Power Tangles

Relative to "power" in the sense of a value-neutral capacity for external effectiveness, I am seeing certain regular confusions and tangles of meaning that impede stepping into and increasing power in this sense, a power closely aligned with the metaphor of power as in physics:

(And why develop this capacity? Because compassionate action is effectively constrained by power in this sense. It is not uncommon, for example, to find Western Buddhists focusing on an internal sense of deep compassion oriented toward very large-scale matters; this felt-sense of compassion doesn’t flow into the world to make a change, because they have little effective capacity for transforming the world. Perhaps the compassionate action would flow best at a more moderate scale, the largest scale concordant with their actually effective capacity for creating change.)

The first confusion is to confuse power as capacity for external effectiveness, which is value neutral, with the idea of such capacity being intrinsically value-laden and agonistic, constitutive of all social relations, i.e., power as in Foucault.

The second confusion is to confuse power as capacity for external effectiveness, which may exist with or without formal authority, with power granted as a function of institutional role (formal authority).

The third confusion is to confuse power as capacity for external effectiveness, which may or may not have particular feelings associated with it,with the 'the feeling of being powerful', such as feeling confident, dominant, or having high status.

Compassionate activity is constrained by power as a value-neutral capacity for external effectiveness. If you find a discordance between a specific desire for compassionate action and your capabilities for changing the world, consider either increasing your power or “giving that problem over to God/Nature/Existence”.

The interesting place is being faced with the heart’s requirement to choose where to concentrate action in order to make a difference. Concentration of action always means dispersion elsewhere. Active caring about everything equally is effective caring about nothing in particular.