« U.S. Patent Office re-examines Amazon's 'One Click' patent | Main | Primacy »
May 28, 2006
An Analysis of Power Without Versus Power Within
The effects of the exertion of human will can be separated into two different categories: effects on that which is external to the individual (“power without”), and effects on that which is internal to the individual (“power within”). For the purposes of this analysis, the individual’s physical body will be regarded as external, applying a dualist view of reality in which the individual is Soul and everything else is Nature. The Soul could be described as a hybrid of mind and spirit (what the Ancient Egyptians referred to as “akh”), while Nature could be described as everything else, or the subject matter of sensory experience.
This dual system of power creates a dual system of resolution to virtually any problem experienced by the individual. A problem is resolved either by power without, or power within, unless the situation resolves itself, in which case it was never really a problem, but only the illusion of a problem, from the individual’s perspective.
For an illustrative example, consider the problem of desire. An individual desire’s for food. The individual may use power without, to obtain food in the external world. Or the individual may use power within, and eliminate his own desire for food. If the second choice was made, then the individual has the problem of pending death. The individual may employ power without, again to obtain that which will stop death – food in this case – or the individual may eliminate his own desire for continued life. In either way, the problem is removed and the Soul is no longer troubled. If you think this example was one-sided, apply the same analysis to the desire for cigarettes.
Another important example is the problem of fear. An individual may resolve this problem using power without, namely destroying or otherwise restraining that which is feared, or the individual may employ power within, to find the courage to overcome his own sense of fear.
At this point in the analysis, it can be argued that power without and power within are equally effective in dealing with any problem. But when one considers True Will, the analysis changes.
In this context, True Will is defined as the Soul’s purpose. This, of course, is denying nihilism, which is a point of view that offers no possibility that one’s actions or one’s life matter in any way whatsoever.
When one has purposes to consider, especially their True Will, the consequences of one’s actions must be considered in choosing between power without and power within, when attempting to resolve a particular problem. For example, if it is one’s True Will to build a temple, one must live long enough to do so, and in the example above of the desire for food, one cannot choose power within, because the consequence of death would impair the individual’s fulfillment of his highest purpose.
Likewise, if it is one’s True Will to be elected as a governor, but that individual is afraid of publicity, it would be much better for the individual to address his own internal fear, rather than exerting power without to avoid publicity.
Some philosophers, such as Siddhartha Gautama, the Stoics, Aristotle, and Lao Tzu, tend to stress the importance of power over one’s self (power within) – whereas other philosophers, such as Plato, and Sun Tzu, are focused more on power over others (power without). But by this analysis, an individual must have both sorts of power to effectively resolve problems in such ways that would not create obstacles to the fulfillment of one’s True Will.
Posted by andrewanissi at May 28, 2006 02:14 PM