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POWER

 

PowerI once watched a documentary about lions and tigers, trying to ascertain who is stronger when pitched against the other. It turned out that the tiger will win many if not most of the fights, but not due to physical superiority: the tiger battles to kill, whereas the lion battles only to eat, conquer and defend his territory and his pride (family). The lion will engage in battle until he overpowers the tiger, not expecting him to continue fighting even after being defeated. In summary, the lion is noble in its appreciation for life, the tiger is not.

This most important distinction lies at the root of power, and its flip-side force. True power lacks the instinct to kill life, choosing to defend and preserve it instead. Force, on the other hand, has no appreciation for life and sacrifices it for matter, pleasure and power. Whether it be the decimation of animal life, the abuse of natural resources or the debasement of Spirit values, force consumes all that is in front of it, lacking the wisdom to realize that the life it is destroying is its very own home and seat of abundance. Force, for all its arrogant self-esteem, is truly stupid.

The workings of force are evident at all levels of Soul’s existence today: the proliferation of sensual stimulation and gorging at the cost of health and beauty; the commodification of Spirit at the cost of nobility; the vulgarization of the mind at the cost of love and integrity; and the abuse of power at the cost of life and abundance. In such company true power is as rare as a black diamond, for its attainment comes at great cost to worldly success, ego and pleasure. The appreciation of anything can only be attained by experiencing its lack, and the appreciation of life only by experiencing death, or the deprivation of health, relationships, potency, pleasure, fulfillment and meaning. As humans govern over everything else on the planet, solely a cultivation of appreciation ensures taking responsibility for, rather than abusing life. Thus the path of death is a necessary and unavoidable step for every Soul, lest it be judged unfit for life.

However, only a truly noble Soul ever willingly embarks on the path of death, or the purification of evil, endures its challenges and traverses it to its end, rather than insisting on the incessant pleasuring of body and mind. The Soul enters this path as result of being deeply wounded and desiring healing, always by means of seeking Truth about its suffering. Such Soul has previously walked the path of force until its defeat, until the skin on its face became thick like armour, covered in cuts and bruises, its life carpeted by the bodies of former loves and marked by a deep vacuum of life and Spirit. The path of death thus equals the path of healing, for like a cocooned butterfly, one must dissolve one’s old values, beliefs and ways of being in order to be born to new ones. This rise in wisdom sheds light on the Soul’s wounds and reveals them as a mere consequence of one’s own unlovingness rather than life’s injustice, allowing for the release of victimization and needs for vindication.

The release of wounds as cause of evil will is the path of potential for all Souls on Earth and lies in the mind’s ability to transcend itself, to allow its hard shell of beliefs and perception to be cracked open for light to enter, in short, to die for the purpose of being reborn. The willingness of the mind to undergo such scary and painful ordeal is the definition of true power, distinguished by tremendous courage, humility and purpose. Such power is the mark of great men, whose self-worth lies in having faced and defeated evil, and whose potency lies in creating and protecting life, rather than consuming it.