I've been poking for a while at a three-pillar foundation on which I appear to base my life. You've heard me say these words before, mostly because I like them and they start with the same letter, but a careful dissection of these pillars will reveal quite a thorough analysis of the human experience.
Pillar 1: Power. Society is just a complex network of relationships, and those relationships are based power structures. Power in this context means authority, and is a simple enough concept to grasp. Power of authority is manifest in any historically legitimized form of political or corporate title. The other context of power is ability. This is the unwritten but very real sort of power that goes into constructing the more visible power of authority. This power is most easily recognized as a given individual's ability to excell in a given field. The people who are best at what they do, if what they do is something other people need, will have more power. This is most visible in terms of the economy and capitalism, but natural or learned talents in any athletic, academic, or artistic field will translate into some degree of power in society. And to some extent, whether we want to admit it or not, other factors besides legitimate skill can give power. Theft and exploitation, for example, are not legitimate ways of life, but if one is good enough, has enough power, he can lead a perfectly successful life, and the end will justify the means. Physical appearance, too, can contain quailities including attractiveness or intimidation, which can influence the person's unspoken power status, and the way the person is treated by others. The "power of ability" that I talk about is a sort of "social capital," which is used to purchase "power of authority."
Pillar 2: Pride. In my economy of power model, pride is absolutely necessary. Not only is personal confidence a socially attractive quality that can provide power, but it is the cornerstone of both self-reliance and capitalism. Your ability to succeed relies on your willingness to spend your social capital. Being born the best can only get you so far if you don't do something with it. The economy becomes stagnant if the rich just keep accumulating money without spending any, and it's the same in my model. The people with the power have to know they have it, and know how to use it. You can't feel sorry for anybody. It's a fact of capitalism (pure capitalism - don't give me your liberal communist bullshit about how life's not fair because of course it's not, that's my point) that people get what they earn, so sympathy weakens the system. Pride is what has made Western society great, and it's humility and piety that have made the East a laughing stock. Pride builds great architecture and monuments ever since Pharoah called himself God; pride creates great art because real artists aren't afraid of anybody; pride pushed us out of Christendom and into the Age of Reason because Humanism gave us the balls to practice science. Hubris is progress, and pride is power.
Pillar 3: Passion. This one is somewhat unrelated to my power model, and is pretty much as personal note. Passion is the essence of the human experience. It is what drives us through our lives, and the thing for which we spend our whole lives striving. Because of that, it becomes a source of power. Passion is what inspires a man to train, to study, to gain the skills and talents not born to him. He increases his social capital because he has the passion to devote himself to a pursuit. And sometimes, power comes from the passion itself. Passionate people can move the hearts of men more deeply than all the skill and eloquence of the next man, and that gives them power more than his ability. But more than anything, passion is a way of life. To truly live, to live deliberately, making deliberate choices and accepting their consequences, is a function of passion.
There you have it. Power, Pride, Passion. The three pillars of Watsonism. Stay tuned next week for my six commandments. And later this season: the four deadly sins and the five-fold path.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
