Mind Games And Intrinsic Value
You know Robert Greene's 48 Laws Of Power, these 48 Laws are to a certain degree just mind games to tip the perceived balance of power from one party to another?
What I noticed about power is that it's quite useless in and of itself, you have to have some form of counterparty, resistance or opposition that will determine the value or effectiveness of the power you held.
I don't think it's completely false that one of the key motivators to seek power is simply the human need to feel significant in relation to others.
This fundamental desire for significance manifests differently across individuals, but its core remains remarkably consistent.
We want to matter in the grand tapestry of human relations and power becomes a visible metric of this significance. A near tangible measure of our perceived impact on the world and others.
But somehow, this raises an intriguing paradox. Because if power derives its meaning from external validation, can it truly be considered an intrinsic value?
I mean, the very nature of power seems to contradict intrinsic worth. It's perpetually tethered to the recognition and response of others who are often oblivious to our inner turmoil and 'desperate' search for meaning.
To others, we may just be another face in the crowd, another player in their game. But in our reality, we're actually carrying entire universes of hopes, fears, and dreams within us with power as the tool to govern this said universe.
Effortless Action
In this light, power might be better viewed as a proxy. Maybe, just a substitute currency we use to purchase the illusion of self-worth in a marketplace of human relations that's quite indifferent to our individual quests for significance.
Now, looking into the relationship between power and authentic self-worth shows a fascinating psychological maze to me.
It's quite observable that those who possess true intrinsic value - a stable, internally-generated sense of worth - paradoxically tend to wield influence without actively seeking it.
There's this concept that ancient philosophers termed "effortless action" or "wu-wei," where power flows naturally. It's tangible and recognizable without any need for assertion or declaration.
As an example, I remember trekking through the forest with my siblings and our grandfather during our countryside visits.
He was the quite type and never once proclaimed his authority or wisdom. We just naturally followed his lead, hanging on to every word when he pointed out hidden trails, identified bird calls, and shared stories of the land.
His power came from authentic knowledge and genuine care - not from any conscious attempt to command our attention or respect.
Grasping Is Counterproductive
The point of the matter is that from such a lens, trying to grasp power as a solution to our lack of self-worth creates an inverse relationship through which the more desperately one pursues power as a means of validation, the more it reveals an underlying absence of intrinsic self-worth.
To me, the mind games detailed in works like "48 Laws of Power" could provide tactical advantages, but they also perpetuate a cycle of dependency on external validation. Perhaps, law 48, be like water, is one of the exceptions.
In a general and broad sense, a truly powerful individual is the one who becomes so grounded in their intrinsic worth that they no longer feel compelled to prove their significance to an indifferent world. Those who matter, don't mind and those who mind, don't matter, they say.
Now, to a rather peculiar question. Is the ultimate form of power the ability to be completely indifferent to power itself?
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