{"id":4355,"date":"2020-09-13T14:17:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-13T14:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/?p=4355"},"modified":"2020-09-14T13:39:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T13:39:38","slug":"citas-quotes-about-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/2020\/09\/13\/citas-quotes-about-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Citas: Quotes about power"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taken from here<\/a><\/p>\n

The following is a transcript of this video.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither necessity nor desire, but the love of power, is the demon of mankind. You may give men everything possible health, food, shelter, enjoyment but they are and remain unhappy . . . for the demon waits and waits; and must be satisfied. Let everything else be taken away from men, and let this demon be satisfied, and then they will nearly be happy as happy as men and demons can be. . .\u201d<\/p>\n

Nietzsche, The Dawn<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cPower corrupts.\u201d (Lord Acton) \u201cPower is endlessly seductive.\u201d (Robert Greene) \u201cPower developed to its utmost is happiness.\u201d (Nietzsche) Power has been many things to many people, but one thing is certain: whether we admit it or not we all desire power and how we satiate this need, or fail to do so, greatly influences the course and quality of our life. In this video we explore the nature of power and we discuss how the games of power that define modern societies are rigged in ways that favour tyranny at a social level and mental illness at an individual level.<\/p>\n

The 20th century mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell defined power as\u00a0\u201cthe production of intended effects.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Power, in other words,\u00a0is the ability to cause deliberate change to\u00a0the\u00a0conditions\u00a0of the\u00a0world\u00a0so as to\u00a0bring them more in line with\u00a0one\u2019s\u00a0needs\u00a0and\u00a0desires.\u00a0Power is\u00a0thus\u00a0a value neutral force.\u00a0It\u00a0can be used\u00a0in the service of\u00a0life-promoting\u00a0ends\u00a0or it can be used for destructive purposes. But to judge an expression of power as good or bad, the ends\u00a0aimed at\u00a0are\u00a0not the only criteria\u00a0to consider as in most acts of\u00a0power other people play\u00a0an important role\u00a0as\u00a0the\u00a0means in the achievement of our ends, or as the psychologist\u00a0Silvano\u00a0Arieti\u00a0explains:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a man relied only on his own ability to satisfy his desires, power would be a synonym for personal ability. Any achievement would be the result of one\u2019s performance, but this is seldom the case. In order to bring about intended effects, people need other people; they must exert an influence on them so that the latter will help attain the desired results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silvano Arieti, The Will to Be Human<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Influence over others can take immoral forms such as\u00a0through\u00a0the use\u00a0of force, domination, coercion\u00a0or\u00a0manipulation,\u00a0but we can also\u00a0influence\u00a0people in\u00a0value positive\u00a0ways\u00a0such as\u00a0through\u00a0an appeal to truth, the setting of a\u00a0good\u00a0example, or by making\u00a0others\u00a0aware of how their interests align with ours.\u00a0While each\u00a0of us\u00a0has the ability to choose\u00a0the\u00a0ends\u00a0we\u00a0aim at and the means\u00a0we use to\u00a0attain\u00a0our\u00a0ends,\u00a0what is not under our control is our desire for power.\u00a0For power is among the most fundamental of our needs\u00a0or as Nietzsche\u00a0explains:<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery animal. .instinctively strives for an optimum of favorable conditions under which it can expend all its strength and achieve its maximal feeling of power; every animal abhors, just as instinctively\u00a0. . .\u00a0every kind of intrusion or hindrance that obstructs or could obstruct this path to the optimum [of power]\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The\u00a0ability to express power promotes survival in a world full of threats\u00a0and it helps create a life worth living in\u00a0a world that can bog us down with suffering and boredom.\u00a0It is\u00a0the ultimate antidote to what Carl Jung calls \u201cthe eternal experience and the eternal problem of mankind\u201d, namely \u201cour helplessness and weakness\u201d\u00a0(Carl Jung, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious),\u00a0and thus\u00a0power is needed if we are to flourish.\u00a0Without power we stagnate,\u00a0with power we\u00a0venture out into the\u00a0world in active pursuit of what we need\u00a0and\u00a0want.\u00a0We can deny our will to power, or our will to power can be crushed by external forces, but\u00a0as Jung notes\u00a0when an impulse\u00a0as strong as our will to power is\u00a0thwarted\u00a0we suffer:<\/p>\n

\u201c[We] may be able to suppress [an impulse], but [we] cannot alter\u00a0[its]\u00a0nature, and what is suppressed comes up again in another place in altered form, but this time loaded with a resentment that makes the otherwise\u00a0. . .\u00a0natural impulse our enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carl Jung, Aion<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While\u00a0our desire for power\u00a0is rooted deep within our nature,\u00a0power differs from\u00a0our\u00a0other\u00a0biological\u00a0needs in that it is not self-limiting.\u00a0Too much food or drink produces illness, too much sex produces\u00a0disgust\u00a0and\u00a0we can only sleep for so long\u00a0before our body forces us awake.\u00a0But\u00a0as\u00a0Arieti\u00a0explains\u00a0in\u00a0his book\u00a0The Will to Be Human<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026the drive for power is potentially endless and boundless. Some people in search of power cannot conceive any limitation to it. Such people as Alexander the Great and Napoleon could have had all the wealth and sex they wanted in the early period of their political life, but they continued to seek more and more power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silvano Arieti, The Will to Be Human<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That mankind\u2019s thirst for power is for all practical purposes limitless presents a problem,\u00a0for\u00a0while\u00a0each\u00a0us\u00a0needs\u00a0a modicum of\u00a0power\u00a0to properly function\u00a0and while power is the force that leads to the achievement\u00a0of\u00a0great feats, too much power, especially\u00a0when expressed in the\u00a0social or political realm,\u00a0can easily corrupt.\u00a0If\u00a0a society\u00a0is\u00a0to\u00a0flourish, therefore, there\u00a0must\u00a0be\u00a0rules, norms, customs and social institutions\u00a0that help channel the expression of power in life promoting ways and that limit the accumulation of too much\u00a0social or political\u00a0power in the hands of any one person or group.\u00a0In most modern societies\u00a0the opposite situation prevails.\u00a0Immense power is being centralized in the hands of statist and globalist institutions and the\u00a0wielders\u00a0of this power are now using it\u00a0in ways that inhibit the ability\u00a0of\u00a0the rest of us to cultivate our power in socially cooperative and individually enhancing ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to the extent that government is strong,\u201d writes\u00a0Leopold\u00a0Kohr\u00a0\u201cthe individual is weak, with the result that even if his title is citizen, his position is that of subject.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leopold Kohr,\u00a0Breakdown of Nations<\/em><\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a\u00a0population\u00a0we have been\u00a0divided into two\u00a0classes: there are the ruling elites who believe they should have the power to control the world, while the rest of us are being conditioned to believe that we shouldn\u2019t even have the power to control our own lives.\u00a0This is a perilous situation\u00a0which\u00a0if not corrected\u00a0for\u00a0could\u00a0result\u00a0in us being a\u00a0generation forced to endure a brutal\u00a0reign\u00a0of\u00a0tyranny, for\u00a0as\u00a0George Orwell wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Orwell, 1984<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what is the solution to this challenge\u00a0we face?\u00a0Some claim that love will save the world,\u00a0but\u00a0tyrants are not moved by such feelings. Others claim that\u00a0the\u00a0truth will set us free\u00a0but as Nietzsche recognized truth\u00a0alone\u00a0is\u00a0never\u00a0enough:<\/p>\n

\u201cTruth in itself is no power at all\u2026Truth must either attract power to its side, or else side with power, for otherwise it will perish again and again. This has already been sufficiently demonstrated, and more than sufficiently!\u201d<\/p>\n

Nietzsche, The Dawn<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the end only power thwarts power\u00a0or as Frederick Douglass wrote:\u00a0\u201cPower concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>If a society is to\u00a0escape the grip of tyrants, power\u00a0must be brought\u00a0to the side of freedom.\u00a0But the\u00a0type\u00a0of power needed to accomplish this feat is\u00a0not the same as the power that backs tyrants\u00a0as\u00a0more people cultivating\u00a0the\u00a0ability to dominate, manipulate and coerce\u00a0others, will\u00a0only lead to one group of tyrants being replaced by another. Tyrants are defeated by more people cultivating\u00a0their\u00a0personal\u00a0power\u00a0and then using this power to live in a free manner and to resist the chains of tyranny.<\/p>\n

How is\u00a0this life-promoting\u00a0power cultivated? Through the process of self-realization\u00a0which according to Jung\u00a0\u201crepresents\u00a0the strongest\u00a0[and]\u00a0most ineluctable urge in every being<\/em>\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0which\u00a0\u201cis a law of nature and thus of invincible power<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0(Carl Jung, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious)\u00a0To self-realize is to actualize our potentials, to cultivate our skills,\u00a0to adapt to the outer world, and to bring harmony to our inner world.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery individual needs revolution, inner division, overthrow of the existing order, and renewal, but not by forcing them upon his neighbours under the hypocritical cloak of\u00a0. . .the sense of social responsibility or any of the other beautiful euphemisms for unconscious urges to personal power. Individual self-reflection, return of the individual to the ground of human nature, to his own deepest being with its individual and social destiny \u2013 here is the beginning of a cure for that blindness which reigns at the present hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carl Jung, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many people spur the call to self-realize as they question how personal development can help change a world descending into chaos. But such a perspective\u00a0overlooks the fact\u00a0if tyrants are to thrive the masses must\u00a0be\u00a0weak,\u00a0as tyrants, and those who benefit from their rule, are always but a sliver of the population\u00a0and so lack the personal resources to exert widespread control over a population of strong men and women.\u00a0If, therefore,\u00a0enough\u00a0of us\u00a0cultivate\u00a0our\u00a0personal\u00a0power through self-realization and in the process\u00a0become more effective in all realms of life, the weakness on which the tyrants\u2019 prey\u00a0will\u00a0replaced by\u00a0the\u00a0self-reliance upon which the power of tyrants dissolves. Each\u00a0of us\u00a0who re-claims the power to control\u00a0our\u00a0own life is one less person\u00a0tacitly\u00a0supporting tyranny and when enough of us\u00a0take this step\u00a0a peaceful transition to a freer world becomes possible.\u00a0For as Etienne de La\u00a0Boetie\u00a0noted nearly 400 years ago tyrants can be dethroned without any use of force, and without the need for prolonged strife, so long as enough people desire freedom and have the strength and inner fortitude to practice non-compliance and civil disobedience and to resist commands that are immoral and contrary to the functioning of a free and prosperous society.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom all these indignities, such as the very beasts of the field would not endure, you can deliver yourselves if you try, not by taking action but merely by willing to be free. Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break into pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00c9tienne de La\u00a0Bo\u00e9tie, The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some may think that time is still on our side, and that if things get really bad, enough people will then take the appropriate stand on the side of freedom. But to take this passive approach is to flirt with danger. For one of the most important lessons of the 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century is that when totalitarianism is unleashed on a population it proves very difficult to internally dislodge. Unless we are vigilant in protecting our freedoms they will be taken from us for as Voltaire noted\u00a0\u201cSo long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn\u00a0in a\u00a0footnote\u00a0to Volume 1 of\u00a0The Gulag Archipelag<\/em>o<\/em>\u00a0expressed\u00a0the profound regret that he,\u00a0and his fellow\u00a0Soviet\u00a0prisoners,\u00a0felt for their lack of\u00a0action\u00a0in the early days of communist\u00a0rule\u00a0and the following passage should serve as a warning to\u00a0us\u00a0all:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf\u2026if\u2026 We didn\u2019t love freedom enough. And even more \u2013 we had no awareness of the real situation. We spent ourselves in one unrestrained outburst in 1917, and then we hurried to submit. We submitted with pleasure! \u2026 We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn<\/em>,\u00a0The Gulag Archipelago, Volume 1<\/em><\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taken from here The following is a transcript of this video. \u201cNeither necessity nor desire, but the love of power, is the demon of mankind. You may give men everything possible health, food, shelter, enjoyment but they are and remain unhappy . . . for the demon waits and waits; and must be satisfied. Let … Sigue leyendo Citas: Quotes about power<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sin-categoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4356,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions\/4356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthcounts.com\/blogtraducciones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}