Power

Don't be seduced by the power cherished by the world around you. Those who amass power are often blind to the paradox that what is powerful is often weak and what is weak is often powerful.

Power is often weak. Potence is often edged and hardened to survive its own use. This rigidity can make the powerful unreactive and prone to shatter.

Weakness is often power. Submission and retreat never harms the enemy, but decimates the battlefield, striking a fatal blow at the ideologies that mustered the conflict.

Value flexibility and smallness. That which is formless can live in truth with any part of the world, and it is in the nooks of the world that the one finds the hidden blue prints of all creation.

Openness is as powerful an act as decisiveness.

Do not dismiss, however, the value of fortitude and intensity. Many problems can be solved by judicious use of obvious power. Break down what needs to be broken, and weather the storms that threaten the good.

Manifest paradoxical virtues. Reject the notion that you are a physical object, capable of only being in one place, and must be only one thing and not the opposite as well. It is within the scope of your humanity to be both great and small, clever and clueless, broken and whole, everchanging and ever the same.

Complexify your language about your emotional life. For instance, saying "I'm happy," or "I'm sad," makes it seem like you couldn't be the other, since you clearly couldn't be both. So learn better words, or make them up, to express your experience. You may even find that a better linguistic approach actually complexifies your actual emotional experiences. What a wonder actually paying attention will do.

When words fail, smile, as these are moments of sublime humanity. Then resort to unreasonable metaphors.

The more you let yourself be, the more you will become. Emotions are not reactions to the world or a power to be harnessed, but the most honest manifestation of you humanity you will ever manage. Revel in them, reveal them, and never revile them. Being behind an action emotionally will contribute to the success of the act and influence the satisfaction associated with it. Nurture and develop your emotional life so that how you feel is colorful, nuanced, and unstoppable.

When you swear an oath, swear to the spirit and the word. Clever misinterpretation of honorable words isn't a novel activity. It does not prove your intellect. Rather, devote your brainpower to trying to discern the original intention of the words, and do your best to move that notion into the present.

Pay attention to what is an oath and what is a casual possibility. Do not sully the powerful act of commitment by assigning unreasonable significance to everything everyone says. Be realistic about what the speaker said about being there at 8:00 pm.

When fulfilling oaths, do so with a willing spirit. If your attitude is sullying the actions required to uphold your responsibility, adjust your attitude. No one wants to be an onerous obligation, and do yourself a favor and prevent the difficultly created by wanting something different than your obligation.

Swear oaths with the fullness of knowledge, beauty, and goodness. Words spoken in this perfect light will lead only toward right action. Realize that since a flawless understanding of the universe will often elude humanity, some commitments will be made erroneously. If a oath must be broken because it will lead to an evil end, recommit yourself to the newly understood good.

Become vulnerable. Foster in yourself a susceptibility to the events in your life when things are promising good. More is learned in a moment of weakness than an eon of strength.

Practice shifting your viewpoint. Exercise your ability to see things from the other side, the other other side, your original side again, the side that sees all sides, and back again. By systematically shifting perception when nothing is at stake you will develop you ability to do it when everything is at stake.

Violence is always wrong. No end ever justifies it. Seek all possible alternatives... creatively, too. Spare no effort or resource in the pursuit of a pacifistic means.

It is never an affront to dignity to be beaten. Pride, posing as honor, seeks to be the victor.

Purpose is the single greatest factor in living a satisfying life. Pain without purpose is arbitrary suffering. Pleasure without purpose is mere happiness. Pain with purpose is intentional sacrifice. Pleasure with purpose is lasting joy.

Be attentive to the resources that regenerate and those that do not. Give freely of the fruits that will replenish, and prevent others from squandering those that will not.

Never underestimate your power to change the world. The myth of impotence causes many moral people to amoralize a situation through despair. It is precisely the collaborative inaction of hopeless people that allow atrocities to continue. Act, and encourage the action of those around you.