Indeed I must say- humans are driven by the force for power; power over the other! When an individual receives an insult or a jibe he/she resolves that the similar should not take place again. And, he/ she therefore immerses in the endeavour for power, so that he/ she is thus insulated for the future.
I think herein lies the root cause for all our struggles in this blue planet. The lust for power is the reason for so many ills both for ourselves and for others. Now if we examine, we will find that we lust for power because we have to salve our ego. Now, what would the scenario be if we did not have an ego? It would be utopian to imagine reality without ego. However, we can slowly nibble away, and attempt a slight deflation; to begin with. It would thus become clear to us that ego is the cause for our lust for power.
Therefore the real power play should take place within ourselves, the real power we should attempt to obtain should be over our own selves. Indeed, human dignity, self-respect and a good sense of self-esteem is important.
However, it is the excessive salving of inflated ego that my grouse is against. When we nurse our egos excessively, we give power to the other over us. The other can use our weakness to manipulate and even control us.
Thus we are compromising our freedom by becoming a slave to our ego or egos, for who is to say, we may even have multiple egos! So in the ultimate analysis true freedom lies in making our ego our slave rather than our taskmaster. The alternative, though we may not realise it is but the comical and hilarious! For who is the funniest? But the person who goes about with a sense of his own importance only to fall prey to clever flattery and other sly contrivances; an all too common sight and scene in our very own Nagaland!
Edward lotha
edward5.fhl@gmail.com
