The search for power is deep rooted in every human. Power does not only refer to physical strength or influence. Every day is a battle for power, for status. Whether you are a student battling for valedictorian, a colleague battling for a promotion, or a minister fighting for an election. The search for power is the innate drive for having influence over others and thus, our search for power is also attached to the respect and status we want from society. This reality is ubiquitous and hence, there is conflict. The conflict to become a person of power.
“Carefully consider the past - the countless changes of political regimes. You can also see future events in advance; they will be of entirely the same kind, for it is impossible to depart from the pattern of what is happening now. It follows that to have observed human life for forty years is the same as for ten thousand. For what more are you going to see?”
- Marcus Aurelius, 7.49
Marcus Aurelius was the Emperor of the Roman Empire till 121 AD. During his tenure, he battled several wars, encountered pandemics and most importantly, attempted takeovers to the throne. He reflects in his journal, Meditations, on the inevitability of this search for power and how history inculcates this repeated theme. He indicates that no matter how the world changes, humanity will remain the same. Conflict is inevitable. People assume that this phenomenon will change or complain about the political changes. However, the politics behind gaining power is ubiquitously the same. The sly tactics, competitive behaviour to rise to the top will exist everywhere and all the time.
Marcus gives himself a reminder of this in Meditations; he believes that anyone would be foolish to forget that this is the reality of life. Anyone who expects that there will be harmony in this world, they are unfortunately mistaken. There will be dissatisfaction. There will be conflict due to greed. If you question the world you live in, then stop that instant and have this realisation. The past, the present and the future will have a repeated motif. Change in regimes. Change in power. Accept the change.
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