The problem of power

I’ve written on the subject of power and religion before, but I wanted to revisit this after stumbling on this nice quotation from Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune:

This is the fallacy of power: ultimately it is effective only in an absolute, a limited universe. But the basic lesson of our relativistic universe is that things change. Any power must always meet a greater power…

— The Preacher at Arrakeen

This quotation is a great explanation why power and authority are such a problem in society. People accumulate power, through work, politics, or religion but before long, they feel that power slipping from their hands as the environment changes. Then, people instinctively grip tighter on that power, keeping it that much longer, but also sowing the seeds of their own demise. Even when people are certain they’re doing what’s right for others, there’s in an implicit “I know more than you” statement that leads to arrogance and ego.

This is true on a personal level, but also in global politics too. This is among the reasons why empires fall (besides internal corruption) . As the environment changes, and the central government loses control of other groups, it tries to reassert authority, only creating more problems.

Excercising power is a things best avoided altogether. It entangles one in problems that rarely resolve easily, and creates an environment of tension, not collaboration.

This is of course very much in keeping with Buddhism in that one has to recognize that all phenomena are constantly changing and impermanent. Things slip through one’s fingers like sand all the time: power, youth, etc. The Buddha taught how we tend to cling even tighter to what we want to keep, but that the healthy approach is to learn to let go instead. Second, the Buddha spoke often about the dangers of entanglement. One practices the Buddhist path to become less tangled by life, not to worsen the situation. By being free from entanglement, one can see things more clearly and also can be more sincere and kind to others. You can’t really be kind to someone when you’re trying to compel them to do something.

Namuamidabu