The Nature Of Power

Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anaemic.

- Martin Luther King Jr.

The five developmental forces, along with their corresponding emotions, give potency to life. Fear thrusts you forward, and taming it gives you the confidence to face the unknown and seize opportunities. Love creates transcendental experiences and unlocks your creativity while evolving your relationships. Hate gives shape to your boundaries and assertiveness to your actions, and lets others trust that you have a backbone. Pride lights up your potential and gives you legitimacy in the world so you can shape it in your vision. Shame slows you down enough to absorb the necessary knowledge for self-reflection and practical living. When all five are skilfully combined, you have the core elements of power.

Like the ingredients for a cake, it is difficult to differentiate between each one when you only have a final product. While we live within the realm of power at all times, we generally have little awareness of how it comes together, let alone how we can influence it. As long as we remain wrapped up in the ego and the stories it tells us, we will eat whatever cake the world gives us. When power structures solidify in our minds, we forget that they can be changed. Yet change them we can, starting...