The Ubiquitous Quest For Power

Recognising that most of what you see going on around you is, by and large, a quest for power, is one of the most enlightening experiences that you will ever have, in my view.

Indeed, when you get older, you will likely become quite depressed to see just how so much of what you see going on around you looks 'contrived'.

About 90% of it, or so it seems.

And it is mostly about the quest for power.

And so younger folk have many more disappointments in store to look forward to as they get older.

No Father Christmas. No Tooth Fairy. And very little that does not seem to be 'contrived'.

And, gradually, you crawl up mental pathways that become more and more 'unique' as time moves on, and you gradually become even more isolated from everyone else than you were before.

But you smile pleasantly. And you do your best to make sure that your own smiles do not look 'contrived'.

And everyone with intelligence knows that everyone else with intelligence is doing exactly the same thing.

Or hiding.

 you can easily see more and more of the manipulative tools that people use

But also, in the same way that you can easily learn to see through that little child who is ineptly trying to con you into handing out some more pocket money, you can easily see more and more of the manipulative tools that people use in order to get their way as you get older - particularly the tools of younger people; unsurprisingly, because you, yourself, were once their age.

And then you also see their excited passions and their deep sincerity slowly evaporate as they get older; as hard realities and banal routines gradually impact upon their brains while the cynicism sets in.

Later on, their friends and their relatives will begin to degenerate and to die. And they begin to realise that there is no real point even to their own existence - except in a minor way.

Of course, the least 'contrived' are children. But you see them becoming more contrived as they grow older, particularly as they turn into teenagers.

It's a depressing sight in many ways.

The happiest solution - according to many psychologists and me - is to become obsessed or hugely interested in various things.

And by doing so, you learn a lot, while also having what seems like 'fun' to you.

So, with care, it's not so bad after all.

Just more inward than outward than it used to be.

The garden shed of old; into which people (men mostly) would disappear in order to avoid the outward bit.

But this new garden shed is so much better than it used to be thanks to all this new technology, the progress in science, engineering, transportation and medicine.

All hugely liberating for men and women of all ages compared to how it used to be; even 50 years ago.

And, of course, absolutely nothing to do with feminism

(And, of course, absolutely nothing to do with feminism, but mostly to do with the outputs from clever and/or very hard-working men and the women who supported them.)

You can nowadays see further and wider, from many different angles. You can get a much better picture of what has really been going on throughout your long life.

The various things that you saw before now make much more sense.

If you put in the effort, you can see more clearly how the forces from different places combined to shape human events; events at the individual level, the group level, the national level etc.

And the word 'contrived' comes to mind for most of it. But nearly always with the same aim.

Getting more power.

Obtaining more power lies at the very heart of what most people and most groups seek to do, even if they, themselves, remain unaware of this.

And when you understand this, so much of what did not quite makes sense to you before, finally fits nicely into place.

Indeed, it seems always best to remain fully aware of the high likelihood that what you see going on around you is mostly contrived by people or groups to maximise their own power.

Whether it is the weeping of victims, an article in a newspaper or the machinations of a government department, perceiving what you see as a quest for power seems to be the best key for unlocking the truth behind what is really going on.

The Big Solution, therefore, is to arrange matters so that people can only acquire power by doing good. And then it doesn't matter so much if power is their aim.