Recognizing Power | TheRedPill

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BurnoutRS

Posted 5y ago in Meta - Permalink - Locked - 170 Views

Power is everywhere, at all times, absolutely. By the very laws of nature and physics, no entity can exist independant of the universe as we know it. Therefore no entity can exist independant of another entity. And wherever two entities exist, there will be formed, a hierarchy.

Right now I have power over you. These words serve to act as an extension of myself. They are representing my thoughts and ideas in my stead. You, are playing the subserviant role. Reading and taking in my words as if listening. Granted this isnt really very signifcant. My power is limited in that as soon as I type something that rubs you the wrong way you'll go "fuck this guy" and click off. For instance if I were writing a book on this subject, plugging a link to my patreon right here would be a real easy way to forfeit my power

Learning to recognize power in its simplest forms could very well be the key to unlocking all that there is in life. As I outlined above, I currently have a degree of power over my audience but it should be noted that they also have power over me. You can choose to ignore this post, downvote it. In doing so you will have exercised what is arguably even greater power than I have as the writer. Any creator is nothing without a consumer.

Identify the relationships involved. You can get really fucking abstract with this. A surfer has power over the surfboard which grants him a degree of power over the wave. The wave ultimately controls the direction the surfer travels and with what force, but the surfer, in taking control over the board, has power over the outcome of each ride.

Apply it to addiction. The relationship being you and cigarettes for example. You have power over cigarettes in that you can stop buying them, choose to not smoke, to walk away. They have power in the form of psychological and physical symptoms of withdrawal and addiction.

Information. You have the power to choose what you fill your mind with and how you use it. When a person sits down in front of a television they can choose from any number of influences. Whether its what news station they tune into, if they choose to watch the news at all, the type of content they consume, whether or not they pay attention to advertising. Information is a lot like matter, it cant be created out of thin air. All the ideas any person may have are predicated on all the ideas they have absorbed over their lifetime. Having the power to chose what influences them may very well give a person the power to better mold themselves into who they want to be.

One of the ultimate questions of life is whether or not we have free will or our lives have been predetermined by some sort of cosmological fate, be it attributed to a religious source or otherwise. I propose that one way of testing this would be to identify all the areas of life wherein a person has power and flesh out all the possible outcomes. So far in every instance I can come up with, there is always a degree of personal agency to be had, at least in the instances where the relationship is between a person and a other entity.

I could probably dedicate another post entirely to the application of this idea to extrapersonal relationships as well. Identifying where you have power is very useful, but It can be just as useful to see where power lies for other entities as well. One such application I can think of would be in the financial sector. I dont know much about investing as of yet but from what I can ascertain, it doesnt make any sense to invest in a business that you dont understand. Off the top of my head I imagine jewelry sales around Christmas and Valentines would do something to the price of precious metals, but since I havent put any more thought into it than that, Im not about to make any investments in gold or silver. That leads well into my final point though. Looking at power in markets and seeing how the actions of the consumer form a relationship with the value of goods seems widely beneficial.

If anyone wants to expand on the extrapersonal power hierarchies and help me flesh that out more Id be especially enthused to read those comments.

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UpperRedSide 5y ago

Having influence on the actions of others, as well as things like fame, money, women, are merely manifestations of power.

Power, in it's purest form, is the amount of control an individual has over themselves. Power is the mastery of one's own life.

Anything outside of this becomes a pretentious dick measuring contest where everyone is too worried about feeling like big men that they fail to focus on what matters.

ThrowFader 5y ago

Power is a limited resource. And like most resources, it comes in various currency. You can have social power, power in the form of knowledge, financial, sexual prowess, ability to navigate situations, intelligence, physical fitness, attractiveness, and so on and so forth.

But by far the most important part of power is your ability to control others. This is necessarily the most important. If you lack the ability to control others, they are potentially able to prevent you from exercising your agency, being the form of power.

Agency is the most important currency, second to it is perception. If you control your agency and your perception, and that of those around you, you are powerful.

Again, is it necessary to control others? Yes, if you wish to be powerful you must retain the ability to exercise control over others, if need be. Remember, power is more about what you are capable of doing, than it is about what you actually do.

How do you gain power? Control perception. Either change things so that they become perceived differently, or change people's perception so that they perceive the same things as different.

If you are weak make others think you are strong. You will become so.

A lot of people mistakenly believe that money is the most important form of currency. Money is only useful in that it had the ability to affect how people regard you. If we all had the same amount, money would be useless.

Agency and the control of it, (and by extension perception) is the most important version of power.

simpleafk 5y ago

Money is useful only if you know how to use it. The worst trait that I see is when people try to show off how much money they have. In reality, they are actually very poor and take loans to afford their "flashy" lifestyle. My best friend is from a wealthy family but he still dresses like an homeless person lol. He drives 2017 SUV (lower tier brand) but the car was paid in full at the dealership. You wouldn't expect him to be wealthy but he has "fuck you" money. The type of money where models would fuck him at the sight of seeing his bank accounts. He is a humble person and acts that way for a reason. He explained to me that the biggest power you have over everyone is the element of surprise. When you have money, the element of surprise becomes alot bigger. When someone sets out to ruin you or your reputation, you strike first and you strike fast. The more unaware your opponents are, the greater the damage you can deal. With money you are capable of destroying their reputation/present and you can ruin their future permanently. Crazy guy but I love him to death haha.

ThrowFader 5y ago

yup a lot of wealthy people are smart enough to hide it

BurnoutRS 5y ago

Something I find very interesting about this. My father owns land. We could be considered a wealthy family to anyone on the outside. What many dont know is the debt my father accrued and the work hes had to do to pay it off. Hes run the risk of not being able to retire just for the sake of keeping the property.

Land ownership brings power, whether its through what the land enables you to do or simply the perception others have of a man who owns a large parcel of property.

One of the reasons I made this post about recognizing power is because my father has failed to recognize his own in some key areas. He's entirely capable of giving orders and sorting people out but by his own words isnt "a people person" and prefers to "keep to himself". He's made the land he owns into a liability, sinking all his free time and money into maintaining it. All the while lamenting that he isnt sure if he'll be able to keep the place when he retires.

If my father were capable of recognizing the relationship he has with himself first and foremost, if he could come to terms with his perceived inability to change, he could take the steps towards becoming the person that could keep this land. He could start taking charge more at work, calling up friends who owe him favours and getting some help doing whats needed to take care of this place

It took a degree of power to aqquire the land, but it takes a greater degree to tame it. The land is currently exerting more power over my father than he is over it. I should clarify in that, its my father who is letting the land have power over him

bossplayaintraining 5y ago

I don’t know how to project this though... people see right through me when I try & see that I’m a powerless bitch, always have been, and in their eyes, always will/should be.

lasersgopewpew 5y ago

If you're putting on a little show for others, trying to convince them you're powerful, then of course they're going to see through it. You're dancing for them and awaiting their judgement.

If you want to seem powerful, you should first seek to master yourself so that their judgement no longer matters, and then you aquire the resources to make them want to dance for you.

As long as you're operating within their frame, any demonstration of power is just a plea that reinforces your weakness.

SasquatchMcKraken 5y ago

Perception control is such an underrated concept. Not least because most people think it stops at literal sight, when in reality it goes much deeper than that.

BurnoutRS 5y ago

Given that your entire reality is predicated on your perceptive faculties, and that those faculties can be altered once you become aware that they exist, I think its a ludicrously underrated concept

Ive had some mental health episodes and long forrays into addiction. There was a point in time when I was dealing with a nicotine addiction. Probably my second major quit attempt. I was practically having panic attacks if I even got a whiff of a cigarette because I believed so strongly that "Im a hopeless addict" "Im powerless against this addiction" and "one little trigger is all it takes in my fragile recovery state"

These were not just things I told myself. They were concrete beliefs. Irrefutable truths. I relapsed and wrestled with the idea that Id never be able to quit because cigarettes and triggers to use them are everywhere. Also Im powerless. After what was probably a week or two of being a complete bitch about this I realized that "If cigarettes are everywhere, and Im powerless, then im going to be a smoker"

So theres the relationship. Its me and cigarettes. Do I have the power to remove cigarettes from the world? No. But do I have the power to remove them from myself? When I run it through the model, its clear that the only place I have any agency in addiction is my actions. Which is proof positive that I have the power. I just have to believe it first.

How many people have lived and died as slaves solely because they were never introduced to the idea that they had value as people? How many people are alive today that would think themselves not to be slaves solely because when they look down at their ankles, they see no chains?

SoulRebel99 5y ago

Can you expand on this? ...its very interesting.

SasquatchMcKraken 5y ago

There are many ways to expand on this, be it political, in the workplace, whatever. But the best way I could put it in generic terms is Religion. Our word religion comes from the Latin religio, which in turn is from religare, or "binding" (in this case "binding" oneself to the gods through proper ritual and respect). What are the things you do to bind people to you? Much of power is getting people to believe in you. I don't mean rooting for you, like some uncle at his nephew's football game. I mean really believing in you. Sure you can (and should) lift and look powerful. But what do you do to convey power in subtler, more intangible ways? How do you craft your "aura"? Do you even have one? I'm not sure if there's a step-by-step how-to handbook on these questions, but I've found that the truly powerful ask and successfully answer them. No use being muscle-bound if you're still bitchmade inside, and people can generally sense this.

MyReddit6 5y ago

Perception includes thoughts & feelings - of others too, and not just the image (is what I think he is getting at.)

RP example.... One time I was hooking up with a girl I met at a bar. She was young, half Asian, kinky school girl look, and totally all those fun slutty seemingly hard-to-get fetish types. Semen Demon in bed. I usually have a considerable degree of sexual prowess, but I drank slightly too much and that combined with the Sex Olympic performance this girl was putting on had my heartrate going mental & I couldn't stay hard....

She looks at it (and keep in mind theres like a 15yr age gap here too) - and before she can even sense disappointment or say anything, I say "don't worry doll, you're doing great"

I perceived it as her thinking I didn't find her hot enough instead of oh shiiiiiiitttt Ive got drunk dick, might puke and this girl is forcing my cock in her ass and spitting on herself

We end up having a great time, and bang a few more times after that. A few weeks later I read a post on AskTRP along the lines of "I think I failed a shittest, what do I do if I can't stay hard - I felt so embarrassed...do I have ED?" Same exact situation - guys perception of himself changed how the girl felt and it became an issue.vs. me not caring at all, and flipping it and making the thought be does he want me? am I hot enough instead of self-doubt.

SoulRebel99 5y ago

Perception and frame control, nice!

FindTheBus 5y ago

You know what does equal power? Power. Power equals power. Crazy, huh? But the type of power? Doesn't matter as much as you'd think. It turns out, everything is oddly balanced. Weird, but true. For example: Right now, power takes the form of my mouse clicking the downward pointing arrow.

ThrowFader 5y ago

Hahahahhahahahahahshshahahahshashhshssgsgdjnfjfnnfnf

Tf....

BurnoutRS 5y ago

Then you understand my post entirely

FindTheBus 5y ago

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0657.html

U-94 5y ago

Power is keeping your cool in a stressful situation. Because in that situation, people will defer to the person who isn't freaking out for guidance. You can project this in your body language but it's also done by dress (police and military uniforms, for example) or financial reach. More assets - > more risk - > yet you're calm and collected.