Power

A relatively simple working definition of power would be something like “the ability to exert one’s personal will to create or obtain what one desires”. 

In this sense, power is a universal neutral capacity, merely “the ability to do work, the ability to act”, as it is in physics.  Notably, this definition of power bears a marked resemblance to that of responsibility (the ability to respond), so power and responsibility are correlate.   

Notably, by these definitions, power and responsibility are experienced and exercised inwardly by the individual, even as action may be taken in the outer world.  The locus of both resides within. 

Interesting to note that the implied meanings of power in current culture imply outwardly experienced control, as in “the ability to force others, or even life itself, bend to one’s personal will” while the meaning of power’s correlate, responsibility, suggests restrictive duty, burden, or obligation, also originating from outside oneself. 

Therefore, in the cultural mindset, power and responsibility are competitively opposed, rather than correlate, and can be separated along hierarchical lines.  The implied cultural ideal is a state of maximum “power” and minimum “responsibility”, an infantile state of absolute demand and zero obligation often acted out in caricature by various celebrities and public figures. 

To the extent that such a “lifestyle” eludes one who understands power in this way, the experience is powerlessness, failure, and inferiority.  This generates inwardly experienced frustration, even rage.  No wonder we are confused and conflicted about power and have so much to reconcile.  The culture literally defines power backwards, to the great detriment of many.

It is the balance of power and responsibility, along with the defining placement of power within or without that makes any act of power constructive or destructive in nature.   True power itself remains a neutral force, and we are its administrators.   The method of enactment, motivating desire, and the created outcome also contribute to the skillful success of any application of power.  Therefore, “the conscious, effective command of the personal will to any created end” becomes a broader and more sophisticated definition of power.  Most of us intuitively admire and respect those who use power constructively and well by this definition. 

There’s another dimension to power that’s subtler and harder to define.  If we go back to the neutral, active definition, the experienced absence of power, then, would be the inability to exert one’s will for whatever reason, leaving one’s choices and fate subject to outside influence, or even control.  As discussed above, cultural definitions of and assumptions about power create this experience.  They are imposed upon or taught to the vulnerable, especially children, through trauma or exploitation.  This is an important discussion by itself, and I’ll return to it in another entry

How else might we lose the ability to exert our will?  One of the most common and consistent themes throughout religion and mythology is the temptation of the heroic figure along the way to enlightenment, attainment, or immortality, i.e.: fully empowered states.  Jesus was tempted by the devil after 40 days of fasting in the desert.  The Buddha was tempted by the demon Mara three times on the way to Enlightenment.   Young Hercules at the crossroads was given the choice between Vice (a life of ease and pleasure) and Virtue (many challenges with the promise of immortality).  The temptations vary.  Most of them pertain to access to various indulgences like physical pleasure and wealth or to the opportunity to indulge in the kind of license mentioned above in the discussion of cultural ideals. 

The stories could be dismissed as mere moralism, but given how diverse and common such themes are, they might be pointing to something important.  In each case, someone, or something else sought out the hero with an offer.  Why?  It implies that the heroes each possessed something valuable, and desirable to others.  Jesus was committed to divinity, Buddha to enlightenment, and Hercules to immortality, in each case a larger than individual self-definition and purpose.   Each hero was tempted to relinquish something a bit different, but they all possessed the same desirable thing, which was their power – their fully conscious, effective command of their own will.  We, too, possess this coveted and valuable inward command of ourselves and the world we inhabit.  May we see it and recognize its value despite the many temptations we currently face to relinquish it.

A personal and collective reflection on power is timely.  In the spring of 2022, the United States begins its Pluto return, an approximately two-year astrological transit that’s notorious for bringing down empires, or at least transforming them through some death/rebirth process.  In astrology, Pluto deals with power, and the Pluto return is a time of reckoning the use of power.  Individual humans do not have Pluto returns because Pluto takes around 250 years to orbit the Earth’s night sky one time.  As citizens of a country undergoing this process though, we will each experience some aspect of it for ourselves.  Indeed, given the influence of the U.S. throughout the world, the effects may be quite widespread.  We will all soon be made considerably more aware of our relationship with power.  I hope we will meet this process consciously.