Regardless of how you conceive of energy or whether you come at life from a materialist or a spiritual perspective, I find the idea that the purpose of life is to wisely conserve and distribute energy is quite useful.
Life is composed of a limited amount of time in which to expend a limited amount of energy. Efficiency and productivity of energy use is therefore of the utmost importance. Wasting time and energy on a daily basis may have few noticeable effects, but the wasted time and energy over the duration of your life can be monumental.
Diet is a major factor here. The quality of food energy and nutrition that we consume has a direct and extreme effect on the bio-energy available to us to achieve our goals and the time we have on earth to enjoy good health.
An impeccable diet is the first key.
Frequent, wise and intense exercise is the second. Energy expended on exercise yields returns greater than the investment. Therefore it is always wise to expend energy on physical training and fitness in order to add time to life and build up bio energy for future use.
An impeccably clean and superbly organized personal environment is the third key. A clean, organized and aesthetically pleasing environment is highly conducive to efficient use of energy and a clear, productive mental state.
The fourth key is to master the mind, as useless, negative, self defeating and fearful thoughts are a major energy sink for most people.
The primary way to master the mind is through prolonged practice of disciplined meditation on a daily basis. This allows us to quiet the mind to a state of superconductivity and to still the energy dissipating forms of thought and emotion.
Meditation also allows us to develop effective deep refreshing energizing breathing patterns, which has a monumental impact on energy availability.
Eat well, Exercise often, clean and organize your living space, meditate daily and conserve your energy. Then use this energy to complete your goals and elevate your emotional state and refine your consciousness.
With enough conserved energy focused appropriately you can accomplish things you may never have dreamed possible.
This philosophy relies on no faith, no dogma, no spiritual beings or ideas per se. It is simultaneously valid on the material-biophysical and the spiritual-psychic levels of interpretation.
By cultivating awareness we discern what is and is not beneficial for our energetic level, and we then we act on that awareness to conserve energy and distribute it with maximum effect.
This is my current interpretation of the path.
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