The Binary Power Construct
In a culture that promotes a construct of power as a binary, you either have power or your don’t.
You are either in power or out of power.
You have power over others or you are constrained under someone else’s power.
You strive to attain power or lament that you can’t get it.
You are either the power player or the pawn in the power games.
In the power over/power under construct, we are always seeking the “balance” of power, the point where power is “even” and “equal.”
Power and Control/Influence
In the binary construct of power over/power under, power depends on control.
If you are in control, you have power. And if you are not, then you don’t.
In this construct, power and influence create a self-reinforcing cycle:
Those who have power gain influence, and those who have influence wield more power.
This cycle perpetuates entrenched dynamics.
Power Over/Power Under Prevents Peace
In a construct of power over/power under, power and peace cannot co-exist.
If you’re striving for power, you’re not at peace.
If you’re out of power, you don’t have peace.
If you’re under someone else’s power you don’t have peace.
And even if you’re in power, you don’t have peace, because you live with the existential anxiety of wondering when you’ll be stripped of your power.
What wrong move will shift the balance of power?
What revolution is building under the surface that will alter the power dynamics?
In a power over/power under construct, any peace is illusory.
The Power Within/Power With Model
Consider, however, a model in which power and peace can co-exist.
In a model of power within, power comes from within you, independent of control or influence.
In a power with model, power strengthens through collaboration and connection.
In a construct of power within/power with, power comes from …
… alignment rather than from force. … connection rather than from combat. … collaboration rather than from winner-take-all competition.
Power Within/Power With Fosters Peace
In the power within/power with construct, not only can peace co-exist with power, but also it is an essential element of creating power.
To access the power within requires accessing the peace within.
It’s only from this place of inner peace that we can source our power.
And when we have peace within, we have peace around us.
When we live in a construct of power within/power with, we don’t need to seek a “balance” of power because power is always whole and complete.
In this model, peace is stable and certain, because it is not existing in a binary tension with power.
In this construct, we can have power and peace at the same time.
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