Power

There are multiple forms of power. Some I consider positive, others negative.

The ability or capacity to perform or act effectively + A specific capacity, faculty, or aptitude

This form of power I respect and will myself this type of power. Competency.

Strength or force exerted or capable of being exerted; might. + The ability or official capacity to exercise control; authority. + Forcefulness

This form of power, whilst I understand it’s place, I do not value. I do not want people to live to accumulate this type of power. I see this power as a product of fear.

This form of power has no respect for others. It is arrogant and brute force. It undermines the will of those who are different, and wills to submit anything that poses a threat by any means necessary.

For those who think, only a few a capable of excellence, I say to you you’re short selling the capabilities of those around you. The relative difference between the potential of people is quite small in comparison to us and other species. The differences could be overcome if the ‘greater’ of us weren’t so ignorant and understood how to maximize the potential of those around.

If you’re exerting control over another, and with that control, you lead them into failure, that is YOUR failure. Your shortcoming. You denied their opportunity at growth, because you ‘know best’, yet you delivered them nothing.

I could say more on this, but I’ll leave it there.

Thoughts?

I remember you from KnowThyself forums. But I never, really, did get to address your comments much due to others taking the liberty to do so, so I shall respond to you here.

Why do you believe that those who exercise authoritarian force are doing so out of fear? And what makes you think that acting in love is not based in fear? Those who exercise tyrannical force are not necessarily acting out of fear, in my opinion. Seems more like greed.

From what I’ve read of history, the two biggest tyrants of the past 20th Century in terms of murders, Mal and Stalin, acted primarily out of fear. Mainly, fear of losing their power.

FreeSpirit, what initially motivated them to acquire power? If fear of losing their political power, why not just never pursue it in the first place?

Your guess is as good as mine. My guess it that they were just crazy.

My primary focus was on the will to accumulate power, as opposed to how one exercises that power.

The reason I attribute fear to certain people who focus on acquiring power, is because it’s motivated by the perception of one’s inability to meet the demands or requirements of the present or future. It’s motivated by one’s perceived deficits.

It’s the perception and intent that I use to discern the primary source of the drive for power. Many who I’ve questioned in regards to their drive for power cite that we are under constant threat and that we must defeat our enemies.

I take these signs as evidence of their motivation. They feel threatened, afraid, of what others can do to them, and therefore seek power to overcome the threats.

I say if they can change their perspective from seeing all those around them as enemies, they will begin to see that those around them don’t need to be defeated or attacked. That one already has the tools and ability to resolve conflict with others without resorting to war.

The perception of one’s environment is what dictates one’s response and motivation.

Whilst I do believe love is not a product of fear, this thread wasn’t raising or referring to this position. I believe you’re asking this based on my posts at KT, though I’ll answer anyway, I just wanted to say it’s slightly off topic.

As I said at KT, I believe fear and love are on equal footing. They’re both emotions that arose and offered their own beneficial consequences.

Love motivates one to preserve what one attributes love to, it also motivates one to adjust and grow in order to maximize the relationship between self and the loved.

Also, as referred to at KT, one may love a process such as being creative and inventing. One’s love motivates one to produce or aid in the production of technologies and systems that raise the living standards and well being of all around them.

Love promotes reproduction. It not only encourages the reproduction, but the raising of one’s offspring. The will to let one’s children stand on one’s shoulders, to reach higher than the self could. To give them more.

These are a few examples of what love does. If you remove fear from the equation, there’s still no motivation for these actions, therefore, love serves an independent purpose other than to overcome the affects of fear.

This is why I would say to you love is not a product of fear.

I look at greed with this definition: excessive desire, as for wealth or power

I don’t believe people are greedy for greed’s sake. I believe there is a deeper motivation for one’s excessive desires than one’s enjoyment is satisfying those desires.

If a person overeats, there’s a underlying issue that motivates this action. Whether they’re depressed and looking for comfort, or they were raped when they were younger and want to make them selves repulsive to others, or they have no satisfaction in their lives and are addicted.

I would never say, ‘They’re just greedy’.

There’s many possible motivations, but I wouldn’t say greed in and of itself.

I like your thoughts and agree with them. My question: Why do you view “Competency” as the ideal power? Maybe you are shooting too low…how about exceptionalism in its place? For example, instead of being just competent at something…strive to be exceptional at it.

When power is forced over others, I believe it comes from a place of weakness. People that want to dominate others want to do so for personal flaws that they have themselves; such as fear, which we discussed.

“Beware of others in which the urge to punish is powerful.” Nietzsche warns us.

I have my own interpretation of power. To me, power is a goal accomplished, personal growth if you will. To me, it can be a stronger form of pleasure than Epicuruse’s concept of pleasure as peace of mind.

When I say competency, I mean able to effectively solve problems. I wasn’t really making a distinction as to how well you can solve an issue, as long as you can indeed solve the issue. If you’re exceptionally competent, you’re still within the branch of competency that I’m referring to.

Be exceptional, all power to you, and I myself hope to be able to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of my abilities. Being competent isn’t a sign of mediocrity to me, there’s just varying degrees of it.

I encourage competency, in all degrees.

Sounds like the thoughts of a young lord.

Power, like Truth and Trust, is founded by the same three angels;

1. Consistency
2. Comprehensiveness
3. Relevance

Sure, it’s possible that a person seeking to acquire a lot of power could be acting out of fear. But to just leave it at that is a bit simplistic, in my opinion. Often religious simpletons view people motivated by power as evil - Satan himself is often referred to as the ruler of the Earth. I believe this sort of mentality is due to resentment; the weak seek to diminish the grandiosity of the Earthly rulers by demonizing them and then imaging some otherworldly deity figure as being above them, the ‘king of kings’. I don’t think great conquerors like Genghis and Alexander were fearful types. I see them a great and ambitious individuals that acted in accordance with their healthy will to power, to success. Many if not most human being are pursuing power in varies degrees, some just happen to go big.

“Happiness is the feeling that power increases - that resistance is being overcome.”― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ

Sure, it’s possible that a person seeking to acquire a lot of power could be acting out of fear. But to just leave it at that is a bit simplistic, in my opinion. Often religious simpletons view people motivated by the desire for grandiose power as evil - Satan himself is often referred to as the ruler of the Earth. I believe this sort of mentality is due to resentment; the weak seek to diminish the grandiosity of the Earthly rulers by demonizing them and then imaging some otherworldly deity figure as being above them, the ‘king of kings’. I don’t think great conquerors like Genghis and Alexander were fearful types. I see them a great and ambitious individuals that acted in accordance with their healthy wills to power, to grandiose success. Many if not most human being are pursuing power in various degrees, some just happen to go big.

“Happiness is the feeling that power increases - that resistance is being overcome.”― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ

I don’t think I’m being a simplistic about this. I’m not here saying ALL power is fear. I’m saying power that is motivated and employed against others due to a perceived threat or that one knows best, is fear &/or ignorance. Especially when the methods employed in the assertion of one’s power are brute force, violent &/or cruel.

As I’ve said to you, my beliefs in regards to this were strongly inspired by my childhood. My father used his power and might against me, when I was a young child, to dominate me and instill his own warped perception of the world in me, because he thought he knew best.

I am not jealous of what he did, or that he could do that. If anything, his past actions sicken me because they are so unhealthy and maladjusted to the reality of human needs and the human condition.

My nephew lives with me, and I raise him. I would never want to treat him as I was treated. It is the furthest thing from my mind. I want to empower him, and give him the opportunity to live the life he values.

If I were to treat him as I was treated, I’d be denying his opportunity and self empowerment and opportunity.

Those who seek to dominate others do so to the detriment of those they dominate. They remove their capacity to reach great heights, if only temporarily. This is an injustice and also like the underlying intent. That the one who wills to dominate another is consciously or unconsciously striving to weaken and limit those around them, so they don’t have to face them on equal ground.

I hope people can see where I’m going with this.

I take that as a huge compliment.

As I’ve said before, I respect you, and the perceived compliment gives me reassurance of the integrity of my actions and a slight sense of accomplishment.

I hope the emphasis isn’t on young, meaning naive or particularly unrefined, but I don’t think it is.

That’s unfortunate what your Father did, Joe. But perhaps those bad experiences have tainted your perception of tyrannical type power. I agree that some of these authority figures could just be cosmic bullies, trying to obscure their own weakness by bullying others they perceive weakness in. But not all are as such. I don’t want great conquerors to be thrown in the same bandwagon as pathetic school yard bullies.

I admit, I do not see more sides to those who choose the path of tyranny.

Tyrannical - exercising power in a cruel or arbitrary way.

Tyrant - a cruel and oppressive ruler.

I believe the best application of power, is to raise the power all around, instead of seek to maintain one’s own edge over others, or to increase one’s own power at the expense of others.

I intrinsically value people, and therefore want to see all of us flourish, as opposed to just myself.