What is Power?

A wise man once told me about the power struggle.

Those that have it, want to keep it
Those that lost it want it back
Those that have little want more
Those that have never had it don't know what it is and don't care about it

Power is the key piece in an order of a new world. So what is power? Wealth is a form of power right? So what is wealth?

I used to think that it was a large number in my bank account or property I owned. This correlates with my dictionary:

The state of being rich and affluent; having a plentiful supply of material goods and money

I've continued to delve into this further and I came to the following epiphany.

Power aka Wealth is Money and Property. Both money and property are the ability to get someone else to do something for you. To have power is to employ. It is as simple as that.

Converting the idea of money into services is a no brainer. I can run down to the UPS store and ship out a package to the other side of the world. That package will pass by people's hands and by machines maintained by people's hands. I have power.

On the other hand property... Property is a bit more tricky but I believe if you think about it you will also find the above rules still hold true. My car is one my most expensive assets and what is a car other than the culmination of work by many people's hands? The harvesting of materials. The transport of the materials. The assembly of materials. The sale and taxing of the completed product....

It all comes down to control of people.

And if this is true the richest country in the world is the country with the highest "usable" (healthy, strong, dumb or educated) population.

Some may say that knowledge is power but I disagree. I feel that knowledge merely allows you to stay in power.

Am I making any headway here? What are your thoughts?

Obsidience

Here is my definition of 'Power':

The extent of ones ability to control nature according to his or her will

That could mean controlling the earth, fire, wind, water and heart Or that could mean controlling people. Since people have more collective influence then a fire does, I think controlling people is collectively more 'powerful' and hence the focus of the power-hungry.

So it's just like you said...

It all comes down to control of people.

But that doesn't equate to money. Money is just a tool that elevates you to a status of wealthy, and wealth just elevates you to a status of having a large network of people. It's a numbers game, but it's the number of people not the number of dollars ultimately.

[edit on 8-10-2008 by Lucid Lunacy]

Thanks Lucid Lunacy. Nice name btw.

Here's a question. Why should I care about controlling nature if I could get someone else to do it for me?

Thanks for your time,

Obsidience