Do you want more spirit or less? Do you want more energy or less? Do you want more confidence or less?

Do you want to watch or to do? Do you want to pretend or to be? Do you want to be programmed or to grow?

For some time now, I’ve been toying with a concept I call INEQEX. It is the principle of INEQuivalent EXchange. It’s part of a fantasy story that, Lord willing, I will write someday. It’s based on a real belief I hold to be a natural principle of reality.

It goes something like this: for every action, there is an unequal and unexpected reaction. The easier something is, the more spirit it costs. The harder something is, the more spirit it gives. I’m not talking Holy Spirit. I’m talking your spirit. I’m not talking about juju powers. I’m talking YOU.

You write an email. It’s faster. It’s received immediately. It’s replied to today. You’re exhausted. Next week, it’s gone forever.

You write a letter. It’s tedious. It takes extra time and effort. It gets there after forever. You are excited about putting it in the mailbox, and it sits magnetized to your friend’s fridge for weeks.

That is just an example, but it gets the point across.

I don’t know whether or not this little hunch of mine is the key to quantum physics (I think it might be, but what do I know?). I do know it is the key to a more authentic life experience. The more the modern magic of electricity saves you time, the less time you have. The more hack an action, the less satisfying the action is. The more you try to work without working, the less you enjoy your work.

The less you actually do, the more spirit you spend. The less you truly work, the less energy you have. The more dreams you swallow, the less confidence you experience.

Maybe it’s just a great idea for a magic system for a story about a hero who saves a fictional world. Or, maybe it’s the key to understanding why you’re so tired all the time in an “easy” world built out of ignoring what you’re actually doing.

Till angel cry and trumpet sound,
The Mad Christian