GETTING POWER, KEEPING POWER, NATURE OF POWER, REALPOLITIK of POWER
- The cost of success, ambition and gaining power. (You lose/sacrifice/compromise things on your way up).
- In the game of power and at the highest levels there is always “polite duplicity.”
- Those in power are more likely than not to abuse, exploit and do whatever it takes to maintain it.
- We have to fight for what it means to be human every single minute because when we don’t, power/systems/bad habits take it away form us and crushes us and make us inhumane.
- The world is inherently animalistic and unjust. The ideals of liberalism is the monkey brain and what we want to become and achieve… but our lizard brain is realpolitik, it wants to get what’s mine, crush those weaker than us out of fear, and arm ourselves to defend against enemies even if ill-conceived.
- But even in the most violent and lawless frontiers, there is always a “moral code” we eventually abide by. We’re not killing each other just because. There’s always a system in place.
- The Church as a power structure/institution tells you what to think, how to think (DOGMA), hides its abuses/exploits behind closed doors. Church determines who’s good or bad with a point of finger.
FATE VS. DETERMINISM
- We can affect change and even revolutionize the world for a brief period, but in the grand scheme of history - we are still just cogs in the clockwork machine.
- People can be extremely resilient and resourceful when put in a corner… but we also have limits no matter how resilient and how much self-help stuff they read.
- People will put hope in an all powerful God or spiritual situation to ease life’s pain on one hand, but eschewing individual accountability/empowerment on the other hand.
- The power of faith and hope of salvation and redemption - “no matter how horrible/evil I’ve been, I can still be saved” - “No matter how bad my situation, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel”
- Are we in charge of our own destinies? Are we powerless as individuals, but we’re strong as pawn of God? What kind of empowerment is that?
FAMILY & “HOME”
- Family can be the “home” you seek but also the source of interminable struggle (but it’s the devil you know).
- People are deeply flawed. We all want to go “home” but we will take the most indirect, circuitous path to get there… like refusing to be vulnerable to those we trust, or doing things we think mean something, but doesn’t… or accumulating money, power, fame to “prove ourselves”. Or worse, we put up unconscious defense mechanisms that are the very thing that prevents us from getting “home”.
- Community & Rituals - They’re comforting, powerful, dogma has power. Why do those who grow up in it reject/accept it? Why do those aggressively converted accept it?Fear? Complacency? Desire for hope? Lack of a religion?
VIOLENT DIRTY HIDDEN WORLDS
- There are hidden worlds (back-end systems, backdoor networks, insider old boys clubs, behind-the-scenes clockwork)… where “real work” is done. They are all around us and stumbling into them can truly test and unsettle you.
- There are truly evil sociopaths out there and you can’t change them and you shouldn’t try.