Power is extraordinary, isn’t it? People with power are making the news left, right and centre at the moment. So much so that we might think that ordinary people – the likes of you and me – are insignificant. If we fell off the face of the planet tomorrow, would the Earth shudder? In my case certainly, there would be no big bulletins. But powerful people are different. When they sneeze or cough, others jump.

Where do powerful people get their power from?

What makes someone powerful? Historically, it came from physical strength. Just as in the animal kingdom there are fights to determine the dominant male or female, in more barbaric times there were battles for strength. Leaders emerged because people followed them, either for protection or out of fear. Wars are a remnant of this crude approach.

As humanity evolves, there is a gradual shift from brutish strength to a more subtle phase. Power now, more than at any other time, is the ability to change minds – the manipulation of mass consciousness.

It takes three to tango

A leader can only remain while others, the followers, allow it. The head of a democracy is there only by permission. Power is a loan, not a gift or a right.

So there are three aspects, not two, to a position of power: 1. a leader 2. followers or the led, and 3. the relationship between the two. 1 & 2 are visible but 3 is a matter of consciousness. Without that bridge, 1 & 2 cannot exist, just as a tango cannot take place without the dancers, and there are no dancers without the tango.

The world may be alarmed at the choice of president of the American people. But it was their choice and was a product of their collective consciousness. He was put, and remains, in power by the mandate of ordinary folk.

Why we must help create a peaceful collective consciousness

We may feel pretty helpless to do much to influence the way of the world, yet there is much we can do. And the main thing is that we have to find our own peace.

If we take care of our own consciousness and make it strong and peaceful, we contribute to the consciousness of the whole. It’s automatic, like pouring clear water into a muddy pool. If enough of us do that, the muddy waters become clearer and lighter. That’s much more useful than stirring the mud with a dirty stick.

Find your heart first

It may well be that we need to act, to speak, to protest or just do things differently. But we have to do so from a position of inner peace. If we are in touch with our full presence, we can help very much. We will be guided by our intuition and less likely to make mistakes. Passionate we may be, but from the heart, not the gut.

Living from the heart, we harm no-one nor wish harm. Only the good of the whole is of interest. Fearlessly able to love and be loved, we exude peace. Then we influence. Now that’s real power.

There’s more on finding peace for the good of the whole in this book.