Mastering the right use of power appears to be a major test facing humanity today. Whether we are speaking about political, corporate and citizen power or that particular form of energy which powers our computers and home appliances, there is a need to better understand this natural driving force. The challenge of power is also a personal probation that presents itself in several guises. Here is one such scenario. Through the classroom of everyday life we are learning to develop more loving and respectful relationships with each other. But what happens when we introduce a new element into the equation and the power of ‘who I am’ meets the power of ‘who you are’?
In a self-centered and egotistical world such a meeting often ends in conflict and an ensuing power struggle. However, when we are operating more as integrated and soul-infused personalities, these two ‘powers’ meet and create an even greater force field for good. Instead of confrontation and competition, there is a symbiotic pooling of resources in service of something greater.
The splitting of the atom in the 1940s revealed to us the awesome power inherent in matter. A critical question on our collective mind at present is how to best access, harness and mobilize this power of Life to benefit all of humanity. From a spiritual perspective, we might surmise that pure nuclear energy is the Power of the Fire of Love residing in the core of our heart that is generated and released through a loving fusion with other hearts and with the Heart of the Universe. This unlimited source of universal energy is called forth by a synthesis of love and not through fission and the splitting of the elements of life.
As each of us takes on greater responsibility for serving a higher cause, we are given the necessary power with which to successfully complete the assignment. Power is a package of energy comprising the inner and outer resources (psychic energy, soul qualities, the right people as co-workers, finances, materials etc.) needed to support the Common Good. When we support the Common Good we access the power of the Common Wealth.
An old Chinese saying declares, “You can have as much power as you like as long as you don’t use it for personal gain.” Real power is therefore not so much derived from a ‘position’ we might temporarily be holding in society but from wholeheartedly engaging with and serving Life. With more power comes more responsibility and with more responsibility comes more power. This is the dynamic dance describing the evolution of consciousness as it moves along the upward virtuous spiral of service.
So the question is whether you and I are really ready to accept and embrace this universal resource that is the soul’s natural power to build a new world or are we, in fact, still afraid of claiming and wielding this spiritual birthright? As Marianne Williamson emphatically states in her book, Return to Love:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.