Preface
This is a conversation I had with a friend. The main ideas come from him, Senior Brother Sun Yinxuan from Longxi Tang, and some insights of my own. However, he kept delaying writing it, and I couldn’t wait anymore, so I wrote it first.
The content is rather profound, and my ability is limited, so it is as good as I can make it.
Main Text
The energy discussed in this article is not energy in the physical sense, but psychological (using “psychological” here is not entirely accurate, but for the moment I can’t think of a better term).
You can call it energy, or mental strength, vitality, the Force, qi, and so on. In general, it is the pillar that supports a person’s existence.
It is not as fragile as the physical body—no matter what physical blows it won’t be destroyed.
But it is much more fragile than the body, and can be depleted easily if you’re not careful.
It originates from going along with natural order and dissipates when acting against the heavens.
When you do what you want to do, what your heart tells you you should do, what you feel you must do, you will feel comfortable, relaxed, accomplished, and as if you have gained something after finishing.
When you do what you hate, what your heart tells you not to do, what you feel you could avoid doing, you will feel empty, feeble, tired, and as if you have lost something after finishing.
At this moment, you can pause for a while and think about a recent thing you have done—eating, sleeping, looking at your phone, working, defecating, chatting, exercising, or any other activity—you should be able to faintly sense whether this action belongs to one that leaves you with gain or loss.
If you have sensed it, that’s great. In the future, do more of the former and less of the latter; gradually you will be able to accumulate what is called energy.
When the so-called energy is sufficient, you can do anything and become anyone.
When the energy is completely depleted, you can do nothing and become no one.
Postscript
I will stop writing for now. If there is something gained, continuing to write would mean losing something.
I will write more later.