Power and love two things so similar yet so different. As we pass through each day we have more gratification that love is the only way and that power is bad. Power is not bad, as long as you know how to use that power. Love doesn't have to be the sappy emotional movie, more as just a way of life. Within power you need to have self reassurance, drive, exuberance, and knowledge. Love, not having all of those same qualities, I think still posses some or it is not real love and devotion. In Love and Power by Adam Kahane, I enjoy all of the different social definitions of the words power and love. Though the words have some correlation, I also believe that they are widely different. I agree with Kahane and his idea that one cannot thrive without the other, they do both need huge amounts of concentration to make any sort of change.
As a dancer, and just a very kinesthetic person in general, when I witness something it will become ten times more powerful then if I just read it or hear about it. When my heart is touched, after a physical experience I will not forget the importance of that moment. "All of the turning points in the project were moments when the team saw the reality of Guatemala through each other's eyes and saw each other, not as faceless enemies or as primitive nonpersons, but as brothers and sisters, part of one whole." (p.34) This is how I enjoy an outcome. If I have been able to see what is happening. Yes, I am able to feel things and be touched by reading and hearing what is going on, but it is so much more powerful when YOU are the person living it.
In the context of Bill's management philosophy seen on page 31, I think he sets love up in an appropriate way. "I mean that you do not have to like someone to love him or her. Love is an Intentional disposition towards another person." We are always able to empathize with situations. Why is it then that we choose not to. That compassion is the type of love I believe he is looking at in this book. That type of care and devotion would enhance every persons life in some way. "Love is the one power that awakens the ego to the existence of something outside itself"(p.32)
Power on the other hand I think is a bit more tricky. Power has hunger. That hunger has the ability to turn into an obsession and craving. This is when it tends to stop looking at the important issues and turns into a struggle for more. "Power-over is a subset of power-to" (p.17) One can be a conflict where as the other is support. This is a fine line to balance with.
Brooke Thornberry
No comments:
Post a Comment