Power is simply an awareness/confidence in one’s competence.
Too often it seems we as a people confuse the concept of power with that of corruption, tyranny, oppression, of the ability and willingness to use others simply as objects.
I think your personal estimate of your self is way off.
You seem to want to trade, but all you say are baubles.
Is power “simply” confidence? No.
Power is creating the universe in six days. Power is letting the depraved to survive and rule the world, only to take it back.
Been through death (twice), been through the Lake of fire, been through Hell.
Ie, I carry the keys to death and hell.
I have known you a few months, and seen how consistent your slander has been. Sad, because I was rooting for you.
So, what power do you think you have? You are a man, but like to see yourself as angels and God and Jesus.
Your understanding of Scripture is remedial, at best.
But, you are just an educated Judas.
Even worse, a modern day Pharisee.
I am inclined now to pepper the words with “shit”, and “fucking”, just to provoke your heart into more evil against me.
I can say those words, and certainly, “Damn”
*Because I invented them*
*I invented fucking, and shitting, and certainly Hell*
So, coming up with lies and telling that to people in a confident matter, one is left with just lies.
I am the Truth. You are… what?
I know you are not the world’s best Christian. I want to see if you think you are an angel, maybe even Jesus’ angel, Michael. Problem with that is, I actually really know Michael. I work with him.
He is my Angel.
Maybe you think you are the Father? Or, Jesus? Or, The Word of God? Or, God Himself.
Well, bad news for you buddy, as I just happen to be Jesus. And the Father. And the Word of God.
But, you can just call me “God”.
Most people do. Even more then Jesus.
I have the crucfixion marks on my foot, my side, and the palms of my hands. They clearly stuck those nails through my palms and through my feet.
Early Christians actually had my face right. Since then, it has been more idealized. But still looks like me. Later on, if everyone here doesn’t flee (those who are bad), I will even wash my hair when it is long enough, and put on a beard. Then, it is a bit more obvious.
You really had me wrong.
You are shit out of luck, son. I am gonna put you on Team Scapegoat, and show you sides of myself people only whisper about, and use terms like “Biblical”.
The glass you tried to give me was full of blasphemies. I turned the cheek, tasted it, and gave it back to you. But, it just becomes a gigantic whirlwind of trouble. A full meal of eternal bad luck.
Power, in any sense of the word is earned. The way it is earned may be the influential factor in how it is used.
One can take power through the expression of strength, or one can take power through the influential illustration of competence. Either way, having power is an extraordinary dynamic to not be corrupted by.
It is a very strange feeling to receive automatic respect by others from a mere title. After a while, it becomes an expectation, from which you can respond irrationally when it is not freely offered.
As a person who wanted power and used that as an incentive to fuel ambition; I might be able to provide a few insights. You can see power as a way to serve yourself, or see it in a way to more effectively serve others. Your perspective is very important in any outcomes associated with wielding it effectively.
Ford had this workshop that was offered to other corporations who wanted to shift their paradigms and cultures to more effective management of human resources within their own environments. It was called TQO. Total Quality Ownership and one of the fundamental premises of the program was to treat everyone in your own company like a customer. If someone needed something that you could supply; you made every effort to serve their needs.
One thing about that course that stuck with me was a management pyramid which was the opposite of what I had always imagined it to be. It was inverted. The management was supporting the employees, versus the other way around. I’ve never forgotten that. It’s a weight on your shoulders instead of you being carried.
Its strange to me that as I was ambitiously trying to climb a ladder; I never felt a sense of what I attributed to positions of power. I would see a senior manager and feel that they had something I didn’t and when I got into those self-same positions; the sensation of expectation never matched what I thought it should.
I think all power has the potential to corrupt, unless you very consciously make the effort to not allow it. if ever the word insidious was appropriate; it is the a perfect word for the way it invades a psyche and very slowly shapes it into something ugly.
Politics is a feeder to take it towards that ugliness and only the very best, the purest of heart, can avoid the corruptible nature of the disease. When you see “the man behind the curtain” it is strange to note that even those who display a purity, can be using it as another tool to further something uglier.
i’m really not sure that power can ever result in anything good. I can only think of one individual that was somehow able to express humility, and through that, earned a power that had the potential to be positive…but, unfortunately that icon was used by others who used it as a foothold to experience the power and then allow it to rule them.
Power might be a god of sorts. A scary one, because those who have it, think it is theirs, but the reality it is they who are serving a thing that might be as real as the co-operative spirit of love itself. it is a two sided mechanism that is meaningless without both contributing to the centre.
@spitfire3dc
I was thinking more of a person that is powerful in an of themselves. It is “earned” through the work it takes to become personally competent in oneself; and is a good (even beautiful) thing when it is wielded with a quiet confidence rather than with boisterous arrogance or wielded over others with a whip.
When one looks at those in the world who have best wielded power without being corrupted by it, humility is almost always a factor. I’ve been reading a compendium of snippets from Abraham Lincoln’s life. In my estimation his wielding of power was a very beautiful thing. And his humility was profound.
It sounds like Ford had a good concept and exercise of humility as well. It sounds like employees were not servants, slaves, dregs, minions, or just a means to his end. In his era it was still truly axiomatic that the customer was the most important person in the room.
I think power is insidious, because of how it massages the ego over time. With humility, being the proof against this.
You said “I’ll pass” [on power]. This means you would be good leader if placed in a position of power. How does that quote from J.K. Rowling go? “Perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it”.
@griz just for the record, TQO was not inspired by Henry Ford 1. He may have been a bit of a kook. A victim of power?? He actually had his own police force that would investigate employees after they were hired and if there was anything, and I mean anything, that displeased him; they were out.
This is why I am somewhat ambivalent about unions. As a management type, dealing with the power of numbers can make profitably running a company challenging, but there were more than enough leaders corrupted by power to the point they needed to be held in check.
JK was right. Taking power when you don’t want it might be a necessary issue to prevent the corruptive influence.
I had several promotions offered that I refused, but ultimately was told it wasn’t my choice. I left one company to go back to being a grunt, but that didn’t last long. I’m not saying this to say”look at me. I’m so skilled” I guess because I liked being responsible to myself, it showed in my work. Even at my own company I sincerely feel like I am at the bottom looking up??
5 responses to “Power is simply an awareness/confidence in one’s competence.”
I think your personal estimate of your self is way off.
You seem to want to trade, but all you say are baubles.
Is power “simply” confidence? No.
Power is creating the universe in six days. Power is letting the depraved to survive and rule the world, only to take it back.
Been through death (twice), been through the Lake of fire, been through Hell.
Ie, I carry the keys to death and hell.
I have known you a few months, and seen how consistent your slander has been. Sad, because I was rooting for you.
So, what power do you think you have? You are a man, but like to see yourself as angels and God and Jesus.
Your understanding of Scripture is remedial, at best.
But, you are just an educated Judas.
Even worse, a modern day Pharisee.
I am inclined now to pepper the words with “shit”, and “fucking”, just to provoke your heart into more evil against me.
I can say those words, and certainly, “Damn”
*Because I invented them*
*I invented fucking, and shitting, and certainly Hell*
So, coming up with lies and telling that to people in a confident matter, one is left with just lies.
I am the Truth. You are… what?
I know you are not the world’s best Christian. I want to see if you think you are an angel, maybe even Jesus’ angel, Michael. Problem with that is, I actually really know Michael. I work with him.
He is my Angel.
Maybe you think you are the Father? Or, Jesus? Or, The Word of God? Or, God Himself.
Well, bad news for you buddy, as I just happen to be Jesus. And the Father. And the Word of God.
But, you can just call me “God”.
Most people do. Even more then Jesus.
I have the crucfixion marks on my foot, my side, and the palms of my hands. They clearly stuck those nails through my palms and through my feet.
Early Christians actually had my face right. Since then, it has been more idealized. But still looks like me. Later on, if everyone here doesn’t flee (those who are bad), I will even wash my hair when it is long enough, and put on a beard. Then, it is a bit more obvious.
You really had me wrong.
You are shit out of luck, son. I am gonna put you on Team Scapegoat, and show you sides of myself people only whisper about, and use terms like “Biblical”.
The glass you tried to give me was full of blasphemies. I turned the cheek, tasted it, and gave it back to you. But, it just becomes a gigantic whirlwind of trouble. A full meal of eternal bad luck.
@five2one
It is common on the path of Spiritual growth to mistake objective commentary, for subjective commentary.
Consider just how often in your reply the presumption is there that I’m either talking myself up . . . or talking you down.
Keep in mind that it’s never implied that “the other cheek” is suppose to be a butt cheek.
Power, in any sense of the word is earned. The way it is earned may be the influential factor in how it is used.
One can take power through the expression of strength, or one can take power through the influential illustration of competence. Either way, having power is an extraordinary dynamic to not be corrupted by.
It is a very strange feeling to receive automatic respect by others from a mere title. After a while, it becomes an expectation, from which you can respond irrationally when it is not freely offered.
As a person who wanted power and used that as an incentive to fuel ambition; I might be able to provide a few insights. You can see power as a way to serve yourself, or see it in a way to more effectively serve others. Your perspective is very important in any outcomes associated with wielding it effectively.
Ford had this workshop that was offered to other corporations who wanted to shift their paradigms and cultures to more effective management of human resources within their own environments. It was called TQO. Total Quality Ownership and one of the fundamental premises of the program was to treat everyone in your own company like a customer. If someone needed something that you could supply; you made every effort to serve their needs.
One thing about that course that stuck with me was a management pyramid which was the opposite of what I had always imagined it to be. It was inverted. The management was supporting the employees, versus the other way around. I’ve never forgotten that. It’s a weight on your shoulders instead of you being carried.
Its strange to me that as I was ambitiously trying to climb a ladder; I never felt a sense of what I attributed to positions of power. I would see a senior manager and feel that they had something I didn’t and when I got into those self-same positions; the sensation of expectation never matched what I thought it should.
I think all power has the potential to corrupt, unless you very consciously make the effort to not allow it. if ever the word insidious was appropriate; it is the a perfect word for the way it invades a psyche and very slowly shapes it into something ugly.
Politics is a feeder to take it towards that ugliness and only the very best, the purest of heart, can avoid the corruptible nature of the disease. When you see “the man behind the curtain” it is strange to note that even those who display a purity, can be using it as another tool to further something uglier.
i’m really not sure that power can ever result in anything good. I can only think of one individual that was somehow able to express humility, and through that, earned a power that had the potential to be positive…but, unfortunately that icon was used by others who used it as a foothold to experience the power and then allow it to rule them.
Power might be a god of sorts. A scary one, because those who have it, think it is theirs, but the reality it is they who are serving a thing that might be as real as the co-operative spirit of love itself. it is a two sided mechanism that is meaningless without both contributing to the centre.
I’ll pass.
@spitfire3dc
I was thinking more of a person that is powerful in an of themselves. It is “earned” through the work it takes to become personally competent in oneself; and is a good (even beautiful) thing when it is wielded with a quiet confidence rather than with boisterous arrogance or wielded over others with a whip.
When one looks at those in the world who have best wielded power without being corrupted by it, humility is almost always a factor. I’ve been reading a compendium of snippets from Abraham Lincoln’s life. In my estimation his wielding of power was a very beautiful thing. And his humility was profound.
It sounds like Ford had a good concept and exercise of humility as well. It sounds like employees were not servants, slaves, dregs, minions, or just a means to his end. In his era it was still truly axiomatic that the customer was the most important person in the room.
I think power is insidious, because of how it massages the ego over time. With humility, being the proof against this.
You said “I’ll pass” [on power]. This means you would be good leader if placed in a position of power. How does that quote from J.K. Rowling go? “Perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it”.
@griz just for the record, TQO was not inspired by Henry Ford 1. He may have been a bit of a kook. A victim of power?? He actually had his own police force that would investigate employees after they were hired and if there was anything, and I mean anything, that displeased him; they were out.
This is why I am somewhat ambivalent about unions. As a management type, dealing with the power of numbers can make profitably running a company challenging, but there were more than enough leaders corrupted by power to the point they needed to be held in check.
JK was right. Taking power when you don’t want it might be a necessary issue to prevent the corruptive influence.
I had several promotions offered that I refused, but ultimately was told it wasn’t my choice. I left one company to go back to being a grunt, but that didn’t last long. I’m not saying this to say”look at me. I’m so skilled” I guess because I liked being responsible to myself, it showed in my work. Even at my own company I sincerely feel like I am at the bottom looking up??