POWER

When I hear the word power, I often think of domination.

The dictator who can decide what others may say. The church that tells people what they must believe. The employer who can dismiss someone. The influencer who discovers that thousands of people will follow almost anything they say. The billionaire whose wealth gives access to doors that remain closed to others.

Power so easily becomes: I can, and you cannot.

And somewhere underneath that lies an even stranger thought: I am more, and therefore you are less.

But perhaps that is not power at all.

The word power originally carries the simple meaning to be able. And that changes something.

Real power may not be the ability to control another person, but the ability not to need to.

The ability to remain peaceful without forcing agreement. To speak without manipulating. To have influence without possessing people. To have wealth without believing it makes you more valuable. To lead without needing someone beneath you.

The ego measures power vertically: someone must be above and someone below.

Love has no such hierarchy.

Perhaps true power is something that cannot be taken from another person, because it was never obtained at another person’s expense.

It does not say: I have power over you.

It quietly says:

I remember what I am.

And in that remembering, I no longer need you to be less.

With love and light,

G.