Energy, Systems & Dharma
“Ya gotta listen to the words.” is a favored expression of mine. In the previous Building Block, Energy and the Life Process, I brought forth some ideas that were generated from an article I happened upon in financial news. While forging a new perspective for psychological research, I touched upon some very expansive, fundamental areas and I painted with a broad brush. That’s because the overall conceptual themes contained within these Building Blocks, consciousness, psyche, personality, etc. will necessarily repeat with nuanced contextual use as the dynamics of dharma are psychologically acknowledged.
Imagine that you hold in the palm of your hand an exquisitely cut, unique gem with an infinite number of facets. As you look at the gem from one angle, a particular facet illuminates and you affix your jewelers loupe to glimpse the character depths of the gem. Then tilt your hand ever so slightly and a second facet flashes and provides another tiny, yet varied look-see of the gem’s inner characteristics. Another tilt of your palm, another flash, another view; and on-n-on it goes ad infinitum.
Each facet with every flash provides a variant reappearance of the same deep character theme of the composite gem. All together they display an integrated personality motif of the gem’s superlative global properties along with a captivating allure to look within for greater clarity and understanding.
Individual human personality expresses itself in similar fashion as the precious gemstone. Countenance and character, one’s persona, project a composite psychosocial motif of energy events deep within the psyche. Pick any facet -- a defined personality trait or pattern of behavior -- and apply your loupe for greater clarity, appreciation and understanding of individual personality development as it engages the utility of a mechanical system.
Actually, the overall process of a mechanical system remains rather straightforward. After identifying or defining the system: 1) identify the energy source to the system, then the mechanism where 2) the work will be done to 3) produce an end product that retains some value. In similar fashion, Dharma Dynamics maintains the focus squarely upon the individual and 1) the inherent, unceasing energy activity within the psyche, 2) its thermal affects (overall efficiency) upon personality development, and 3) the personal value of the end product gleaned from the work generated by the system, behavior.
Whether we’re aware of it or not, throughout the life process, all behavior is routinely accompanied by an autonomous appraisal of personal value. The energy for this assessment is initiated from within the psyche as a natural pulse, an inherent tendency to always support and uphold the most efficient function of the aggregate system, the individual. Most briefly, this defines the dynamic of dharma. It is this thermal attribute that confirms dharma to singularly function as both psychic energy and psychic force.
A young child knows what it means when a toy is broken and may react in a myriad of ways according to the situation. The child doesn’t necessarily care why; the bottom line is that the toy doesn’t work anymore. It has become useless as a plaything.
Many adults behave in similar fashion when their car unexpectedly won’t start. Yet, as adults we can rationalize that broken toy and that towed-to-the-shop car as systems that have become inoperative and now function at zero efficiency and remain valueless with regards to their intended purpose.
During the life process we are constantly making personal changes and adjustments. We all have repaired, reconfigured, replaced or discarded personal thoughts, behavioral patterns and habits that have lost value over time. Just ask any dieter who has tried several programs that didn’t pan out.
Yet consider the initial decision to first adopt a dietary regimen and then another decision, later in time, to drop that routine because of unsatisfactory results. Both time-locked decisions are made with life-affirming intentions (the impulse from dharma).
Those two decisions were idiosyncratically filtered before cognition and behavioral intent was egoistically attached. Changing course for one’s personal well being – physically, emotionally, mentally and/or psychospiritually -- is essentially a thermal dynamic, one that is absolute, ceaseless and self-evident of correct and proper personal behavior. It is the mechanism that set the ongoing patterns of individual character and countenance, the consolidated persona of one’s personality.
Individually, it is the self that retains the power of choice, a main staple of the life process. And, if only unto ourselves, we always undertake some action with our decisions. It may be something seemingly insignificant like tweaking a recipe with an extra pinch of salt, or something much greater in scale and complexity like changing one’s career or residence; or maybe it’s just dumping what was a bad idea in the first place. Although these examples differ in degree, scale or magnitude of personal significance they all retain the same thermal dynamic tendency from dharma. Dharma’s kinship to energy as a universal given is undeniable as is its enduring impulse to rectitude in human behavior.
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