Have you observed how people go through life recognizing only the need for power? Living only on how to get it ?

'Power'. If we really look into modern society, power plays a crucial role for the continuity of its existence. Power makes the world go round, so to speak. Each person plays a power game. A drama. Ordinarily, average people play this game using manipulation and sometimes, violence. They play this power game to obtain what they want - money, fame and glory, sex, even religiosity. The harder they play, the more they make use of their money, capitalize on their popularity, flirt with sex, and even wield fear in the name of God. These things they do to obtain more and more power.

Power game has no standard defined rules, no parameters, no limitations. It is only when a person fails to obtain power and falls flat on his face that he discovers and understands the rules that, in the first place, are only meant for him. It is only then that he comes to realize that the only choice left is to learn by suffering. There may be pain, but unless the lessons is properly recognized and learned, the suffering will not go away. It can only be veiled from the prying eyes of the powers-that-be. Is power bad ? Is it wrong to love power? Does it corrupt a person ? Is it a dirty game ? Or can it be an honest one ? If a person refuses to play the power game, does it make him a weakling ? Incompetent ? A loser ?

Power playing is very basic. We all do it to some extent in so many ways. Different levels and styles. In varied persuasions. We taught ourselves into it. If we observe how children whine, cry, throw up, hold their breath, set a hunger strike, and even resort to flattery and cunning just to be able to get what they want, then we realize that the will to power is synonymous to the will to life. Children know, at a very young age, how to survive. They nstinctively learn how to assert their right to an existence. By throwing a tantrum or bullying others, children make a statement. To a child, this will to survive is the most important factor so he could exist. At this stage of development, this is the ultimate goal. The pleasure of survival has become an end in itself.

At a very young age the decision has been made to play this power game in order to control and have authority over someone and to protect one's self from the cruelty, manipulation, and ruthlessness of others. A young child, in order to control and define his life and survive this difficult world, must teach himself power play. It was Alfred Adler who said that it is natural for a man "to struggle to rise from an inferior to a superior position, from defeat to victory, rising from below to above" ?

We need power so that we can rise above our situation. It gives direction to life. Without this desire for power we can't grow and evolve; we can't and won't accept any form of responsibility, be it for self or for others. Without the power and the will to exist, life has no meaning. Death, too, losses its meaning. Unfortunately, the human kingdom which has been on this planet earth for thousands of years now, doesn't have a "survival manual." There are no courses offered in our educational systems to teach us a definite course of action. No life survival workshops telling us what is true, what is false, what is useful, what is useless, what is permanent, what is temporary, what are the requirements for survival, what are the goals worth pursuing and how to achieve them. We need to discover for ourselves the answers to the whys and the hows of our own existence.

Unfortunately, we don't get to know these things automatically. Only by experimentation, vicarious learning, suffering, direct experience, even intuition and clairvoyance. However, we must first discover the life's questions. A rational man needs action, intelligent survival. We need our reasioning mind to survive creatively. We need to know what we want and pursue it 'selfishly", relentlessly. Power is not only about survival it is how to be alive. It is being intimate with life. We need the will to power to hold on to life, honor and dignity.

True power is life. It is conciousness. It is energy - a higher form of spirituality. This is what real power is all about. As we discover the questions and learn to understand the answers, we need to conciously choose to act on what life requires. This conscious act is a must. It is a responsibility. When we don't consciously accept this responsibility because of negative programming we have created and those created by others against us, we reduced ourselves into parasites - passive survivors. In this case, how do we survive? Without conscious effort to choose life, we become blind imitators and plain followers. Our survival is now a game of chance, always on the look out for someone who would take upon himself the responsibility which we have avoided and consequently rejected.

So we go through life with eyes closed, not knowing where to go and what to do. Not being able to develop the proper standard for survival, we try to cheat life through the use of violence: be it physical, emotional, mental or psychic. When a person uses violence to affirm his existence, he is not powerful. He is weak and blind. He is not aware of the connection of his life to all the life and goodness everywhere. Therefore, he is alone. When we learn to cultivate and enjoy real power, we grow in consciousness and spirituality. Then power ceases to be just a form of manipulation and violence. It now evolves to friendly persuations, logic and reason, negotiations, win-win situations without compromising standards and principles.

True power is not borrowed. It cannot be given and shared. It must be earned and accepted, taken and asserted. Once you have it, you must use it for it is a tool. Practice it for it is a technique. Love it for it is a gift. To quote my Teacher, Master Choa Kok Sui: "In its truest esoteric sense, the mastery of non-injury is the mastery of power."