Powering Happiness

Why do we feel the need to personify power?

A few weeks ago I said Power is the ability to decide and act, and I maintained that each one of us wields some power. In this sense one cannot hold on to power; one must act upon power.

Power must first be located and then temporarily acquired. And then for power to be recognized as power it must be unleashed, gifted, or let go.

If one acquires power, never uses it, and no one is aware, it is not power; it is an irrelevancy.

If one acquires power and successfully uses it as a threat, it is still power. This extended-release power only differs in the timing of its delivery.

Power is not created by (nor does it reside within) an individual or an identifiable group; it merely passes through.

Power is formed and lives in the cracks and crevices of the urgent and undeniable human need for interpretation and explanation.

There are many individuals who have become adept at folding and molding themselves into and around these gaps in understanding, thus appearing to possess the ability to hold on to power, and in some instances appearing to be the source of this power.

Some (perhaps many - or maybe most) of these individuals actually believe they are deserving and/or supreme; and some (perhaps many) actually believe they are the source of this power.

One (individual or group) may acquire a reputation as powerful, but this individual or group is working (often behind the scenes) to constantly restock and reload.

To wield power is simply human nature. There is power available to act upon, so we (as individuals or as groups) decide and act. For varying reasons, some are presented with more impactful opportunities to act.

There will always be power available to act upon because there will always be a lack of understanding and a desire for interpretation and explanation.

One may choose to haphazardly excavate the unknown depths in search of rich and rapaciously-rewarding veins of power, or one may choose to thoughtfully examine that power which is closer to the surface in an effort to connect knowns with unknowns.

Bad laws and rules come about when one acts upon power found in the deeper, darker recesses of (mis)understanding.

Good laws and rules are more likely to come about when one acts upon power that is exposed to some surface light of experience and reason.

Power is the father, Human Nature the mother, and the unknown depths the birthing place of tyranny.

Tyranny civilized, is Bureaucracy.

Today Humanity looks fondly back on tyranny believing bureaucracy to be the height of civilization.

It is time to move ahead.

To progress we must 1) adamantly, defiantly, and fiercely distance ourselves from all forms of tyranny, 2) de-personify power in the light of reason, and 3) allow laws and rules to come about naturally from a common ground of virtue.

It is time to move ahead.

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