The first secret of power

I was looking for this quote from Herodotus –

“Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; While others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before.”

When I found this one…

“Of all men's miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing.”

And this one…

“Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.”

The truth is as old as the hills. We have known the truth about power forever. However, very few have known how to use it. Fewer have the ability necessary to use it. That ability is self control. This is a truly important secret.

Understanding cause and effect is the only way to understand power. It is a bit of a paradox that the first lesson in power is that we control nothing. Control is an illusion. But without that lesson we continue in our search for power by looking at powerful people thinking that they have some ability to control others. Some ability we need to attain. Some ability that we never seem to understand much less possess.

But when you accept, this obviously ancient truth, that control does not exist, then you begin to see the process that creates power. The process of self control.

The only thing you control is what you do right now. The only thing you control is how you respond to the circumstances before you. That is how powerful people have power. They control their response. They control their response to the people around them. They give them what they want. They promise what they want. They tell them what they want to hear. There actions are a response to the people they want to have some control or influence over.

Nothing else can be controlled. The rest is the effect of all the causes and conditions that have culminated in the result you see and hear. As Herodotus said, we do not control circumstances. But we will control ourselves within them, and use them, and thus appear to HAVE power.

It’s just an illusion.