Electricity

In physics, electricity is the flow of electric charge driven by a difference in electric potential. When a connection exists between higher and lower potential, charge begins to move and electricity is produced. And as physics shows, this flow always follows the path of least resistance.

In real-world applications, we intentionally add resistance to electrical systems. Small points of restriction that slow the flow of charge and serve a purpose. They generate heat, regulate output, and allow control. We literally call these “resistors.”

If we apply this metaphor to life’s energy, we might imagine the natural flow as awareness itself. And the resistance to that open, natural awareness as the self.

At its most basic level, the self resists. It resists in an attempt to control experience. It tries to control the future or rewrite the past. It tries to change the present. Sometimes it imagines an entirely different world altogether. At its heart, the self experiences the natural flow as wrong. It wants something other than what is.

That resistance can take many forms. The self can resist in pursuit of personal gain, or in the name of reducing suffering for all beings, or anywhere in between. The motivation changes, but the mechanism remains the same.

Independent of intention, resistance is still resistance. The system is pushing against its own natural flow. Energy meets friction.

This is not to say that resistance or selfing is bad. It simply is. Humans generate a sense of self, and that capacity is likely a large part of why our species has been so successful. But selfing has consequences. There is an emotional cost to resistance, expectation, and the constant attempt to redirect what is already unfolding.

Maybe just for a few minutes, you can feel that resistance operating within you. Not as a problem to solve, but as a sensation to notice. See what happens if you soften it slightly. Not by doing anything, but by allowing something to stop doing.

Just the right amount of resistance to turn on allowing. No more.

Sit with that for a moment. Let the warmth of allowing fill the space in your chest that resistance keeps trying to manage, fix, or control.