energy control

The whole of the universe is directed unerringly to one single individual
- namely to You.
Walt Whitman

Controlling our energy has a lot to do with awareness of the reality we find ourselves in. In Houyhnhnm Gulliver has to act differently from in Lilliput. Different countries expand his 'reality', i.e. make him see more, because of the differences he becomes aware of (cf. continuum). Extending this 'reality' is in fact what this book is very much about. We do this by looking and if we see we have increased our range of perception. This is done by giving attention, without judging, evaluating, accepting or rejecting. Awareness gives us the opportunity to control our feelings. Open-minded thinking may take you on complete leaps out of your existing worldview. One such a complete leap out of the Western world-view was made in the late 1960s by the anthropologist Carlos Castaneda, apprentice to the Yaqui sorcerer, Don Juan. Having made it clear that the worldview and reality of the Yaqui sorcerer is simply not intelligible in Western terms. Castaneda tried to show that the Western worldview cannot explain all human or natural phenomena better than can any 'folk'-science.

Power always makes a cubic centimeter of chance available to a warrior.
The warrior's art is to be perennially fluid in order to pluck it.
The Wheel of Time

Castaneda was rejected by the majority of anthropologists on the grounds that his description of Yaqui lore does not tally with established knowledge of Yaqui culture. They just ignored the possibility that he might have made contact with a -till then- unknown source. Rather then investigate it they just rejected it, especially when Castaneda introduced the concept of a different reality. Here is something of what he explains about energy control and awareness. Don Juan explains that the human being is seen as a cocoon. In the middle of that cocoon, somewhat to the right of the middle is the point of awareness.

The attention, which controls awareness, moves in lateral direction. At the right side we are in normal consciousness (day-time), however, when we have certain flashes of insight the point moves to a higher level of awareness ('heightened awareness') and we see more. For example in dreaming, our awareness moves into this area and we see other things in ourselves than we are 'consciously' aware of. The difficulty is to use the knowledge obtained in this heightened state of awareness in our daily lives of normal awareness. It is like a dream which cannot be recalled although I feel it is an important one.
For Don Juan this seems to be a matter of impeccability: living rightly and using your energy efficiently. When visiting other levels of awareness one has to have a strong identity in order to return with the information to normal awareness.

Don Juan: 'Things do not change. You change your way of looking. That is all (. . .)
The world is only this or that, because we tell this ourselves.
When we stop telling ourselves that the world looks ‘like that’, the world will stop looking like that.’
Carlos Castaneda ‘A Seperate Reality'’

As is the case in the individual, this holds for an organization. Efficient and effective use of resources will mean that new, unexpected situations can be dealt with adequately. Squandering the available energy may mean that too little will be available when it counts. Part of Castaneda's writings deals with perceptual blocks in an entirely different manner.
For instance, the emotions of human beings are seen as 'allies'. Now it may be the case that an ally is not under control of the individual. Our anger takes over and afterwards we say: "I was so angry I lost my head." In such a case the ally has become 'bigger' than the individual and obscured the view, so less of reality was seen. Acceptance of such an emotion means giving it attention, looking at the conflict in ourselves. This is considered extremely important because 'allies feed on us', they only exist because we make them exist and thus consume our energy. In fact this is an area of great creativity both in creating blocks and discovering them. The more blocks I have the more creative I have been!? It has only been used in the wrong manner. Reversal could be the solution to travel in a different direction. Since the energy consumed by the ally cannot be used by us this works as a perceptual block and decreases the effectiveness of our actions.

These blocks constitute our 'shields' and make us act contrary to our own benefit. All the emotions should therefore be looked at; this is called 'making a strategic inventory'. Different emotions require different tactics, jealousy is quite different from anger, fear differs from high spirits and so on. The only way to have allies under control is by being 'aware of them'. If I feel jealous of somebody I might tell this: "I'm really jealous of the way you are able to do this or that," instead of harbouring and keeping it inside where it eats me up.. Nearly everyone will feel flattered and give advice.
So being an optimist as regards the sales forecasts is only a problem if you are unaware of your optimism. What matters are the facts on which you have based your optimism, it may be justified, but then again it may not. Things would be clearer if you explain that you are taking an optimistic view and specify the reasons.
Our allies are very often called up by external circumstances or other people. The people who make us angry, jealous, etc. don Juan regards as 'petty tyrants'. Petty tyrants are of great importance as they offer the opportunity to train our awareness. Avoiding them is not always possible and certainly not advisable. Of course this presupposes the fact that I am aware who or what is my petty tyrant; my competitor, colleague or boss ? Dealing with petty tyrants means a help in becoming aware of my own inadequacies i.e. where and when your emotions control me instead of me controlling my emotions. Picking them out carefully and making an inventory of these happenings will guide my perception and show me ways to act better and more creatively; the petty tyrant shows my blocks and is the best help I can imagine. It all depends on me how I deal with it.

The real test is always : how do I act.

It is like driving a car, what you think or might have done is of no importance, but how prompt are your reactions to errors of others? Ending up in hospital because you were right can hardly be considered a success. So acting in an adequate manner is what counts.
Many people spend a lot of energy on feeling hurt because they were not shown the proper respect (ever heard of the little Fiat Panda that got the Rolls owner into hospital? When getting out of his car -sorry, his Rolls- he overlooked it). What they are actually regretting is the fact that they were unable to cope with a certain person or situation as their authority was challenged. Authority is only granted to those who know what to do and when to do it rightly.
A marketing department which is very much involved in finding out why a certain product was not successful will be less effective than a marketing department involved in finding out what is actually happening in the market. It is of paramount importance to be able to deal (and therefore live) in the here and now. Yesterday's events may be forgotten, although the lesson should not. So learning to forget the actual events and not worrying about tomorrow, but effectively deal with today greatly helps creative thinking.
Worrying in fact is an 'ally' which has gone out of control, uses up my energy and makes me deal badly with the present. This may very well be the reason that Theory-X companies (cf. pressure) become so bureaucratic in the long term and it is the smaller one that just tries a little harder, which is more successful. In large hierarchies people tend to worry more about their position in the hierarchy than the effectiveness of the organization.

creativity > not letting the outside interfere with your voyage