Power: Used, Abused and Misunderstood

“The measure of a man is what he does with power.”

– Plato

Let’s explore the cause of this before dealing with the myth.

Scarcity … or Abundance?

Ask a few people to list the words that they most commonly associate with the term ‘power’ and my guess is that ‘control’ is sure to come out at or near the top of the lists.

Mankind has too easily been fooled by the greedy and manipulative into believing that scarcity is a natural part of life, when simple time out with nature provides ample testimony to the incredible natural abundance of our planet and universe.

Like a dozen hungry kids fighting over one small pizza, when we firmly believe that there is only so much of what we need to go around, we will shout, scream and, if necessary, fight for the share that we need and want.

And, with a little cunning we can even secure enough to provide a useful buffer against becoming a ‘have-not’ in the future.

Scarcity breeds fear and competition

A scarcity mentality breeds fear and competition. We develop win-lose attitudes and behaviours aimed at getting an advantage over others to ensure our own survival and – preferably – promoting our welfare at their expense.

Control over others

This is where the ability to exercise control over others comes in really handy. And there is no more effective way of controlling others than through the use of fear.

Our history as humans is lettered with examples of how fear has been used in a brutally effective way to control others, put them down and render them harmless to prevent the disproportionate accumulation of riches by the few in control.

The divide between haves and have nots

Sadly, we are still far from reaching our ultimate evolution as a species. Even today, with all of our technological advancements, powerful elites still uphold the divide between haves and have nots by sowing fear to exercise control.

The problem quickly becomes endemic. Have nots learn from the haves and soon forego their morals to engage in acts of force and violence that provide easy routes to regain some control and lay claim to their rightful ’shares’.

Even in supposedly ‘loving’ relationships we see people resorting to the use fear and force to exercise the control needed to get what they want from the other.

Subconscious conditioning: control = power

The upshot of all of this is that a great many of us have been subconsciously conditioned to equate personal power with the ability to control others and thereby get ahead in what we have been led to believe is a \’dog eat dog\’ world.

Power and powerlessness

If we lack the physical power of strapping males, the financial muscle of the super rich, the advantage of those in political power or the moral corruptness of the social manipulators … then we can easily and mistakenly fall into the trap of believing we are powerless.

And as Henry Ford once intimated … if you believe you are powerless then you are exactly that.

So where am I going with this?

You may not be surprised to know that I am about to bring this discussion back to promoting the merits of life coaching 🙂

Inner power = authentic power

Real, authentic power has nothing to do with exerting control over others, the use of force or the spreading of fear; that is the stuff of the misguided and the less evolved.

Authentic power comes from within!

At New Insights we call it Inner Power. It is that firm belief that we are all equal, that we live in a naturally abundant world and that we each have the inherent strength and ability to create the reality we each want for ourselves.

Inner power stems from accessing the inner being, or what some would call the spiritual centre or source of creation that exists within each of us.

Inner power is a respectful power; an understanding that the only person we can legitimately exert control over is ourself.

Power generated from within is genuine, timeless and indefinite whereas power exerted over others is false and unsustainable in the longer run.

Inner power never leaves us, though we often choose to ignore it in pursuing power over others.

Inner power is activated when we allow ourselves to be guided by the heart or intuition; when we look for solutions within instead of ‘out there’.

Inner power grows as our self awareness increases and it fuels our ability to grow, evolve and contribute back to fellow humans, our planet and the universe.

Life coaching and inner power

At New Insights we see life coaching as a wonderful means to promote the connection between people and their inner power.

Through effective life coaching we can ‘empower’ people to find and start exercising their unique inner power.

A shift towards a love mentality

As more and more people appreciate the beauty of connecting with their inner power and the futility and undesirability of pursuing power over others, our world will begin to shift away …

… from the self centred, greedy, win-lose scarcity obsessed mentality that will ultimately be our demise, to one based on abundance, mutual respect, win-win and love!