POWER is a word that brings to mind armies. Weapons, massed forces, volcanic eruptions and the might of energy displaying itself. The POWER of God is all pervasive and not to be mocked else it strikes with unpleasant effects. The idea is that POWER is something that dominates.
In my dictionary there are twenty two meanings for Power but the one that really counts is the first one. Power is “the ability or capacity to do something”.
Not the ability to dominate nor the capacity to subjugate others. Not control, dominion, strength or authority but simply the ability to act. That’s Power and it is given gratis, without conditions, to every one of us through the act of birth. We are all alive in our own Power.
The paradox of that kind of Power, the ability to just ‘be’, is that it is effortless. The mighty engine of the universe is driving all that is without even trying! The ability to exist simply is.
An individual’s Power shows itself through that paradox and like the song says ”you do it best when you do nothing at all”. Effort only occurs where Power is somehow missing in my life, that is, when I feel Powerless and feel that I’m losing the ability to act. Then I try. But the battle is already lost. I have bought into Powerlessness and I’m locked in on making an effort, forcing, trying and doing rather than just ‘being’ me.
Power is the night side of the day. You do not see ‘it’ but you feel the result of that presence in every moment of your life.
The act of birth dynamically vitalizes the cells and organs of the fetus with living breath. Now it is independent and imbued with the force of effortless existence. The child is full of power. Yet if you try to locate that Power you are completely frustrated. You find that the presence of Power is empty. There is no thing to find.
It is during your quietest moments that you realize that the sound of Power is silence. That’s the paradox.
Talking about Power is not Power. Acting is. And when all of the forces in action are beautifully balanced then you have the stillness of not doing. You have a poise of Power. A waiting that is acting everywhere!
When you turn inwards you discover that the core of Power is hollow, that Power does not have density.
When you turn outwards you discover that Power is falling away.
Only when you turn upon yourself is Power with you. This, then, becomes the Power key.
Certainly our Power is the most mysterious of the attributes of life. Utterly elusive yet totally present everywhere. While we each use this astounding faculty quite literally all of the time, nevertheless Power can only be approached through practice. It can never be approached through theory.
You can speculate and reason until you are old and grey. It alters nothing. But when you allow your Power to move you then everything changes now!
