Power is Not a Dirty Word

Alongside ego, money and control, ‘power’ seems to be another word that has earned itself a bad reputation in spiritually focused circles, but it’s dangerous to ignore it’s potential. Power needs to be used consciously. You need a healthy conscience if you want to be conscious.

Your values are the foundations of your conscience and a major part of defining your destiny. Your ability to be true to your values, especially when they are tested, is the fuel for deepening, expanding and evolving your consciousness. As you fine-tune your values, your conscience is heightened and so the power of your consciousness increases all the time.

There are two categories of power in life.  One is internal, personal power, which is two fold. You have inherited certain types of power from your family that is encoded into your DNA, which you develop and personalise as you grow through life. You’ve also generated your own sources of power along your way through life. This power is alive inside you. The other category of power is external, collective, universally shared power. From a spiritual perspective, this external power is also inside you, because as some spiritual aspirants will tell you when you mention spiritual power that, “all is one, without a second,” or to put it another way, “what is within is without”. However, few people live in a constant state of spiritual consciousness, so most people experience a sense of internal and external power, but not everyone can manage that power.

External power is power outside of you and it’s often an experience outside of your sphere of influence. It can be felt as an impact on your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual growth and development. It affects people, places and things such as your time, energy, space and money. A useful way to view power is see it as a neutral source of energy to be used in a positive or negative manner. Internal or external power can be destructive or constructive. This is why having a conscience and being conscious is important when it comes to handling power.

In varying degrees, internal power and it’s potential lives inside everyone. These powers are possibilities that everyone can realise if the need or desire is there to awaken them.  In the tradition of yoga, each power relates to various locations in your physical body. These locations are known as chakras.

Each category of power, either external or internal, contains different types of power. Forms of internal power are personal to the individual. Some examples are listed here, but feel free to add yours to the list.

Internal Powers

1. Physical power
2. Power of safety
3. Power of fate
4. Power of fear
5. Power of equality
6. Familial power
7. Social power
8. Community power
9. Survival power
10. Power of respect
11. Power of responsibility
12. Power of boundaries
13. Financial power
14. Creative power
15. Sexual power
16. Power of passion
17. Sensual power
18. Instinctive power
19. Evolutionary power
20. Power of Ego
21. Motivational power
22. Power of honour
23. Power of integrity
24. Emotional power
25. Power of love
26. Power of trust
27. Healing power
28. Will power
29. Communication power
30. Power of choice
31. Co-creative power
32. Power of intention
33. Power of faith
34. Power of 5 senses
35. Power of justice
36. Power of mercy
37. Power of time
38. Mental power
39. Power of thought
40. Power of learning
41. Power of experience
42. Power of common sense
43. Philosophical power
44. Imaginative power
45. Power of intuition
46. Power of belief
47. Power of wisdom
48. Power of soul
49. Power of space
50. Archetypal power
51. Power of energy
52. Power of concentration
53. Power of awareness
54. Power of conscience
55. Power of consciousness
56. Philanthropic power
57. Humanitarian power
58. Vocational power
59. Power of inspiration
60. Spiritual power
61. Power of grace
62. Power of destiny

…and of course, the power of humour. Forms of external power are similar in many ways to internal power. They are external, global forces that impact various groups, the communities, institutions, corporations, countries that make up humanity. Add the following external powers to the previous list of your internal powers to gain a fuller picture of various types of external power. Be sure to add your own versions of external power to the following list too.

External Powers

1. Power of nature
2. Power of health
3. Power of education
4. Power of employment
5. Peer power
6. Cultural power
7. Power of technology
8. Economic  power
9. Political power
10. Religious power
11. Social welfare power
12. Power of evolution
13. Power of collective soul
14. Power of collective consciousness
15. Power of highest consciousness

It is difficult to deny that these external forces of power are not greater than human beings, although some powers are easier for people to manipulate than others.

You can’t stop the process of evolution.

It’a hard, but if you really want to, you can stand up to the power of peer pressure or social power.

You will have a challenge on your hands it you try to fight the power of religion which has a hold over another human being’s body, mind and spirit.

When the power of fear is excessive, it can have a strangle hold over your entire being. However, if you want to balance the power it has over you, and bring it to a manageable level, then face your fears and make friends’ with each one. Fear is a reliable ally that can be used to alert you when the things that are important to you are under threat. If there is a lack of fear, then you will be gullible, naïve and vulnerable to being in danger, overpowered or bullied. You can explore and learn more about managing fear with my ebooks, “A Dialogue with the Soul” and “A Question of Balance.” Let me know and I’ll send them to you.

It’s not easy to change a global and collectively held belief, but if you are daring and determined enough, like Christopher Columbus, you will prove to the world that the earth is not flat.

This raises an interesting question about internal power, which for some, may offer a glimpse into the spiritual maxim: “All is one, without a second.” If external power is such a great force to reckon with, then how strong is internal power? Can internal power be equal in terms of force of energy as external power? Are human beings really a powerhouse of energy yet to be realised? It is worth considering the possibilities. After all, if no one entertained the idea that the world was not flat, then how long would it have taken everyone to realise that it was in fact round?

There are different levels of experience of power. At the lower end of the spectrum of each power is a lower level of power. It corresponds to less than ideal or negative expression of power when each power is used without enough quality input from your conscience. At the upper end of each power, you will encounter higher levels of power that correspond to more positive or ideal expressions of power. If you were to live constantly in the lower end of the spectrum of any power, the experience would be hell. If you were to always live in the upper end of the power spectrum, life would be heaven, but the truth is, you are human and you live on earth.

When your internal power of imagination is overused, to say the very least, it will cloud your judgment and reduce your power of common sense.  When the power of imagination is deficient, it will reduce your ability to be creative, and certainly have an adverse effect on your creative power. When your power of imagination is in balance, then your ability to distinguish truth from illusion is possible.

If external political power is wielded to excess, this can result in oppression and a widening of the gap between lower, middle and upper classes, thus reducing much more than just your internal survival and social power.  If political power is deficient, history indicates that those with greater financial power and less philanthropic power step in and take over the country. Again, this will affect you personally as it reduces your own survival and financial powers. When political power is balanced, many more citizens have more opportunities to thrive.

When the external force of nature strikes, the excess of power does not discriminate. Humans are at the mercy of fire, wind, water, air and earth manifest as house fires or bush fires,  tsunamis, tidal waves, cyclones and tornadoes  earthquakes and volcanoes as each one will cause chaos, devastation, loss of life and tragedy.  When the power of nature is diminished, climate change is the result. When nature is in balance, it’s elements bring a bounty that offers natural cycle of seasons that bring transformation, warmth, hydration, light, cleanliness, safety, security, sustenance, nurturing and decay and growth to the entire planet.

You are not an angel and you are not a demon. You are a human being, and you reside on this earth. The truth for each person lies somewhere in between, on your own middle earth.  It is each person’s task to find their own middle road through life and to walk in between the extremities on the road called Balance. To find your middle way in life can often be a catch 22, but you need to start somewhere, so start at the beginning. One at a time, work on developing your internal powers. Balance your internal powers so that when one or more are lost, mislaid or thrown off balance as a result of an impact from external powers, then your wobble will be brief, instead of drawn out or permanent.

To understand power and to use it wisely is the purpose of power. Power is contaminated when it is out of balance. When there is a balance of power, it becomes the force that supports a clear conscience, and healthy and long-lasting life.