You are not a hypocrite

In a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887, Lord Acton wrote:

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

The paradox of power is that it seems to ruin all who acquire it, yet power is what we all want. And we need power in our world. We need people to help us come together and make decisions and laws; we need people in authority to make peace, to educate and adjudicate, to decide who's innocent and guilty, and the consequences after that.

We need assistance in figuring out how to live well together in the world. Yet the thing that we need is the thing that has wreaked so much havoc in the world since time began.

And doesn't it seem ironic that right when the world needs good leadership, it's desperately lacking?

There is in an ache within most to be great, powerful, important, significant. We all want to belong, and power seems to be the sure way of getting there. I'm almost certain that many of us have had conversations around the dinner table, especially in 2020, that started off with something like: If it were up to me, I would do *fill in the blank.*

Jesus said:

"The kings and men of authority in this world rule oppressively over their subjects, claiming that they do it for the good of the people. They are obsessed with how others see them. But this is not your calling. You will lead by a different model. The greatest one among you will live as one called to serve others without honor. The greatest honor and authority is reserved for the one who has a servant heart. The leaders who are served are the most important in your eyes, but in the kingdom, it is the servants who lead. Am I not here with you as one who serves you?"*

Isn't it ironic that real power looks like service, not dominion?

Marianne Williamson said: 

"Something amazing happens when we surrender and just love. We melt into another world, a realm of power already within us. The world changes when we change. The world softens when we soften. The world loves us when we choose to love the world." 

This kind of power is an inside job. Most think that power is what happens when you control people and situations. But the greatest power is when you can own yourself, take responsibility for your life, and have power over your ego that desires dominion and winning. The greatest power is found in knowing that you are loved, you are capable of giving love, and you are able to receive love.

Love can never be riven from you or your body. As you begin to love yourself, and discover how empowering that is, you will naturally rise up in love for others. This is how you heal. This is how you take your power back, individually and collectively. 

You are not a hypocrite for wanting power. The ache for it is your soul searching for the love it needs to be free. You don't have to pry it out of the hands of someone else, or an institution, or a nation.

Surrender and love, and you'll melt into it.

(This post is an excerpt from The Practice Co App series called "You Contain Multitudes", available to download for iOS and Android! It includes daily devotionals, FREE Mindful Prompt notifications (no subscription needed), phone wallpapers and more. Start with a free trial or subscribe to get access to each new series as they come out.)

Mindful Prompt: The power you search for, you already have. Within you is everything you need to begin to heal and become and restore, not only things in your life, but in the world around you, too. Soften into yourself. Rise up in your power, rise up in love, rise up in your true self, healing and healed, bring what only you can bring to the world, and you'll find what you're looking for in your hands already.

Written by Liz Milani.
Instagram: @thepracticeco