Hopeful Thinking - Saturday, June 9 2018 - The Mojo Ecology

   It is perhaps fairly esoteric, maybe even silly, to have a serious discussion about “mojo.” Maybe it’s even in the realm of the heretical. Mojo is a favorite term of mine I use to describe the energy we send in prayer or when we blow out a birthday candle. American use of the term began in the 1920’s coming through the blues and jazz world, originating in African and Creole words for medicine man and witchcraft. But it also is the name of a spicy sauce from the Canary Islands. I like both ideas.

     To me mojo has come to mean a general positive essence which benefits both the person who possesses it and those around them. Its word origins hint at something we have declared to be taboo, while also whispering, “but heed them!” Of course, we could also just give it the general term “energy,” as in “they have good energy,” but somehow it feels too watered down compared to mojo. They have good mojo. It sounds more like a power, or a force field. From where that mojo comes, I’ll leave it to your own theology to decide. But that it’s there seems fairly likely.

However, just like all fringe schools of thought, so-called ‘new age thinking’ has its own population of eccentric people skewing the image. We do have our weirdos, just like any other. Society likes to poke fun at people who peddle in mysticism and all things psychic. But in reality, there’s a lot to be said for speculation on that type of energy.

     We know when we go into a room if we like the “feeling” of it or not. We know when a person has good energy and we enjoy being around them. Sometimes for reasons which are not obvious. We often rely heavily on our intuition and gut instincts. In fact, our digestive systems play a fairly significant role in our regular decision-making process and our emotional state. Some science even refers to the stomach as our second brain. And so the peculiar question I ask is this: Are our physical bodies acting as a transmitter/receiver of energy and information, or are they strictly a end-user recipient of an emotional experience?

     I ask this complicated question because it’s actually an important thing to consider. Are we, as humans, sending and receiving information of which we are not consciously aware? Do our physical bodies exhibit qualities similar to any radio or cell phone tower? Because if they do—and I think they might—what exactly is being sent and received? How much control do we have over it?

     Pollution is often discussed as an ecological issue. We pollute the environment all the time. We clean up the environment all the time. Rarely in equal proportion. We love our disposable society while we criticize it. But that’s a thought mostly about physical items, garbage, trash. What about sound pollution? We can’t see it or touch it, but we definitely can be annoyed, even harmed by it.

     Now let’s make the leap to energetic pollution. If we are transmitters of something unseen to the people with whom we interact and the environments we inhabit, what are we transmitting? I ask again: How much control do we have over what we put out into the world? What is the ecology of our mojo?

     Perhaps we will discover in time that quantum fields are visible and measurable. Maybe that is a moment when our interconnected oneness will be understood. Maybe there is a future time when the threads which connect us become known and we begin to understand how our emotional states affect our environments.

In the meanwhile, what will you choose to do with the assumption that there is more to us than us? If you are a person who recycles and makes a deliberate effort to be a positive impact on the world, do you then walk into a room in a foul mood without a thought for the reckless wake of negative feelings you leave behind you? Remembering that we are actually infinitely powerful and magnificent beings temporarily inhabiting often troublesome human bodies might put into perspective that the former is actually more in control than the latter, if we choose to accept it.

    Paint every room you enter with good mojo. Send it to your friends. Send it to the trees. Send it to the polar ice caps. Send it to the winds. Send it to the minds of those who will solve our world’s biggest problems. You are a lighthouse. Never forget it.