Why Macho Men Lack Power
I shared my feelings in an email to several of our lists yesterday. Funny, the only negative responses I got were from men. This one was typical:
“Yes! You are a Sap!! Now don’t send me your crying a** s**t anymore!!!” (asterisks added)
Of course, we only email people who subscribe themselves to our lists. And this fella was subscribed to one of our “Warrior” lists, so he was probably wanting to get emails that made him feel more… well… manly! LOL
Ok, this leads me to a great point. There is, especially in the West, a blind spot for many of us guys… and it’s not just guys as many women share this.
It’s a relationship to emotions, specifically tearful emotions as weakness. To make this association (even if just subconsciously) is to deny yourself access to one of mankind’s greatest powers.
There are, to be certain, many displays of emotion that are evidence of weakness. The child throwing a tempertantrum, because he can’t get his way, for example, is a prime example. The child, exaggerating his situation, as if he is a helpless victim who deserves our pity is… well, pitiful.
When adults display tears and emotions in this way, it is by our cultural standards, quite pitiful even shameful.
We usually learn that such displays of tears are seen as weak, so we learn to convert our feelings of inferiority, victimization and weakness to anger and agression–without the tears.
You can see this in non-tearful tempertantrums of the teenager… as well as in the adult teenagers, as often displayed by the angry macho male type.
Now, of course, anger can be a useful emotion. But it’s interesting how displays of such non-tearful tempertantrums are often viewed as acceptable responses to circumstance, while tearful, poor-me responses are not.
In many cultures, rallying in the streets in fits of rage, is not only acceptable but something to be proud of. I can’t help but wonder, what our world would be like, if such displays of anger were viewed by the majority of “alpha males” as pathetic, weak reactions. Yet, many of our most visible “alpha male” types in sports, politics, Hollywood, religion, etc. commonly display such pitiful, weak responses in life… which elicit the respect (or fear) from many of their peers and those who emulate them.
(I believe there will come a day when we come to see any such “positionary” reactions to circumstance as weak and shameful… and we’ll see humanity elevate ourselves to
much higher standards of behavior and interaction. To what I’d call visionary standards.)
Personally, I’d be very embarrassed if I reacted to life’s situations the way many macho male types do. For most of them, there simply is no visible third alternative. It’s either be a wuss or take control and force your view, your will, your position on others.
I’d feel like a reactionary wuss if I wrote someone the kind of tempertantrum-type email I got from the fella who sent the email quoted above.
From the world of the positionary, there just don’t seem to be many real ways to access power other than forcing your position on others.
Let’s look specifically at how the macho male type can access more genuine power.
At intense levels, feelings such as sadness, love, joy and honor all produce tears in humans. What these three emotions share is a deep connection to values–to what things mean to you. Your son is born and you feel such immense joy that tears come to your eyes. Your son dies and you feel such immense sadness that tears come to your eyes. Any time you get present enough to how much your son means to you–how much you love him–there will be tears.
The more we cut off access to our feelings (for example, to avoid a display of tears), the more we cut off access to our power.
Think for example of the person at the funeral who is weeping at the loss of his son , who has never really gotten present to how much his son means to him,… until he was gone forever. What a tragedy. Had he gotten present to his intense love for his son, while his son was alive, he would have done and said many things differently. This power to make different choices and take different actions was unavailable though, because the man did not want to feel his feelings.
A man may love his wife, yet the less present he gets to the feeling of love, the less he will act and speak in a way that honors the value of that relationship.
Here’s where honor, the feeling, comes in.
Love and honor are almost indistinguishable, and often felt at the same time. Love arises from being present to what someone (or something) means to you–feeling deeply connected to and valuing someone (or something).
Honor is a deeper cut at love. It has to do with not just getting very present to a value and it’s worth to you; but getting present with your choice to honor that value in the face of challenge. Honor can also be felt as you see others in this light.
Honor is an incredibly powerful emotion. It’s a uniquely human phenomena, because it requires a level of self-consciousness not possible to animals. It’s what’s at the root of the range of heroic actions we see in the world that we refer to as the “human spirit.” What inspires a person to face incredible criticism and even risk to his/her own life? Most often, it’s a feeling that is born from getting present to what is worth standing for. It’s a uniquely human emotion called honor. And it’s far different than pride or happiness.
The feeling of honor is literally a “force” of consciousness that can be accessed at will. In our new product called, Visionary Mind, honor is one of the two natural forces of consciousness that are practically cut off from us as we grow up. The other is vision.
Visionary Mind explains both of these forces in some detail and shows how these natural forces of self-guidance are short-circuited through our relationships with authority growing up. It also shows how that conditioning still guides us today in our moment to moment choices through VisionForce’s proprietary Inner Conflict Diagrams and models. Then, Visionary Mind gives you simple exercises that give you the powerful experience of both honor and vision. You come to experience these as guiding forces in your day to day life, and watch the new actions you take. You simply show up in a heroic way in relation to what is most important to you in life. (If you haven’t gotten that program, get it shipped to your door today.)
Love can have you do great things. Add honor to the equation and you’ll do much greater things–naturally.
Mr. macho is cut off from these heroic dynamics and is guided much more by positionary dynamics such as fear and pseudo-pride. He can, for example, feel good about himself by making himself look somehow superior to another. Pseudo-pride is a poor substitute for genuine honor.
It’s an honor-yielding vision that drives a Gandhi or MLK to make the impossible happen. It’s an honor-yielding vision that drives many great inventors, entrepreneurs, and social innovators. It’s the feeling of honor that often has parents make incredible sacrifices for their children–without experiencing it as a compromise.
The shift from a positionary mind to a visionary mind is what I see is next (and Now!) for human beings. It’s a fundamental shift in the way we relate to ourselves, our values, our responsibility and each other. And it’s what we’re all about here at VisionForce.com.
The “alpha male” of the future will be an inspired visionary, not a macho positionary.
Women, are more likely, as I see it, to be making this shift first, as they tend to have more access to feeling their emotions and thus feeling the powerful emotion of honor.
Here’s a video from one woman’s experience of vision and honor.
Who will lead the way? Women? Men? Does it matter? What about you? Who will lead your family, your community? Post comments below.
To get the complete Visionary Mind home study program shipped to your door, go here.
Everything here is made possible by our Patrons!
Unfortuntely we are living under the thumb of these Macho Men (aka Dominat-Male Monkey Mother-Fukers) as their values dominate our society. To say title your response “Why Macho Men Lack Power” is the height of irony for a peace-activist like me. The Macho Men control our resources, government, and military. They are making endless wars and shedding not a tear, because as you say, they are cut off from their human emotions. These macho men may lack some ‘personal’ integrity or authenticity, but unfortuntely for the rest of us and the future of our world, they don’t lack power. The weild it like it was their only chance of feeling alive.
hi to be honest with you before your post yesterday i saw you as one of those macho guy types and it really turned me off your stuff cause everytime I try to be like that i dont like who I become I feel very selfish and hurried like im running to find life but never do. Im a artistic type of person and for me this is something I struggle with everyday I wish you would talk about this more often. Yesterday when i read your log it got me thinking and it inspired me to right a peom. Ide be honored if youde check it out it at http://www.xanga.com/holywoods
As a male, a leader in my community, a dad, a husband, and someone who is in the enquiry for justice and possibility; I love what you say, and what you do.
Since discovering your technology two years ago, I have transformed myself from an overweight couch spud, to someone who can cycle 60 miles cross country in under 6 hours, and who played 8 under my golf handicap yesterday even with an 11 on a par 4.
After golf yesterday I spent a few hour with my 10 year old daughter watching Babylon 5 (Series 1 on DVD) (her idea). Some of the stuff she didn’t understand, and she grasped and understood the heroic struggle at various levels going on for the various characters. We discussed notions like good and bad – her definition of good was “not killing other people, and being nice to others” – which after considerable reflection, is hard to beat.
Several times she noted “you’re crying again aren’t you Dad?” in a humorous and loving fashion, as I’d get present to the level of the odds that these characters were standing in the face of, and their putting their lives on the line, for things they valued as highly as life itself.
There is great opportunity on this planet for people to take a stand for justice for every human.
There is no excuse for any person being short of food, or subject to threat and intimidation (from official or unofficial sources). It is real enough, and I say it is no longer tollerable – not any where nor any time.
The more people who awaken to their own power, the sooner we will be able to transform the reality of life on this planet.
Power to you Michael Skye
Ted
Those who can truely see beyond the box understood what you where expressing in your email. As for the few who responded cruelly to you, my heart goes out to them. For they are the lost and confused of the world. I like your emails. Sometimes they are what helps me keep fighting.
Hi Michael
Thanks for all your e-mails sent to me. I appreciate that. I haven’t yet had the time to reply to your e-mails. However, you send me great and interesting reading stuff thats’s substantial.
I bought last week your mother’s trilogy books. I have yet to read again your e-mails and get back to you soon. In my e-mail to Sasha, I mentioned your name. I will FWD you a copy of my letter.
I like reading whatever you send me. They are really worth reading in every sense of the word.
I live here in Australia with dual citizenship. Been living in Australia for 25 years – TODAY – 18 September 2006!!! This is my second country and love being here as well.
Hope to hear more from you. I haven’t read yet your e-mail today. Just scribbling some notes to say I have been receiving your mail.
Have a great week ahead of you. God bless you more abundantly!
Kind regards
Letty R. Stevens Vendramini
letty@vendramini.org
Hi Micheal,
I too am looking forward to a time when it is more natural for the visionary mind vs. positionary. I am always enlightened watching the lightbulb moment, after patiently prodding individuals to open their mind.
Sincerely,
Veronica
Michael,
It is interesting that you would refer to yourself as a “SAP” in your post. In doing so you invalidate your premise of being a man of honor. A true man of honor (which I assert that you are) would not have to justify being sensitive and emotional. He would be so comfortable in his own skin that he would be able to say that he absolutely loves the feeling that comes from watching emotionally oriented films. He would be able to share his feelings about the film and also be able to share which scenes provoked his deepest emotions. He would also be comfortable watching “chick flicks” because he is connected to his emotions and would not feel like less of a man for doing so.
A true man of honor would have no problems expressing how he truly “feels” about something not just what he thinks about it.
I personally make a distinction between love and honor. I do not see honor as a feeling or emotion. Honor is the characteristic that one expresses as a result of feeling the emotion of love. Labeling honor as a feeling is another way of “thinking” about love versus actually feeling love.
With that said I will say that I actually love you and your writings. As I read your words my heart is filled with joy. Your words speak dirrectly to my spirit which in essence is the intuitive part of me. The part that is actually the essence or soul of who I am.
For those men who feel uncomfortable with me saying that, I will say that they are missing out on the most important aspect of our humanity. The ability to authentically feel and express the feeling of love. This is the source of our true power yet very few of us have ever accessed it.
So as a man of honor I salute you and acknowledge you for the amazing human being that you are. I stand hand in hand with you in challenging men to access their inherent power.
I stand for creating a new paradigm of masculinity in which men have the freedom to feel and express all emotions without fear of being labeled SAP, WIMP, PUSS, CHUMP or whatever other label the “macho man” may call it. When men become comfortable with this concept they will then know the true meaning of authentic power.
I honor you Michael for the Visionary that you are.
Hi. Michael, You are one unusual man. Your battle is a fight to save the world, you are willing to take the hits, show us what others think of you, good or bad, and then ask for more. You are dealing with the problems and values of human existence, and yes I agree we are headed to certain distruction, oblivion, probably through nuclear wars. Both you and I believe if we could change the minds and the way we are thinking and living, the world could be saved, I am afraid we could not make the change fast enough, you would have to reeducate the world in a matter of two or three years. It is my guess we have five years at the most. Ayn Rand tried to do it with brilliant writing, she convinced hundreds of thousands of people to change, I was one of the lucky ones. and it made my life a beautiful experience, but so many did not read her books, and so many did not learn. Does this not tell you Michael that whatever we have become ,it was meant to be ? I think myself this world as we know it must destroy itself and from the ashes will hopefully come a better system of living, where your beliefs will prevail and we will have a heaven on earth. Thanks Ron
Very inspiring Michael, as always your words are powerful and right on target! It is truely amazing how your way with words complements so perfectly your gift of vision.
I do agree that the “macho” types of people act that way in order to make themselves look “better” than others. I remind my children of this whenever they are upset by a rude comment from another kid at school. I remind them that such people usually react that way when they feel threatened in some way, such as thinking someone is prettier than they are, or someone has a better, faster car or whatever. We could go on forever about the things that people get jealous of. I see it as a lack of confidence, weakness, not as strength, when I hear someone put someone else down. A truely strong person doesn’t need to constantly remind others of their strength or bully and intimidate others. They can and do show their deeper emotions. They strengthen and encourage greatness in others and do not attempt to hold them back or overshadow them in any way. Their strength comes from within, they have a bigger, deeper grasp of reality, they are confident and secure in the knowledge that they live in harmony with their beliefs, and they do not care so much what others may think.
I think you may have touched on a very important issue here. “Vision” without “Honor” yields dictators and terrorist. No one can say that Hitler was not a visionary. The difference between Hitler and Gandhi is that Hitler had severed his connection to his humanity and the path to his “vision”, lacking honor, became a road of murderous atrocity.. While Gandhi’s sense of honor paved a road of self sacrifice.
I guess Gandhi may have seemed like a pathetic wimp to the macho men of his day… but history judges differently.
I firmly believe in being anchored in transcendent Joy. When dissonance surrounds you, you must have a method for staying centered or you will be blown off course, and you can’tblame anyone but yourself, because YOU permitted it to happen. I knew a lady in her 90’s who was magical . Anyone who visited her home immediatly sensed something special. It was as if they were ordered to leave their problem consciousness at the front door. of course they could retrieve it when they left, if they hadn’t learned anything. I had a teacher that said, ” Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they will be yours.” If your’e going to be effect, be knowing effect. don’t go through life haphazardly.
Thanks Mike! Keep in touch.
I read your post through a few times before reponding. The first two times, I read only what I already know. By the third read-through, I was starting to see a new vision for myself.
Anger has been an emotion I have avoided. The loudness and energy of it always struck me as manipulative — I think this is true.
A few months ago, I began to see how my judgments of myself and others ruled my abilities to manifest in the world and in my relationships. I was angry and thought it despicable. I was sad and thought myself worthless. I was anything other than perfect and felt intense shame.
I’m thinking now that all feelings can be access to honor: anger, fear, sadness and love (and all of their variations).
Great behavior is not enough! Access to true power comes from forgiving judgments to the point where nothing stands separate from myself.
How do I forgive judgments? Good question.
Any time I take any position, it is founded on judgment, and therefore creates alienation of some sort — usually of some part of myself, as well as others.
How do I get to the place where I can keep going like MLK or Ghandi in the face of criticism, obvious mistakes, manipulations, poor behavior, etc? Where does that type of power come from? Most of us are riddled with an ongoing interanl dialogue that nearly completely distracts us from our goals and values. And, we don’t realize it because it feels so natural to have — we’ve had it all of our lives.
Evaluating ourselves and others seems to be what our minds thrive on! This is not what I want. It takes too much time and precious energy.
All that having been said: I am beginning to see a vision of clarity like never before — not a way of being or way of thinking or “way of” anything, but a state of being that actually uses all emotion as creative force.
That state of being is so vertical and pointed that nothing gets stuck on it — ever. I envision a vacuum of energy coming up from the base. It is unobstructed and immediately creative.
Critcisms and judgments that are energy drains never occur in this exacting environment. There is critical thinking in this world for purpose of progress, but never does it affect anyone in a diminishing way.
What am I talking about and seeing? There is no bull shit here!
I just thought of another perfect example of this. I was in a waiting room.There was a mother there with her young daughter who was getting a little antsy.The girl made an awkward move and fell on the floor. She looked up at her mother as if she were debatingin her own mind whether or not it would do any good to try to play the pitty card. I seized the moment! I said to her,” You don’t know whether to laugh or cry.” At that, she realized that laughing would be far more fun than crying, and that’s just what she did!
I listened to Audreys statement. I was where she was just 3 years ago and had to pull myself out of it in a way that is far less manner than the coaching she just recieved. Did i ever show emotion in public? No. I havnt been taught that yet. When I was a kid, we were taught to shut that off. Maybe one day I will be able to become a whole person, and to those that have, you are getting to taste all of life. The rest of us, only bits and peices.
I will make a quick comment – I would prefer to take more time to elaborate but that would just be more refined and less real. Women are a stand for men in relationships more often than men are for women. I’ve done, I do it and I will always continue to take a stand for the people that I love. The ‘battered wife’ syndrome is times out of 10 correct but I have been there and I do not feel this was the reason I felt compelled to stay in destructive relationship. I felt that my previous partner needed love. He didn’t receive love in any form from anyone in his life, but me. Our love was a passionate one, driven by the desperate need to be accepted by each other and by the world. I made a stand for him, I chose to compromise, to sacrifice what I needed as a person to help him understand that he was loved. I stayed through all types of abuse but I never ‘ just scared’ to stay. Even after 5 years, I knew I could leave at any moment but I needed to impart as much knowledge as I could to my partner. In the end it worked, he quickly realised he needed to leave me and continue on with his life, feeling better for having been with me and realising that if there were more people like me around, he wouldn’t have been so naive about life. I was rewarded by meeting a like-minded person immediately after my stand had ended. I remain friends with my ex – who loves life and holds nothing but love for what we had – he knows it won’t be that way again but he knows just how lucky he is now. Being a stand for him set us both free. Those that left me along the way were not willing to stand for me. It is a selfless act that seperates people like us from the rest. It is now my aim to aim higher, wider. There are more people out there that need our power. Hence my joining vision force. Michael, this is the first email I have received from you that I have read fully and enjoyed, I have been labelling myself as too busy, sometimes you subconsciously avoid things because you need a tiny rest before you find something else that inspires you to get back on the band wagon fully and launch…..
Interesting definition, I agree that the macho male is acting out of fear and also ignorance. I believe this is just part of our evolutionary process and just as Kinsey stated “There is not a ‘species of the human race” there is only the human, an individual, we will all be visionaries, Wealth Warriors,Leaders and Followers of Love and Honor as the natural state of human “BEING”. Just as the race of a person played a part in defining nations in Europe, and the Far East over 1100 years ago it seems that the visionary mind set, the individual, self reliant, self honest and self honorable human “being” is a giant step forward for man and woman. The sooner I think that we understand there is no such thing as “white” or “black” or :”asian” peoples the evolutionary phase of the visionary mind will just get started in order to have a quantam leap from an evolving “being” we need MLK, Martin Luther,Patrick Henry,Benjamin Franklin,Albert Einstein conciousness which I believe is still alive somewhere and can be brought to us for insights, ideas, and the quantam leaps forward meanwhile the slow step by step processes of evolving continue….Your only confusing part of the essay for me was the part of being aware of the Macho man’s shamefullness?? One cannot have shame unless one has Blame, and to blame is a difficult thing when engaging in discussion it seems to me. anyway, I remember the terrible sadness I had at my grandmothers funeral, how my heart seemed to be squeezed with an awful hand, I could not cry because I am a man was my self insecure,thinking at the time. My older brother was on my left and my younger on my right both were weeping,all I can remember is that I thought if I did cry I would not be able to do my job as lead Pallbearer. but after I could weep and grieve in public and private. well I will talk to you soon. I cannot get the recording to work. could o Help me??
You forgot about how passion in doing things that you love can deliver tears of joy.
Instead of accepting what ever society says is appropriate for you, be it how you grew up, who your parents are, what education you can afford, ect.
Or getting what you have always wanted because you have refused to settle, refused to give in to the cinics around you, and followed your feelings to achieve what you have always desired.
I think, as a result of the women’s equal rights movement, many men have become weak and passive. If we are men of conscience we tend to start at a place where we become “over sensitive” and “passive” and “weak”. We want to honor women.
I think the thing to distinguish, for me, is that I am a individual and as an individual, I have full responsibility for what I have and what I don’t have in my life.
In relationships with others, I am the one responsible for what I have and what I don’t have.
As a man, I fully own the whole spectrum of human emotions, the daring to skydive, the courage to go to battle if needed and the depth of heart to embrace my children.
The most courageous men are the ones who own their strength to battle and their strength to embrace a little child or kiss an old woman and have that be the fulfillment of what it means to be a human being.
Macho is an attempt to look strong, true strength is in embracing and accepting every part of who and what I am.
I cry often and my tears are tears of passion, of love and of intense desire.
Hi Michael,
I have enjoyed all of your emails. They are thought provoking to say the least. I have not replied to any until now. I am busy trying to get my house sold.
I think emotions are a part of our vision. The urge to find our vision seems to start at an emotional level.
Fortunately, since I am a woman, showing emotions seemed acceptable, much more so than for men. I respect a man who can show his emotions. Yes, even anger when shown in a non-violent way. Often things in this life cause us to be angry at times
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings. Thank you for all the great emails.
A developing visionary,
Guin
Michael,
I have been taking your online course for the past week. I am a member of Zaadz also.
Some of the content on Zaadz is a little deep for me and I just dont understand all of the metaphors and for lack of a better term all of the deep talk.
I am in no way knocking anything that I dont understand. I simply dont understand. As it was said in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I find myself saying to myself as I read stuff in Zaadz, “Thats Deep” or “Thats Heavy”.
What I do feel is warm caring people. I dont have ot understand everything.
I enjoy your course and it is very useful to me.
Thanks for caring about me and the 19,999 people who read your E to us.
Peace and Blessings
Joseph
Hi Michael. I simply appreciated your “I’m such a Sap” email. It made me feel a warmth toward you as a person. It seems like our world is so competitive that it leaves no room for the most beautiful aspects of our personalities – our very humanness.
I love men who are a little “feminine”. Perhaps we’ve polarized humanity by insisting that gentleness is a feminine trait. That may need to be reconsidered. Why should we say that men are the protective ones, when we see, in animals, the female fighting fiercely for her little ones?
It is time for all of us to be whole – each one of us is the yin and the yang. We are no longer stereo typed. Honestly, I’m an attractive woman who loves men – the masculine, the androgenous, and the feminine. There is beauty in all. I think that masculine does not have to include anger and brutishness. This type of behavior only creates fear and forces submission. It does not solve, honor, or love the other. I’ve felt these angry forceful feelings, but I’ve realized that it reflected a deep sadness and struggle within and led to more struggle, without solution. So, truly, it is deceptive and sad for the person and the other who might receive this person’s anger and frustration.
I thank God compassion has not been polarized as a feminine or masculine trait. We are merely playing roles if we see ourselves as clearly masculine or feminine. We are whole, complete, and undefined. When we realize who we are, we will find ourselves more joyous, fulfilled, and happy, instead of hostile and angry.
And ask yourself this “Is it more fun to feel vast and joyous or to feel angry and victimized?” We all need to take a few leaps, including me. I wish I could dry the inner tears of the angry man. I wish I could remove the pain of the woman who has numbed herself, by being so tough and closed that she cannot receive love. That has been me at times and I don’t like it. May we all be free.
Kristina
sadly, machoism (or machaism!), as a reaction to conditions, training, whether passive or purposeful, or to peer pressure, failure to ignite compassion at the proper age, poor ability to discern individulaity in the face of the ridiculous media-fed so-called “manly” images and pursuits, and inadequate self-perceptions lead to the adding on of G.I. Joeism and/or the eternal Puerism so prevalent in America’s culture and in other less advanced areas – and i include America in the less-advanced category, and the failure to launch into the more normal true Manly, or Father image that includes protection of the weak, nurturing ability and all the good things expected or a masculine force by evolution. abandonment of the male child’s initial need to find a course away from the feminine which leads sometimes into conflict with the feminine, and finding a way past that into true manhood would be required in order to approach a healthy way out of machoism.
it’s a sad thing- seeing men parading around in their hyper-so-called-masculine attributes, pasturing and protesting too much..
it’s like the small man’s complex gone wild.
it needs healing, it needs more normal images, and it needs addressing in school and home environments.
most cannot – and the corporate world love this – discern between truth and fiction, cannot make decisions, and cannot let go of what they feel as the vital link to their one form or power – their machoism. it’s tragic, really.
machaism is a bit more complex, but this is all about men!
thanks,
Ocean
I keep going over these posts to see what’s new, and it occurred to me this subject still needs amplification. Celestine Prophesy is still a popular discussion when it comes to how we use control dramas to steal psychic energy from others. The author James Redfield, explained that there are four basic types from the most aggressive to the least, they are; the intimidator, the interrogator,aloof, and the poor me. I have met on occasion self avowed psychic vampires who think this is all ok to do, but there is no growth possible in it because the behavior cuts you off from the real source of personal power. once we transcend the habit, we come into our higher selves, our evolutionary identities. Love is not an intelectual concept or moral imperitive. It is a background emotion that exists when one is connected to the energy that is available in the universe, the energy we call god! Once you achieve this state of love, actually I prefer to call it Joy, No person or event can pull more energy out of you than you can replace. The energy flowing out of you creates a current that pulls energy in at the same rate. You can never run out.