#289 – Can you be powerful, if you're not free?

Or, as I read in this Dear Democracy (by Katy Dalgleish) post, "Do you need freedom to be powerful?"

Yes, and no. It depends on how we define power and freedom.

POWER

If power is the ability to influence someone else's behavior, then the answer is no––you don't need freedom to be powerful.

For example, in my son's jail cell block there's a clear power hierarchy among inmates: none are free, but some are powerful. If someone's "feared" because everyone thinks they're "unhinged," they'll get anything they want––"give me the phone!," "this is my chair, move!," "shut up!"

That power is "positional power," and is contingent on ranking. Big-fish-eats-little-fish type of power.

When you're big and scary, or have certain tools (guns, damaging information, more expensive lawyers), you can exert power even if you're not free.

But there's another type of power that has nothing to do with ranking or influencing others. This type of power, "personal power," determines your ability to act and be exactly as it feels genuine to you.

You don't adjust your behavior to other people's. You "speak truth to power," you don't do things you don't want to do to please others, and you don't accept demands to avoid upsetting the applecart.

FREEDOM

Literal freedom, the ability to make all the decisions about your life at any given time, is a diminished version of what freedom really is. In that literal sense, my son, for example, isn't free. He can't decide what to wear, what to eat, or when to go to sleep.

But real freedom is internal. Physical restrictions are a joke compared to the internal limitations we self-impose when we comply with our Ego and Ghosts.

When I don't speak out for fear of disdain; when I acquiesce with someone in power for fear of rejection; when I condone malignant behavior for fear of retribution, I'm not being free. I'm at the mercy of my Ego.

My son, in jail, is free to think how he wants, respond how he wants to the external constrains, and not react to threats by those with "power."

So, yes, personal power requires freedom––internal freedom. It also gives you freedom.

Because maybe personal power IS freedom.

What small act of personal freedom you can do today would mean one more step toward your inner power?

Love,

Carolina