Giving Our Power Away to Others

Throughout time, there has always been somebodies and nobodies. Somebodies are defined as those either wealthy, famous, and/or powerful. From ancient times, they were considered special and superior to the masses. They were often the objects of worship and adulation. In essence, it was the somebodies who were placed in authority.

Wealthy, famous, and powerful people were/are considered the elect and/or authority in all societies. They were/are often the trendsetters and are considered more knowledgeable than the average person. From time immemorial, the upper and more powerful classes were often granted semi-divine status e.g. kings, queens, and emperors were considered god and goddess incarnates. Their status convey authority and power. They were to be obeyed without question.

Yes, we are living in the postmodern age. However, there are residues from prior eras regarding the paradigm regarding the submission to authority and those perceived to be greater than us. Even though we live in a democratic society, we are inundated with the conception that there are somebodies and nobodies. Somebodies are to be adulated and obeyed because they possess the power, fame, and wealth while the nobodies possess none of those. In other words, nobodies are just en masse, nothing at all significant.

We are taught subconsciously by our parents, teachers, and society to respect and obey those in authority. We are further taught to follow those in authority because "they know better" or "they have the knowledge that we do not possess". If we dare to question authority and assert our individual opinions, we are often derided and told that we do not have the knowledge to contradict the said authority figure.

Obedience and blind compliance to authority is very much encouraged and has its rewards. Children who conform and obey authority are classified as "good" while those who question and/or refuse to follow authority are often deemed to be "disobedient" and "problematic". We are inundated, beginning in childhood that it is good and proper to obey and give our power away to those in authority.

We are further taught that the "little" or "average" person is quite powerless and nothing. If you have observed a child and/or person who is quite opinionated and assertive regarding his/her opinion, he/she is told "who does he/she thinks he/she is" . In other words, how dare the so-called little and/or average person have such an inflated ego because this is considered totally inappropriate. There is an underlying and subconscious knowledge that "nonauthoritative" and "powerless" people should know their place i.e. be as subordinate and unobstrusive as possible. Only the authoritative and powerful people are allowed to have ego and assert their sense of power, not the so-called "hoi polloi".

We are furthermore indoctrinated that people in authority know what is best for us whether it is parents, teachers, religious leaders, politicians, and other powerful/authoritative people. It seems that we are quite uncomfortable and fearful of developing and cultivating our own sense of power. It is so much easier to follow the leader and obey than to exercise our own concept of power.

Why is that? While we have been inundated with the concept that people in power and authority are "more" than us, conversely, we were told that we are quite insignificant in ourselves. I remember as a child disagreeing with some religious concept and my mother informed that my opinion meant nothing because it was not documented. I just paid her no attention, continuing to assert my opinion. Because we have been told that we are insignificant, we transfer the concept of our significance to those in power thus vicariously feeling more powerful.

This vicarious feeling of power explains why we worship celebrities and other famous and powerful people. We actually believe that these people are more important than ourselves. This emulation of celebrities and other powerful people are obvious in that we imitate and copy them in terms of fashions and opinions, often not valuing our own opinions.

We habitually adopt the opinions and lifestyles of those in power because of the subconscious belief that since they are powerful, they are right. There are people who are carbon copies of celebrities e.g. thousands of young girls in the 1980s submerged themselves to look and act like Madonna and other young female celebrities of the period. There are people who adopt the opinions and beliefs of a famous celebrity because it is perceived that the said celebrity "knows".

Many people become powerful and wealthy because people elect to glorify them and gave their individual power away. There are churchgoers who are impoverished and living precariously from day to day yet they make outlandish donations to ministers and other religious leaders who live quite a lavish lifestyle. There are people who blindly adhere to the concepts of their priest, minister, and/or rabbi although the concept is totally arcane and atavistic. However, they elect to adhere to the particular concept because the priest, minister, and/or rabbi said so which makes it correct.

Many people are quite fearful of thinking for themselves and attach themselves to a leader, any leader, to give them a sense of security and reassurance. This is quite dangerous. An example of people totally giving their power away and proverbially selling their soul to the devil is the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism in 1930s Germany. People in early 1930s Gernany felt so demoralized by the worldwide depression. In additon to feeling demoralized by the worldwide depression, many Germans in the early 1930s believe that the democratic government was not working.

They wanted jobs and prosperity and Adolf Hitler guaranteed that if he was elected, there would be jobs and prosperity in Germany. The German people, at this point, were willing to give their power away to Hitler because it was believed that he would grant Germany jobs and prosperity. They did not frankly care that their individual freedoms gradually diminished as long as they had jobs and stability. They gave their power away to a horrendous dictatorship with dire consequences!

Many people elect politicians because they want someone to lead and remedy societal ills. In other words, they want to the politicians to rescue them and change society for the better. These people either do not or refuse to believe that they are instrumental in reforming and transforming society. In essence, they believe that they are powerless to effect any type of change in society. They believe that the politicians are in fact "more qualified" than they are regarding the reformation of society.

Many people prefer to remain powerless because they do not want to take responsibility for their own lives. They rather displace all responsibility upon a leader and/or authoritative figure because if that leader and/or authoritative figure fails, the onus is on the respective leading figures, not on them. Besides having individual power means risk and being master of one's own fate. Many people prefer to place their fate into others' hands because it is too daunting for them to undertake. It is easier to be in a quasichildlike state than to be an actual adult, taking the prerequisite responsibility for one's life so to speak.

People do not want to harness their own respective power because they are AFRAID of ownership. The average person is just uncomforable with the prospect of ownership. We have not been inundated with the fact that we are divine, creative, and unique individuals. In fact, we have been told quite the opposite. We have been told that we are mere humans and nothing more. We have been inundated that we are just like everyone else and not to think "too high" of ourselves least it means "conceit". Well, this concept of unobstrusive humility is just an atavistic one. Ownership of ourselves and our destiny is a good thing. We must believe that we are powerful in order to become so. No one on this earth is above and better than us.

In conclusion, we have been inundated that those in authority and power are better than us. We were told that by ourselves, we are quite insignificant. As a result of our seeming insignificance, we transfer our sense of power to those in authority. There is dark underside in our transfer of power to authority figures as evidenced by the dictatorship in 1930s Germany.

We are often fearful of asserting and having power because of pure fear and being afraid of taking the ultimate responsibility for our own lives. We furthermore are quite uncomfortable with the concept of ownership of our individual lives and destiny. We must grant permission to ourselves to harness our own power in order to become the persons we were meant to be.