is circulated around the body, first moving up the back in the meridian called the Governing Vessel which extends from the tail of the spine, just behind the anus (GV1 - CHANGQIANG (Long Strength)) up the spine, over the head and ending inside the top lip at the gum (GV28 - YINJIAO (Gums Junction)). The second meridian is the Conceptor Vessel, moving from the perineum (CV1 - HUIYIN (Perineum)), located between the genitalia and the anus, to the bottom lip (CV24 - CHENGJIANG (Contains Fluid or Receives Fluid)).

There is however a gap in these circuits or meridians, often referred to as the Two Heavenly Circuits. This gap is in the mouth, and although the place where you connect it is in a slightly different place, it is between the two meridian end and start points, i.e. between GV28 and CV1. The way we connect this gap, or circuit, is to relax the jaw so that the lower jaw is just behind the upper and the teeth are apart, and then touch the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth, moving it along the top palette until you find the soft bit.

Now although this is usually the one that is mentioned, the same also takes place to a lesser degree with the other end and start of the meridians. I say a lesser degree, and it is why there is not a lot of attention placed on it, because there are muscles that connect the two points, not like the gap in the mouth between the gums. There is however a way in which these points can be connected. It is done by simply squeezing the buttocks and pulling them in, and at the same time you can squeeze the perineum muscle in the manner that you would stop the flow of urine. However, pulling the buttocks in is usually sufficient. It also causes the spine to become straight and so the flow of energy can better move up that meridian.

One practice that is found in a lot of cultures is variously named the Fire Breath. The simple outline of this is that you take a deep breath in and then as you breath out slowly, you imagine a fire moving from the pelvis area at the base of the spine, up the spine, moving further with each breath until it gets into the head and fills the forehead. You then connect the circuit in your mouth and breath it down the front, running from the top palette like liquid gold and dispersing throughout your body, healing and revitalizing your organs and coming to settle again in your pelvis area. As you breath out you can also hiss like a hot poker going into cool water and letting off steam.

The San Bushmen have a ritual dance called the Giraffe Dance. When the dance is performed energy from outside the body enters the pelvis and is then called !Num. As it heats in the pelvis it rises up the spine as steam and fills the head where it becomes Kia. As the dance continues the Elders explain the reaction as a small death where they then explode into a million pieces and fill the universe, spreading themselves everywhere.

Likewise the Taoists will speak of a cauldron filled with water in the pelvis that heats up and steam moves up the spine into the head. As it collects in the head it forms a rain cloud and rains back down the body into the cauldron where it heats and rises and the cycle continues. However, if the circuit is not connected in the mouth, then the cloud collects and grows and because the head cannot expand, it will start to cause headaches, light-headedness, nausea, etc. Mostly a feeling of not feeling grounded and rather unbalanced.

There are in fact many ways in which we can look at the energy in the body, from the meridians to the energy body spoken of by Carlos Castaneda. We can also look at the aura and the chakras, although these are outside the actual physical or energy body and so don’t necessarily pertain to this discourse. However, energy is immense, it is everywhere, in everything, and whether it is inside or outside the body, it is all the same. Everything is energy, atoms put together through Consensual Reality in order for us to experience what we call, the world. But energy can be moved and directed, as long as we understand the principals and know how.