Electricity

"She's been using the same battery in her clock radio for 13 years. When it dies, she just pops it out, and charges it between her fingers," my meditation instructor says matter of factly.

I am a little stunned by this. This is not a friend of a friend of a friend story. This is someone he knows intimately and directly - 1 degree of separation.

He tells us that every cell in the human body has 1.71 volts of electricity running through it and that quantum physics is theorizing that humans are actually 99.9% electricity. We just appear solid because we're vibrating so quickly.

Now, I'm not overly cynical about these types of things. I believe in fate, destiny, magical thinking, auras and the like. In fact, I prefer to live in a world dictated in these terms. But still...this seems a little too Celestine Prophesy. Even for me. That is...until I learn how to conduct my own electricity.

Try this out:

1. Sit in a chair and plant both feet on the ground.
2. Put your arms straight out in front of you, open your hands, and turn one palm upwards facing the ceiling, and one palm downwards facing the ground.
3. Open and close both hands as quickly as possible, 20 or 30 times.
4. Immediately flip your hands over, so that the opposite palms are facing up or down.
5. Open and close them 20 or 30 times again.
6. Now quickly, place your palms facing each other in front of you, about 1 inch apart.
7. Feel anything?

I sure did. I felt polarity...like my palms were two magnets pushing against each other. Little sparks of electricity running between my fingers.

Am I crazy? My tribal identity tells me that this is a little nutty - that most people would dismiss this as kooky. So, do I ascribe to mainstream beliefs about what is "truth?" or do I follow my gut, my instincts?

I realize it's not so black and white. We thought the world was flat until Socrates encouraged the questioning of known "truths", and Copernicus, Bruno and Galileo proved otherwise. Were they kooky back then? For sure.

Socrates was sentenced to death, and famously drank the poison, hemlock. Bruno was charged with blasphemy and burned at the stake. Galileo, under the threat of death and torture, was forced to renounce his beliefs and sentenced to imprisonment for the rest of his life.

Fortunately, I will never drink hemlock or get burned at the stake for my beliefs. Fortunately, I can believe whatever I want.

And I know what I felt.