Rant 141 / Stating The Obvious

Everyone is born with the same amount of power. When we elect/support a leader, we give him/her a portion of this power. This makes the leader powerful. By giving in to a person, we invest our own power in that person.

Desire is the main reason for most of our loss of power. When we want something that belongs to someone, we become willing to give a fraction of our inborn power to the person who owns it. Once this exchange is done, it is called a trade.

Take for example, the relationship between an employer and an employee. The employee desires a steady income and, perhaps, job security. These can be provided by the employer. Therefore, the employee gives the employer part of his inborn power in exchange for what he/she desires from the latter.

Or we can look at our interpersonal relationships. In such relationships, we invest our powers into each other. We allow, to a degree, others to control ourselves. In return, we have control over the others, also to the same degree. When a friend asks you for a small favour, you will most likely agree. In this act, you have just given a small bit of your power to your friend. You then expect this friend to reciprocate in the future. In this, your friend gives a little of his/her power to you.

Of course, he/she can later refuse you, retracting the power that should have been invested in you. In this case, you would then do the same to your friend, leaving him/her powerless over you. In more basic terms, you will then refuse to do what your friend will ask you to do in the future.

This is true unless your friend has something you desire. Like his/her goodwill or friendship. In this case, you will not retract your power completely. But this is another issue known as Trust.

Or we can have someone who lives on the land. A hermit living in a forest. He will then have to depend completely on the forest for food. This is the desire to eat only what the land has to offer. This gives the forest power over him. But the forest is not a sentient being, therefore it is ignorant of this exchange.

Humans have always been aware of this exchange. In fact, we have been so used to it even before the beginning of civilization that we cannot accept the fact that Nature does not deal in this sort of trade. So we invent deities: Earth God, Thunder God, God of Fertility and etc, in order to convince ourselves that everything conforms to this rule.

Too many people do not realize this trade, even though everyone depends on it to survive. We all depend on farmers around the world, and if all of them decides to work together and go on strike, we will give in to their demands.

This is the basis of civilization. Without this trade, we would still be hunting for food. We wouldn't even be farming or rearing cattle, because, for example, we would then desire tools, thus giving power to the blacksmith. Or you can make your own tools and depend on yourself for everything, but that wouldn't be exactly what we call a civilization.