the energy of everything

Everything in our world is alive.

Doorknobs, walls, socks, cereal boxes, televisions, lamps, cars, trees, shrubs, earrings, tectonic plates… you get the idea. It brings to mind animated Disney scenes of candlesticks dancing with mops, of pumpkins turning into carriages. I know it sounds pretty far out, and no, I’m not on anything! While I am certainly not suggesting that inanimate objects are able to speak or dance or transmogrify, they are interconnected through a network of energy, the Light of the Creator. This is all explained in the Zohar, the central text of kabbalistic teachings.

According to the Zohar, there are four levels of life:

• inanimate
• vegetable
• animal
• human

The entire realm of inanimate objects is in constant communication with itself, as well as with all living things. This means that there can never be a time when we disrespect anything in the inanimate world. If we do, there can be repercussions. This brings to mind all the times I have witnessed screaming and fighting in families or couples. If this becomes the norm, eventually this chaotic energy permeates the home, which can make it feel heavy or weighted. Have you ever walked into a house or even a hotel room and immediately wanted to turn around and walk right out?

The walls of a person’s home have the power to speak. If a person commits negative actions in a room, the room can also inform other inanimate objects about what this person has done. The upshot is that in the future, when this person needs protection from other walls or floors or doors, they can choose whether or not to protect him based on what they have heard about him. I know this sounds like science fiction but consider it for a minute.

When we walk into an important meeting or class, the very floor we walk upon contains sparks of Light that can choose to help us in our work – or not. The Zohar explains that these inanimate objects can sustain us, so we should not do them any harm; if we do, everything else in the inanimate kingdom will know about it.

I experienced the power of inanimate objects firsthand. One of my best friends in high school lived at home with her parents and her sister, who was verbally abusive and generally had a negative outlook on most things. She was constantly teasing her about anything and everything, lacked purpose in her life, and to top it all off she was convinced that her room was haunted. Because she felt negative spirits in her room, she repeatedly begged to stay in her sister’s room. She told her no way, suspecting that whatever negativity was in her room would just follow her!

In the early morning hours of January 17^th, 1994, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake, known as the Northridge earthquake, hit Los Angeles. The first quake had a strong ‘moment magnitude’, meaning its ground acceleration was one of the highest ever recorded at 16.7 meters/second. It was felt in Las Vegas, which is 220 miles from the epicenter. One minute later, a 6.0 magnitude aftershock struck. My family was very fortunate, as was my friend. She made her way underneath the doorframe of her bedroom, as instructed.

(You aren’t supposed to shelter under a doorframe anymore, by the way!)

Her sister, whose room was across a narrow hallway, shouted and panicked. She couldn’t make it under her doorframe because everything that could fall in front of her door, had – a heavy bookshelf, books, the TV, and a table. She was physically unharmed, but it took some doing to free herself from the room. She had to move everything away herself in the pitch dark (no electricity after an earthquake of that size) as no one could help her from the other side of the door.

I believe that my walls, my floor and my things had the energy of protection, as did my friend’s – but her sister, because of her negative words and actions, did not merit that energy from her possessions.

THOUGHT INTO ACTION
If your walls could talk, what would they say? Would you be embarrassed by what they might say? If so, change your tune! Do at least one positive thing today that your walls can relate to the other objects in the world.