Power

There was a series of books by Lyn V. Andrews, a sort of female Carlos Castenadas,  who gets an Indian shaman woman as a mentor/guru. It's all pretty much fiction purporting to be fact, but there are some interesting lessons. The one I most remember was that  power is never given,  it has to be stolen, taken by force.  If you are good and sweet, you may be granted privilege, but that can be taken away, it is power loaned, and cannot be counted on if the person who loans it is inconvenienced.  Real power is like real liberty, it must be paid for in blood and taken by force of arms.  It is not ever simply given away. 

I am not sure I completely like the imagery, but I think the idea, as far as it goes, is sound.  Too many trade power for comfort,  responsibility for  safety, spirituality for religious assurance.  And then wonder why their lives fall apart and god abandons them.  If there is a god, then there must be an exchange, where we must live our lives with as much energy and attention as we expect god to give to us.  If there are divine gifts, and we expect to be given them - rather than creating them for ourselves, then we are left to our own empty soulscapes. 

But power is not taken away from another, or it's just bullying. I have had the misfortune of working with several manipulative, aggressive monsters. I consider them evil. They have a kind of power. The kind that has to be constantly buttressed by fury and shouting. The minute they weaken, they are lost, as no one will fight for them, when the fear is gone, the illusion collapses.

Real power has to come from within, grows, and often does not look like much. It is not gotten by whining, or martyrdom. It takes exactly what it needs to do what it needs to do. There is always enough left over to share.