What is the big deal about power, and why do so many people want it? What is power?
We could sidestep an academic definition about the Sociology of power, and intuit what power is- individually, physically.
Everyone feels power. Or the lack of it.
Power is a feeling we get when we feel superior to something or someone else when we feel that we are in control and can make the other thing or person do as we please.No surprise that it is highly addictive.
It is the feeling which you get when someone serves you at a restaurant where the servers are actually TRYING to induce this feeling in you. In order to make you feel good.
This will, very likely, make you visit the restaurant more often and prefer it over other restaurants. Not to mention, to help loosen your purse strings-the happier you are, the more you tip.
The restaurants want your money.
And they will compete to get as much possible. This is marketing and good salesmanship.
What if you were surrounded by people who WANTED to induce this intoxicating feeling of power in you because of something they wanted from YOU, apart from just money?
This could be a subordinate officer[1] who wants to be in your good books so that they can get the choice of posting they want. Or your long-lost friend who has suddenly become quite close although you do not quite know why.
They know, like the restaurants, that you are less likely to deny them requests if they are good sources of pleasure for you.
POWER CORRUPTS THROUGH SWEET SEDUCTION
Reinforcements and rewards beget repetition. But this not mere marketing, but manipulation through sycophancy which is power’s first cousin.
It works by pretending to be true respect, which is the arch-nemesis to power.POWER IS NOT TRUE RESPECT. It’s an insidious mechanism and leaves us humans, helplessly and hopelessly hypnotized.
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Thank you sir for such an impactful life changing article. These two things I will keep reminding myself “POWER IS NOT TRUE RESPECT and MEMENTO MORI “
That is such a well written, insightful and beautifully carved out piece of literature.
Thank you for sharing this sir.
Such a essay and gone smoothly like water in planes. Thank you Sir.
Being an arunachlee northeastern feels lucky to have u as mentor as these days good mentors are hard to find. Thank u sir for guiding me. Lots of doubts to be cleared,well am curious.
Sir I am feeling like I am part of the family now
very nice sr
m very glad to see u here for comining up with such beautiful article
thank u lot
Thanks VedRaj!
Di I change my life by life by studying psychology..as my upsc optional..I am 17 year old ..and just passed out from 12 th ..pls sir give me some advices .I am going to jnu for a foreign language course..along with that pls suggest me how I can develop my interest towards political science and history .in all total social science..I am interested but I am not consistent.. pls suggest .. and you are doing great work sir.. thanks
Hi Abhishek,
First of all, go easy on yourself ! you are just 17 and have a lot of time.
Second, If you want to develop interest in a subject, I find that the best way is to see videos, documentaries and movies about it.
Its ok to not be consistent all the time. I am not consistent either but as long as you keep being curious, you will automatically want to learn
more and more about your choice of subjects.
For an awesome source of documentaries, check out Curiosity Stream.
Hope this helped
tc
tq sir
Amazing write-up, sir! Came here from Quora.
Hi Varun. Glad you liked it. Thanks! 🙂