Power

If God is there, by definition all power comes from this source of life and the Universe. A good friend said he was an atheist and my reply was, "There is no such thing." It was a joke but quite ironic if you think about the definitions of God and an atheist.

Many who believe in God do not believe he is powerful. Perhaps this is why many have decided to give up. Yet if he is there, why act like he isn't. If he is powerful, why do we grab power.

The definition of power is the key. We can draw the line of what that is everyday. But at the moment of our birth and our death, none of that matters. Many will think I'm being pessimistic.

Instead true power exists at those 2 moments and is there throughout our lives. Only we are distracted by many other interesting people and things. So it's easy to imagine we are powerful  by many reasons except the person we are.

Many cast doubt on this intrinsic power because it does seem conceited to think we are powerful in our frail bodies. Even in the animal world, we take a long time to grow even physically to adulthood while most other animals fend for themselves in a few months or years. We make mistakes, run into danger, can't take care of ourselves and seem so weak on the outside.

Real power is in knowing who you really really are in an existential way. This word is rarely used and sounds philosophical but it just means every moment is valuable (to put it simply) because the past and the future do not really exist at any one moment.

Because we think, memories and expectations become more and more important as we grow older. It is logical to let them take over our sense of reality. This produces regrets, hopelessness and depression if we focus on mistakes, bad experiences or tragedy. Some learn to ignore these negative feelings all together and convince themselves that everything bad is the fault of everyone else, so it is easy to become either victims or judges of everyone else.

For those who have the courage to face their own feelings, they will see someone strong behind all the judgement and disappointments. That is why oppressed people in history often come out better and stronger than before. When pressed to the limit, many have created art, made important discoveries and changed history for the better after going through times that may have destroyed some.

Some will say we see God during hard times. This is no comfort unless it has happened to you. It is up to each person to deal with the source of life even if you believe it is just a random assimilation of events. Any real power comes from who we see in ourselves: random or divine or scientific. For we all feel the urge to find meaning on this peaceful blue ball we call Earth in a violent chaotic Universe made up of mostly emptiness we call Space.

This physical reality echos our hearts. We feel powerless because we can't change the past. We don't know what we are doing most of the time and have to avoid the realization that our efforts seem meaningless. We feel alone and find it hard to find someone who loves us. It is easy to feel like we live in the emptiness of space and just look forward to negative things that could destroy us. All this is true.

The search is why we are here so I cannot tell you the simple answer about God and Humans and the mystery of our existence. But real power comes from the comfort of this search. It's about learning, enjoying all moments, not blaming anyone and how we treat those we love.

But there is a clue about meaning: it is about creating something. If nothing else, we can experience the magic in having children (even adopted). Nature gives us this gift even if the rest of our life feels like crap.

Those who are successful in life though often fall into the trap that success, the fruits of hard work, the approval of others... (all great things) give us power. They are to be enjoyed but have no real power despite any popularity and recognition. Some live off the illusion of power and forget to search. In such cases, the very things we helped make have trapped and over powered us.

I guess power is in just about searching for meaning, creating and loving.