vital energy

Perhaps it is a mistake to confuse excitement or arousal with the vital flow of enlightenment. Stimulants and emotional adventures arouse people, but such arousal does not enhance one's energies. On the contrary, excitement spends energy and exhausts vitality.

Think of excitement as tension that comes when stimulation meets resistance. The exciting experience ends when the stimulation stops or when a person wears out.

The vitality of enlightenment is a continuous flow. It meets no resistance and goes on and on without stress. Excitement is rooted in passing desires. Vital energy springs from the eternal.

- Heider, 1985, adapted