Another lingering reflection, about the power of mankind and how mankind so often uses power for destructive purposes.
Sometimes, in our current political context, I think I'm just watching a movie about the Roman Empire (Gladiator II comes out this Friday, so maybe I am...).
It’s almost as if we don’t understand what real power actually is, not to mention the one it actually possesses. History is fraught with epic flows of power-plays that, across the landscape of time, invariably seem rather short-lived (relatively speaking — not, of course, to those who have been systematically annihilated by them).
I find myself increasingly out of place with the prevailing winds of our cultural understanding of the purposes of power, especially when it comes down to the impacts on collective good (or even personal good, for that matter).
Invariably, this current understanding of power seems to simply translate to a kind of personal power that often ends up having very little to do with the benefit of mankind. It’s almost as if that part gets forgotten against the backdrop of securing and then fortifying personal power. Over and over again it is easy to observe how that kind of power disintegrates until, finally (often after so much corresponding death), there is a rising again of something represented by a more of collective understanding of how power should be used.
Some kings (or dictators...whatever) throughout history certainly (in some cases) have had a dramatic effect on their world. But, inevitably in time when that kind of power was used to suppress the basic needs of humanity at large, it ends up falling apart and withering away.
Not only is it a gross (literally in most cases) misuse of it, it is also a serious misunderstanding of the true nature of power, especially in terms of things like goodness — it is so shortsighted, so self-serving, and so…actually powerless in the end.
It is often claimed (by those in power) that power is most legitimized by its ability to maintain peace. But, why is it then so observable that it too often simply creates the opposite effect?
Perhaps, this is because there is a fundamental flaw and true understanding about the best features of power, and the greatest virtues it can create.
Maybe that's the silver-lining here....