A reflection on why distraction feels easier than awareness, and how automatic energy keeps us from real presence. Includes simple practices for noticing conditioned responses.
I get the Automatic Energy. But I am confused with the Sensitive Energy vs Conscious Energy only in the context of artistic creation. When I do my art, I am often engulfed in the creation I am making. I also often feeling like I am still open to inspiration from the aether during the process - so not a total insular state. I am not seeing how some of the artistic work could be done watching yourself do it, not being tuned into the process or having your attention be more concentrated in the "nowness" of where you are when you are creating. What connection am I missing in this?
Celia, you’re not missing the connection at all. That artistic state you enter isn’t automatic energy. Automatic is when the mind runs on old grooves without awareness. What you’re describing is something alive. When you create, you’re porous. You’re present enough to catch what’s arriving from the aether and absorbed enough to shape it with intention. That’s already conscious energy. It just doesn’t feel “self-aware” in the ego-monitoring sense. Presence in art isn’t stepping outside yourself to watch like a hall monitor. It’s a deeper inhabiting, a steadiness underneath the current, a quiet witness while the hands move. Honestly, most artists slip into conscious energy more often than meditators. You just didn’t call it that.
So what I was describing is not Sensitive energy. So it is conscious energy with presence? I think I am confused with the artistic reference under Sensitive. I appreciate the explanation as I think this is a critical distinction.
Yes. That is exactly what you were describing. Sensitive energy opens the door. Conscious energy, supported by presence, is what actually carries the creation. Sensitive lets the inspiration reach you. Conscious lets you stay steady enough to shape it. Your art lives in that blend.
Thank you, VMB, for confirming what I've been experiencing (in jerks and spasmodic starts and stops). I call that "wider field" Owl Vision or Wide Angle Vision. Just now starting to incorporate it while moving. Okay, back to my scrolling . . .🥴😆😎🖖
There’s so much that rings true in all of this & I’m not far enuf into “Living Presence” to have hit these energies yet. Truly eye, mind & heart opening. Don’t know how you make it so relatable & describe so practically but you do.
I SO appreciate the fact that you don’t just share some deep truths that are easily relatable about how we (or I should say I & not speak for any one else 🙄) can make these changes that seem cemented in the way we live life. Starting with the First Move & how you spell it out in 5 easily understood (but speaking for myself, not necessarily easy to put into practice) ways to change. NOTICE. NOTICE. NOTICE. NOTICE. NOTICE. So busy with my own ingrained habits since probably before I could crawl, it is NOT something i would think of practicing on my own.
And so grateful you didn’t stop there. It would still be appreciated but I’d be thinking jeez, i sure hope he follows up on where to go from here in his next post cause I need more guidance than that.
But you gave a Path Forward & I heaved a sigh of relief & more gratitude. Inspiring hope can be priceless. Some may not need it but I sure as hell do. ✨🌱🙏💗
You’re tracking it exactly. Noticing looks simple, but it breaks open the old autopilot. And there has to be a next step or it turns into watching yourself suffer in HD. The moment you catch a pattern, you’ve already made room for a different move.
You’re not behind. You’re already in the practice.
'Silent Retreat' two words that sort of gave me a thrill when I was a late teenager about to embark on my first and only one, to be replaced by mystification as I was by turns bored and asleep, now I realise I was flirting with presence but not in the right place to understand. Now I have times when I'm by myself on the farm when it is like a silent retreat but presence doesn't need silence, thank you for explaining the three states and their relationship and value.
You were closer than you knew back then. Silence isn’t the point. Presence just uses whatever you’re living, even a farm day with mud on your boots. Sensitive energy can feel like boredom until conscious energy finally has room to land. You’re reading it right.
I get the Automatic Energy. But I am confused with the Sensitive Energy vs Conscious Energy only in the context of artistic creation. When I do my art, I am often engulfed in the creation I am making. I also often feeling like I am still open to inspiration from the aether during the process - so not a total insular state. I am not seeing how some of the artistic work could be done watching yourself do it, not being tuned into the process or having your attention be more concentrated in the "nowness" of where you are when you are creating. What connection am I missing in this?
Celia, you’re not missing the connection at all. That artistic state you enter isn’t automatic energy. Automatic is when the mind runs on old grooves without awareness. What you’re describing is something alive. When you create, you’re porous. You’re present enough to catch what’s arriving from the aether and absorbed enough to shape it with intention. That’s already conscious energy. It just doesn’t feel “self-aware” in the ego-monitoring sense. Presence in art isn’t stepping outside yourself to watch like a hall monitor. It’s a deeper inhabiting, a steadiness underneath the current, a quiet witness while the hands move. Honestly, most artists slip into conscious energy more often than meditators. You just didn’t call it that.
So what I was describing is not Sensitive energy. So it is conscious energy with presence? I think I am confused with the artistic reference under Sensitive. I appreciate the explanation as I think this is a critical distinction.
Yes. That is exactly what you were describing. Sensitive energy opens the door. Conscious energy, supported by presence, is what actually carries the creation. Sensitive lets the inspiration reach you. Conscious lets you stay steady enough to shape it. Your art lives in that blend.
Thank you! That makes sense to me in relation to the process. I was missing the transition between the two types if energy in relation to the process.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom, Brother V. We’re receiving lessons from the monastery, without having to go to the monastery!🕉️
Kaja, the monastery was never a building.
It was a frequency.
If you’re catching the signal from your living room, good.
That’s where the real practice belongs anyway.
Thank you, VMB, for confirming what I've been experiencing (in jerks and spasmodic starts and stops). I call that "wider field" Owl Vision or Wide Angle Vision. Just now starting to incorporate it while moving. Okay, back to my scrolling . . .🥴😆😎🖖
There’s so much that rings true in all of this & I’m not far enuf into “Living Presence” to have hit these energies yet. Truly eye, mind & heart opening. Don’t know how you make it so relatable & describe so practically but you do.
I SO appreciate the fact that you don’t just share some deep truths that are easily relatable about how we (or I should say I & not speak for any one else 🙄) can make these changes that seem cemented in the way we live life. Starting with the First Move & how you spell it out in 5 easily understood (but speaking for myself, not necessarily easy to put into practice) ways to change. NOTICE. NOTICE. NOTICE. NOTICE. NOTICE. So busy with my own ingrained habits since probably before I could crawl, it is NOT something i would think of practicing on my own.
And so grateful you didn’t stop there. It would still be appreciated but I’d be thinking jeez, i sure hope he follows up on where to go from here in his next post cause I need more guidance than that.
But you gave a Path Forward & I heaved a sigh of relief & more gratitude. Inspiring hope can be priceless. Some may not need it but I sure as hell do. ✨🌱🙏💗
You’re tracking it exactly. Noticing looks simple, but it breaks open the old autopilot. And there has to be a next step or it turns into watching yourself suffer in HD. The moment you catch a pattern, you’ve already made room for a different move.
You’re not behind. You’re already in the practice.
Thank you, this article really resonated with me. ❤️ (As each writing of yours does, I just haven't been present to that fact! 😂)
You, and your perspective, are truly a blessing!
Lee, that’s the sweetest kind of confession.
Noticing you haven’t been present… while being present enough to notice it.
'Silent Retreat' two words that sort of gave me a thrill when I was a late teenager about to embark on my first and only one, to be replaced by mystification as I was by turns bored and asleep, now I realise I was flirting with presence but not in the right place to understand. Now I have times when I'm by myself on the farm when it is like a silent retreat but presence doesn't need silence, thank you for explaining the three states and their relationship and value.
You were closer than you knew back then. Silence isn’t the point. Presence just uses whatever you’re living, even a farm day with mud on your boots. Sensitive energy can feel like boredom until conscious energy finally has room to land. You’re reading it right.