“The rich man in his castle, the poor man …" —Cecil Frances Alexander, All Things Bright and Beautiful*
all we know is stories,
and we are under the spell
of stories we believe
and we are under the spell
of stories we believe
the story of power we are led to believe
is that some people are innately powerful
or powerful by right, the rest of us not
is that some people are innately powerful
or powerful by right, the rest of us not
some people understand power and use it,
and the rest of us don’t; that’s the truth
and the rest of us don’t; that’s the truth
people who use power get what they want
by having the rest of us give it them,
by having the rest of us give it them,
spellbound as we are by what we believe
to break the spell, no one need do more
than need be done to simply be and let be
with choiceless awareness
than need be done to simply be and let be
with choiceless awareness
“Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained elite of soldiers,
policemen, thought-manufacturers and mind-manipulators will quietly run
the show as they see fit.”
—Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, 1958*
—Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, 1958*
“Understanding power and overcoming it through that understanding is the only path to liberation we can take as individuals, as societies, and as a species.”
—Jonathan Cook, 2020*
—Jonathan Cook, 2020*
four insatiable desires: acquisitiveness, rivalry, vanity, and love of power / Bertrand Russell*
“Love of power is greatly increased by the experience of power, and this applies to petty power as well as to that of potentates.”
—Bertrand Russell, 1950 Nobel Lecture, archived*
—Bertrand Russell, 1950 Nobel Lecture, archived*
*a link; see a note on notes and links; see also a disclaimer
choiceless awareness (!*) / on this site
choiceless awareness (!*) / on another site