When talking with people, I’ve noticed they often express the idea that there is good energy and bad energy. They may talk about an experience with bad energy or refer to a friend as having good energy.  These comments indicate to me that in this individual’s worldview, energy can be good or bad.

I find this intriguing. What do you think? Can energy be good or bad? Let’s have a glass of wine or a cup of tea and talk about it. 

Our viewpoint on energy, whether it exists or not, whether its form can be benevolent or malevolent, is often influenced by culture, training, exposure to both eastern and western thought, and, perhaps most importantly, by direct experience. Our interpretation of the experience can be influenced by our paradigms, but the experience itself is perceived through our senses. This interplay between perception and interpretation can be quite subtle. 

For example, I once met someone whose energy didn’t feel good to me. What got my attention first was my sensory experience, which I found unpleasant. Feeling into it more, I realized their energy extended out from their body quite far, so that if they were within about a foot of me, I could really feel their field and I didn’t like how it felt. I observed there were other people around who seemed to really enjoy this individual. What felt uncomfortable to me, seemed quite enjoyable to others. 

Was this person’s energy bad? My experience of their energy was unpleasant. If my worldview was that energy could be good or bad, my interpretation could have been “yes…bad energy.” What made it bad was my uncomfortable experience. But if they had bad energy, why did other people find it pleasant? 

In another example, I was driving on an unfamiliar road and moved into a left turn lane such that my rear bumper stuck out a bit into the next lane. A woman in a big pick-up truck pulled up alongside me and began yelling at me, shouting “It’s all about you, isn’t it? It’s all about you!!!” Despite my apologizing, she wouldn’t stop yelling. What I felt coming toward me was anger and frustration that seemed out of proportion to the situation. It felt really bad. Did she have bad energy? 

What if someone uses energy in a purposely harmful way? Is the energy bad or is the intention bad? Both? 

In Zero Balancing, we often use the word vibration interchangeably with energy. We look for held energy or held vibration in bone. If I try thinking about bone-held vibration as being either good or bad, it doesn’t make sense to me. It’s hard to imagine vibration being bad. 

However, it’s not hard to imagine a vibratory form that holds content stemming from an unpleasant or traumatic or bad experience. Stuck energy that, if reorganized, would free my client from their past and move them toward actualization. 

From this perspective, energy itself is neutral. When I think about types of energy, electricity or magnetism for example, there doesn’t appear to be a continuum of good and bad. It’s hard for me to imagine bad electricity. It’s easy to imagine electricity in an unwanted location, like an uninsulated electrical cord or a toaster in a bathtub of water; or electricity used for a harmful purpose. Likewise, certain experiences of energy can feel bad without the energy itself being bad. Perhaps it’s the form the energy takes, like yelling by an angry motorist, or the essence of an individual who simply isn’t a good match. The malevolence belongs to the perpetrator of the traumatic event, rather than the vibratory form that gets lodged in the bones as a result. 

I hope this stimulates some interesting Glass of Wine conversations! Thanks for reading!