What is Personal Power?

Café-Salon Philosophique #20

August 22, 1998

No. of Participants: 20

Evening's Topic of Discussion: Envisioning the Future: Power.What is it? Who do you see as having power? How do you exercise personal power? Who is the powerful one in you?

Samuel began the evening by introducing new participants to the topic that we have been discussing for the past few weeks - "Envisioning the Future; The Four Great Powers - Food, Sex, Love and Money." Brad then read "Cafe Guidelines" from which I would like to quote one of the paragraphs which is a good introduction to tonight's topic on Power.

"We are living in a world that is moving so fast for comfort..where deception and vanishing values are becoming regarded as normal. What ever happened to loyalty, shame, personal responsibility, honesty and self-reliance?" How can we maintain sanity in the midst of madness? Serenity in activity? In our Cafe gatherings, we dare to explore and ask questions in order to find out for ourselves some new ways to respond intelligently to new realizations." Samuel Avital

Samuel began the evening by reflecting upon changes that have been occurring worldwide - the "computer glitch,"stock market changes, Asian economy shifts, environmental changes, governmental, bank and business restructuring. Why is it that these perceived catastrophes move the world towards change? Why do people panic and become fearful when these changes occur?

Samuel then asked us to choose from one of the four powers to discuss, but the group decided that they wanted to explore Power itself.

Ed began the conversation by describing how he believes that "power is held by only a small minority of people. What he calls "The Four R's" - Rulers, Religion, the Rich and the Rabbles." (Rabbles are the followers of everything and anything. Those people who follow sheep consciousness). Power in this form is often misused for, "human manipulation and domination," "divide and conquer," "do this or else," or "do as I say and not as you wish." Why do we allow people to lead us and control us in this manner? What draws people to such power?

Samuel then asked us to define Power. Audrey lead the group by defining power as "getting others to do what you want." "Agencies control people through rules, regulations and standards." Oscar said that "the masses are conditioned to follow leaders in various "outside" organizations and systems, instead of using their own "inner," personal power to lead themselves through life."

Reinhard referred back to Ed's statement about the controlling power of "The Four R's" and feels that this form of power is not "authentic" power. "Controlled" power was invented and created by the various societies of "civilization." He continued with, "it just depends on how much one wants to follow and believe in a particular societal power. "Authentic power is like that of nature - quiet, passive serene, and still. Ever changing invisibly. Or sometimes it can be quite active through dramatic environmental changes which can make everyone sit up and take notice."

Oscar stated that "anything can be a source of power depending upon where one applies their energy and intention." Power can be "political, personal, economical, spiritual and even material." But, "power can also be an illusion. If the ego gets in the way, what you thought you had, you don't. This is not real power."

The definitions of power continued with Dan and Marna also thinking power is "control over other people." Kaku views power as "a relationship of inequality between two people. One dominates over the other, and the other conforms." Duane sees power as a "sphere of influence." For example, it can be as complex as "spheres of influence" of nations, or a more simpler example like in a "parent-child relationship."

Linda believes "one has to own their power." "The work and action needs to come from within." Ciona sees power as "domination and manipulation as in governmental or military coercion." "Power can cause change, for the good or the bad," said Chris. "One needs to know what to do with power when they realize it. And what is real power anyway?" Vineeta and Alessandra agreed that the "individual has the power to make choices for creating changes in one's life. One needs to be self reliant, take personal control and be responsible for the changes that they are creating."

Samuel then bounced back and asked Ed to elaborate a little on the "Four R's" - Rulers, Religion, The Rich and the Rabbles. Ed gave an example of the rule of Hitler "who wiped out 40-50 million people. That's pretty major." "That's pretty powerful." "And then you have a rich ruler like Princess Diana." Religious leaders named were Gandhi and Mother Theresa. Rabbles noted were communists and those of the French Revolution.

Brad brought up and discussed the wicked reign of King Louis the XIV and elaborated a little on how he suppressed the lives of the peasants and the people in his court. Others gave definitions and discussed some of the more powerful and positive leaders such as Gengas Khan, Alexander the Great and Stalin to name just a few.

Samuel then asked the group to "define their own personal power by telling us who they are or what they are." Terri believes that "personal power is when one not only empowers themselves, but, also encourages, nurtures and supports other people's growth and awareness." Samuel said, "that in order to do this, one has to be 500% honest with themselves." "One has to know one's self quite well and with good intentions in order to reflect that to other human beings."

"So what makes one want to follow a leader?" Why do we "go along" with those that say that they have power? Or those who promise, "This is the way!" or "This is the only way!" "What difference does it make if we're black/white, male/female, rich or poor in being a leader?"

Chris thinks "there is too much competitiveness in the world. "I've got this, you've got that." "I'm better than you are," "I've got more than you have," "I can do this better than you," etc., etc. From where do we develop these attitudes? Why do people think this way? Because people have not learned to BALANCE the various aspects of their lives.

Linda thinks that we "follow a specific leader so that we can learn to give up false illusions about power." "Leaders can be manipulators, but often times they can be great helpers too."

Ed thinks that "some people just have it in their genes to be natural born leaders. They have the traits of assertiveness, aggression, practicality, objectivity and a sense of control." "Followers seem to be those that are passive, insecure, lack drive, motivation or will." "This could also be from social conditioning."

He went on to elborate about reading somewhere that "people who have increased levels of the sex hormones, estrogen and testosterone, and increases in serotonin, dopamine and endorphins, have more drive, ambition, and energy than people who have lower levels of these hormones." "These increased levels of hormones somehow act as a driving force for propelling a person forward in life to lead or follow."

"Where is consciousness in evolution?" Silence. No one had a response to this question. Samuel replied by giving the metaphor about the "fish who lived in the great ocean who wasted his whole life chasing his tail, instead of searching and exploring the vast, great depths of the ocean. (Fish Story)

The next question was, "How does one exercise personal power?" "What is personal power?" Duane said that he learned about power "from his parents." Audrey said that "you either accept it or reject it." Marna thinks that we "give up" personal power to "everyone outside of ourselves."

Samuel stated that "personal power is when one can be honest with the self. One who can think and act for themselves. It is a person that is able to make independent decisions and choices." It's learning to balance all aspects of one's life.

Next question, "What makes us do what we do? What makes us be active versus being passive?" Marna feels "it has alot to do with social conditioning and our upbringing." "We are born innocent and then depending upon the family, culture and lifestyle we are brought up in, we learn to live " by the rules" which can make us overactive or too passive."

Chris thinks that we have learned to "compete for power." " Its seems as if the world has always designated the function of power as coming from competitiveness rather than creativity." Our educational systems teach humans to function more from the left brain (verbal, logical, analytical, symbolic) rather than the right brain (nonverbal, spatial, intuitive, holistic). We are not encouraged or trained to use both sides of our brains equally in society creatively.

So how can we change our way of thinking? What force motivates you to do what you do? Who is the powerful one in you? Are you the leader of your self or the follower among the masses? These are good thought provoking questions to think about in your daily lives.

The next Cafe-Salon Meeting will be held September 12, 1998 at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 2915 Pearl St., Boulder, CO. The evening's topic will be decided that evening, but we will continue to stay centered around the theme of, "Envisioning the Future."

Reported by Alessandra