I Don't Buy Into the Myth of Your Power

Hello Blog Readers,

I had an interesting day today, where I realized something critical about myself (but by no means self-critical)! So, thought I'd share it in case you can relate.

There are occasions in my life (thankfully, rare) that I've encountered people who've taken a passionate dislike to and mistrust of me, when I've given them no logical reason to do so. I think I've encountered perhaps 4 or 5 of them, and it usually blindsides me, because I haven't done anything in particular to warrant their reaction to me.

Usually, it goes something like this - I meet the person, they find me so outrageously awful, that they seek by whatever means necessary, to down me, take me out of the game, as it were. This is usually characterized by some level of subterfuge on their part, sneaking around backrooms, gossiping behind closed doors, and laying plans for my destruction. My typical reaction is shock, surprise and a little bit of "Where the hell did that come from??? That doesn't even make sense."

When we encounter these people, it usually involves a great investment of our personal energy to survive their character assassination attempts. In the moment of dealing with it, once we realize it's happening, it's easy to get tunnel vision around it or start to generalize out and think that everybody is out to get us. I'd advise against that, because unless you're Osama Bin Laden, it's not true. Besides, even he's got some friends somewhere, otherwise, how would he remain in hiding? It just smacks of paranoia, and paranoia is not good.

Because these folks are the exception and not the norm, it's been difficult for me to track their characteristics in order to anticipate when I might encounter one...That is, until tonight. I was talking with someone about this and decided I finally had enough encounters with this sort to form a pattern. The pattern could be about me, and likely it is to the extent that I have little tolerance for them, and they instinctively know it.

They are the people who are in love with the myth of their own power. They like power and seek out ways to cultivate it and grow it, much the same way that I grow my garden. They seek out positions in order to maintain that power, and will do everything and anything to maximize it. Any questioning of their myth of power results in swift retaliation and the development of a plan to down the questioner. I don't buy into the myth of their power and therefore become dangerous in their world.

The Cherokee have this thing called the "Booger Dance" which is a dance that would occur where the people would dress like something called a "Booger" and dance out the people's greatest fears. It was ribald and raunchy at times, and they might wear masks carved to represent fearsome aspects of whatever challenged the people. It might be a mask representing disease, or the characteristics of a fearsome spirit, or even, later after the immigration of the Europeans (aka invasion), the masks might represent European faces. At least, this is my understanding from books, never having seen a Booger Dance myself.

I think at times for these folks who love the myth of their power, I become the Booger, dancing out their greatest fears, being that they are not all-powerful. They reach that conclusion simply because I don't buy into their omnipotent power, and therefore they feel that they need to demonstrate it through mysterious ways. Perhaps because that's how they experience the power of the Creator, that it's mysterious, full of subterfuge and sneaks up on you. Therefore, being the Creator of their Myth of Power themselves, they they enact it in such a fashion.

I often don't realize I'm dancing this out before them, because I don't recognize them right off, or haven't, historically. Their power is in reality, a myth, because authentic power has no need for such tactics. Authentic power is unafraid of exposure and directness. Perhaps that is what I dance out more frequently than I realize: Authentic Power. People who don't believe they have it are either in awe of it or a little bit afraid of it. But people who are in love with the myth of their own power somewhere along the line relinquished authenticity for the construction of a myth. I don't know where or how, nor do I particularly care.

What I do care about is making sure that I don't miss it again, next time it rears its ugly head. As I've looked back on it, the single thought I've had that's been consistent in these encounters is "How did I get that much power?" It's usually in reference to hearing about their backroom character assassination attempts, or seeing their attempts to down me. It seems incredulous to me that I might be that important to invest such efforts in taking me out, which is why I ask myself that.

So, now I'm onto them, and maybe you can be, too!