Energize. Regenerate. Rejuvenate.
Otherwise, it's a steady diet of entropy
Only birth can conquer death — the birth, not of the old thing again, but of something new. — Joseph Campbell
Energy matters. It fuels our bodies and cars and lights and devices. Engineers keep trying to build a perpetual motion machine that, once it starts, keeps on going with no further energy inputs. News Flash: they keep failing.
Scientists keep trying to engineer a nuclear fusion reaction that generates more energy than it takes to trigger it. News Flash: see above on perpetual motion.
Same story with designing a car that can fully recharge its batteries through a combination of solar cells and regenerative braking. And … no.
Hard Facts
Physicists view the universe as operating according to the Law of Entropy, which means that high energy states tend to degrade over time to lower and eventually no energy. This law applies to stars and planets and civilizations and organizations and our own little lives. Physicists can be rather humorless folks, kind of like economists (just kidding).
The Law of Entropy is expressed in these familiar ideas:
What goes up must come down
Nothing lasts forever
For everything, there is a season; a time to be born, and a time to die
All good things must pass
Catnip for the nihilists/fatalists, yes? So why even bother getting up in the morning if everything is going to end eventually? Well, read on.
Energy in/Energy out
In his paradigm-shifting book From Dirt to Soil, Gabe Brown presents a closed-loop model of regenerative agriculture that can produce more nutritious food at lower cost (and hence higher profit) than the industrial extraction method, with little toxic environmental impact. Exciting, yes? Yes!
(Read my book review if you’re interested in the details)
I’m a student of human nature/life, not a farmer, so how is this all relevant? The big takeaway from this book is that you can engineer systems that generate better outcomes by aligning with beneficial energy generation/conservation processes. The regenerative agriculture paradigm is pretty close to a perpetual motion machine and nuclear fusion. So how we can we apply these dynamic principles to benefit our own lives?
Return on Investment
Economists and financial experts measure the value of a thing in terms of its ROI (Return On Investment), which can be expressed as a number:
If you invest a dollar, and earn nothing back, your ROI = -100% (you might want to hire a better financial advisor!)
If you invest a dollar, and earn a dollar back, your ROI = 0% (meh!)
If you invest a dollar, and earn two dollars back, your ROI = +100% (now we’re talking!)
If you invest a dollar, and earn ten dollars back, your ROI = +900% (you must be a hedge fund manager!)
So how is this relevant to the issue of entropy above? More important, how is it relevant to you and your LIFE? Well, there is a market that is bigger and more important than the stock exchange (don’t tell the capitalists; they’ll call you a communist!), and that is the ENERGY market. No, not the one that trades in oil and gas and renewables. We’re talking about YOUR energy.
Your life, at its foundation, is all about the energy stored in mitochondria and other cells and systems in your body. No energy, no life. Everything in life requires an energy investment, and different investments generate different levels of return (ROI), just like money. Part of living a good life is making smart energy investments with the greatest return.
The classic example of a negative (-) energy ROI is a job that demands more energy than you can afford to invest and still maintain your health and well-being in the rest of your life. If the ROI of energy in a job goes too far in the negative direction, we get a condition called burnout. It’s as bad as it sounds.
Re-Generation
So what’s an example of a positive (+) ROI of your life energy? It has to do with the notion of FLOW. A flow state (aka being “in the zone”) is a positive energizing engagement in an activity. Flow generates more energy than it consumes and creates feelings of enjoyment and vitality and full-fill-ment.
There are a number of situations that can generate good flow, and they involve investing in the “right” people, work, activities, environments and things. The word “right” here means a high positive ROI of energy:
There are people who leave you feeling drained and others who fill you up, just by being who they are. Rx: Avoid the former, pursue the latter.
There are jobs/careers that are boring and draining, and others that are interesting and energizing (depending on who you are). Rx: Avoid the former, pursue the latter.
There are activities (games, sports, hobbies, writing, making art/music, gardening) that are intrinsically fun and energizing. Rx: Do those!
There are environments that, by their very nature, can fill your energy tank (forests, beaches, meadows, mountains, churches, libraries, museums, concert halls). Rx: Go there!
There are things that can stimulate your soul (works of art, special books, beautiful things, mementoes). Rx: Acquire them!
By investing in people, work, activities, places and things that generate a positive (+) return on your investment of your precious energy (and time and money), you can resist the gravitational pull of entropy and live the best and fullest life possible.
May the force be with you!
I like this. It's spiritual nourishment; a perfect partner for plant-based nourishment.
And with you! There is a meditative maxim that by saving energy you gain energy. Not a net pick up however but a redistribution. I wonder if that too fits within your framework? I think it does!
I can think of a case where a small energy input yields a large energy output. Someone drops a small rock of the top of a cliff that triggers a large rock avalanche below. Something big for very little, no? Well, actually not. This is a classic illustration for the concept of potential energy and if you analyze it carefully, you see clearly how the energy balance was maintained. It's just a function of a time variable and that's why the relevant equations have time operators.