Accounts Of A Channeler
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An Aes Sedai, who prefers to remain anonymous, and one male channeler, were asked to describe the feeling of channeling the One Power. The following are their answers:

Aes Sedai:
"When I reach out to touch the True Source, to let the One Power fill me, I feel whole and complete in a way that makes me realise how empty and shallow my life is when I am not channeling. There is great joy - almost a rapture - and a feeling of being completely enveloped by the warmth and love of the Light. Only when I am channeling do I feel really alive. To release the Power is like shutting out the sunlight. I am empty without it, like a painting stripped of its colour. I suspect that is why the training we receive as Aes Sedai is so demanding. If it were not, I doubt if any of us would have the strength of will to release the Power once we held it."

The Male:
"I understand that the women feel a warmth of enveloping emotion. It is not like that for me. If anything, touching the source is like a retreat from all emotion, completely still and calm while at the same time aware of everything at once. The Power is not something that comes to you easily. Rather you must fight for it, struggle to grasp it and hold it, knowing that it will devour you if you lose that struggle. It is not unlike trying to balance upon the fury of a rushing avalanche: if you slip, it will pull you under and crush you without a moment's mercy, but if you can maintain that precarious balance, there is nothing you cannot do.

"And of course there is the taint, covering saidin like a poisonous slick on the surface of an otherwise fine wine. It is impossible to touch the Source without feeling the poison, but it doesn't matter, the Power is all important..."