What field are you creating?

In physics, a charged particle creates what is called a "field" around itself; and through this field it influences other charged particles near and far, while it is also being influenced by them. This basic interaction gives rise to all the fundamental  phenomena we experience in our daily life: electricity, magnetism, chemical reactions, etc. 

It's interesting, I think, that a particle does not “know” which other particles created the field it’s experiencing, and it doesn’t need to; the only thing that matters is that the field it finds itself in affects its behavior in a definite way.

I find this concept a beautiful and pertinent metaphor for us humans as well. We all have our own fields that we create and that we find ourselves moving through.

Our field is our environment, with all the ideas, concepts, and conditions we find ourselves born into and surrounded with. Some of us are born into difficulty and poverty; some in conditions of ease and privilege. Whether we recognize it or not, we are affected by these fields around us. Yet, we are not passive observers. We ourselves create our own fields that influence others. Whether we create them deliberately and consciously, or whether we unconsciously continue recreating whatever fields we’ve experienced ourselves, in one way or another we create them.

For example, some who have known criticism, aggression, lack of acceptance, continue recreating the same conditions and environments for their children and others around them. Some, through temperament or deliberate action, move away from that and create beneficial conditions.

How do we create these fields around ourselves, and what do we need to create them? The first thing I think we need is awareness. Awareness of where we come from, what shaped us, what concepts, ideas, and practices, we embody. Then, from that awareness, we do our best to create the fields we want around ourselves, through simple everyday actions: the way we speak, the things we say, our actions, our thoughts and intentions towards ourselves and others, what we put our energy into, etc. Just basic everyday things, when done with awareness, can be so powerful. And if not done with awareness, they are also very powerful, but not necessarily in the direction we intend them to be.

So, while this is a lifetime’s work, we can begin by asking ourselves, “What kind of field am I creating around myself right now, and is that what I want to create?”. Realizing that this impacts not only us and those immediately close to us, but those whom we don’t even know, we let everything start from there.

Peace