Spiritual

- We call the fourth dimension of energy spiritual energy, but we don't mean by that anything necessarily religious. What we actually mean is the energy derived from a sense of purpose. The energy you get from the experience that what you do matters. The sense of meaning. Human beings are meaning makers. That's what separates us from animals across the spectrum who are incapable of self-reflection. We need to make meaning out of the events of our life, and all of us know that when we feel passionate, committed to what is we're doing that we bring much more energy to it. So, one way to think about how to actually tap into spiritual energy is to imagine that there are three components of what makes life meaningful, of what adds meaning to life, of what generates a sense of purpose. And throughout history there are a number of great thinkers who've referred to these as the good, the true, and the beautiful as the three sources of meaning that people can derive. So, what is the good? Well, that speaks almost for itself. The good is the sense of purpose you derive from adding value to other people and to the world. We all know the power of the experience, not only of feeling that you've been of service, that you have helped somebody or something, but also the experience of serving something larger than yourself, and a sense of connection that you don't get when what you're serving is only your self-interest. The true is the pursuit of truth, it's the pursuit of understanding. The sense that we really understand something at a very fundamental level. Understanding something better by itself is a source of meaning, and it is particularly so when we can pass on that knowledge to others, because then that hooks up to the good. That's the interconnection between the good and the true. And then, there is the beautiful. But when you talk about the beautiful, it's really about the pursuit of perfection, it's about the pursuit of, or if not the pursuit of, the appreciation of the pursuit of perfection. The beautiful shows up in nature, the beautiful shows up obviously among artists. One of the reasons that people can be so inspired by nature is that it connects them, in a sense, to the possible. So, the good, the true, and the beautiful are all ways in which we can tap into a source of meaning that fits our particular inclination. An artist doesn't derive meaning in the same way a scientist does, and a scientist doesn't derive meaning in the same way that a classic scholar does. But when we are serving something larger than ourselves, when we are pursuing something that connects us, this is a source of energy that powerfully moves people.