This article is written so that we can take a look at hierarchical power systems, such as in corporations, governments, and societies, jobs, careers, and families; and we are most of all going to take a look at how they are destined to fail, simply because the ego is an illusion and has no idea how to manage power of any sort. Ego has no idea how to manage power, because any power it holds, at whatever level is always an illusion. Illusory power cannot teach you how to work with power, and it is for that reason that all powers in the world rise and fall with time and space, and through the power of corruption, including our own.
It is easy for us to understand that egoic power is based on an illusion, particularly when we generalize and focus on those obvious places where ego causes all sorts of mayhem and when we point to others in our society or life that seems to abuse power. However, those areas are the areas that are already exposed for ego, and so they don’t really help us if we are on the path of self-actualization, particular when we fail to observer where we too have been corrupted by power. The areas that we are most challenged with are the areas where we believe in the power of ego – where we believe that a promotion of rank of any kind, within a social caste system (if possible) or at work, immediately translates to your inner and natural ability to manage power.
As humans we tend to feel good when we get a compliment or a new opportunity, or when we achieve something that gives us a sense of power or importance. It is important to watch these moments of “happiness”, because therein you can see where your own ego tends to find its energy. People who are not in power tend to envy power and those who have it, and people who have power tend to abuse it – both are the same, but they are just on a different spectrum. Both are being pulled by ego, and both are living in an illusion, in a love affair with forms of power.
All corporations and governments fall into corruption through the misuse and abuse of power. We know this particularly when we find out about the abuse, and how awful the abusers have been, hiding their secrets from the public or those who serve them. One read of Tacitus’ Annals of Rome is enough to convince you have the power of corruption and the corruption of power. However, most people fail to see how the ego abuses power simply because the entire structure allows for it through confirmation of power. When most see or hear of a CEO of a large company, most people automatically assume that the person is “in control” or is highly capable of managing the power he has through his title – suddenly the person seems greater and bigger than the average human being. We do this with celebrity, as we believe that they have access to something the average human does not have. We think that because someone has work in an area of industry, whether that is technological or spiritual, for a while, that they have authority over us and over what is good for us.
When a society becomes saturated with celebrity, religious (world religions or new age), and CEO worship; when it removes all sense of proportion and realization, it engages in a fantasy where many believe that those who are said to be powerful are the equivalent of power: titles, wealth, fame, and names of momentous power through the assent of the masses or those who nominate or elect them. The endemic phenomenon of power-worship comes in all forms, and in all shapes and sizes. It worships musicians, spiritual leaders, gods, angels, ascended masters, imaginary beings in the form of aliens, movie stars, politicians, government officials, YouTube “influencers”, CEOs, high ranking officials, etc. All of those and more are a function of the human imagination, which in turn is a function of Mind, and the egoic identification. It is key that each one of us look and see where we are worshipping powers. In the Old Testament, it was in the form of idol worship over the worship of God. In the New Testament, it is in the form of the love of power, over the love of God. It becomes so severe that those who worship these powers no longer consult their own intuition, their inner wisdom or guidance; nor do they consult those around them either, unless they hold a power similar to the one they worship.
The absurdity of our present culture is unfortunately everywhere:
Imagine that all the flowers in the garden believe that they no longer have the authority to grow in their own way, or to rely on themselves for guidance as to which way the sun best shines, or on the best time to bloom, and the best time to go dormant. Instead, they look to the weeds who seem to thrive and are powerful for guidance in how to grow, how to feed, and even how bloom. Imagine also that all the animals of the world stop listening to their intuition and choose to nominate one specific form of animal to be their guide and education, to have power over the decisions simply by imitating him. That is what so many human beings are doing at an extreme level in all areas of life during this age, by and large due to the excessive use of technology. I have seen it in the corporate world and the world of spirituality. It is decadence and powerlessness that evolves from those areas – inevitable decline and a marked inability to achieve embodiment of essence in a way that is truly powerful, such as the power of a lion who thrives in the Savanna, or the power of the great whale in the magnificent oceans of the world.
Humanity is filled with a suffering, the inner knowing that it is the ego, and that it is an imposter; the deeper awareness that its greedy desire for success has deprived itself of enjoying the full beauty and richness of presence to nature, to love, and to life. To fill itself and forget its pain, it seeks the surface pleasures that the ego has prepared, through technology and through physical means, through chasing money and career, in order to feel some semblance of power and relevance. Some also choose to chase spiritual powers, in order to feel special and to have hegemony over those who are less spiritual – these live in their imaginations and projects and the projections of others, unhealed and wounded, pretending that they happy to live as long as they can leave this world. All of it is a game – all of it, until all aspects of ego – the ego who we used to think that we were, the foundation of all the mayhem and drama of the world – are diminished into their proper size, value, and aspect, until they appear to be what they are: a shimmering, transparent, image, projected for the Witness to see and refuse to become.
Soul in the machine 