By Dr. John Demartini
There are seven areas of power that everyone needs to fulfill in order to succeed or else they will become overpowered by others:
- Spiritual mission
- Mental genius and creativity
- Vocational success, achievement, and service
- Financial freedom/independence
- Family love, intimacy, and continuance of procreation
- Social influence and leadership
- Physical health, stamina, strength, and well-being
If we don’t have empowerment in any of these seven areas, we will become overpowered by others. We are not victims of the ones overpowering us; we are simply not empowered. It is their empowerment that in turn initiates and is a catalyst to our drive for inner-empowerment. I have yet to meet anyone who did not want to expand their powers in each of these areas. No one gets up and honestly says that they want to shrink in power.
As Nietzsche proclaimed, “We all have the will to power.” Just as we as individuals have these yearnings for these powers, so do collective societies and nations. But now, their descriptions also have to expand. Our individual spiritual mission now becomes the dominant, spiritual/religious ideologies of a nation. Our mental genius becomes our educational system. Our goals for achievement and success become our GDP (gross domestic product). It represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period. You can think of it as the size of our corporate entrepreneurial development and our national business development. Our family stability is our marriage and divorce ratios and our fertility and mortality rates. Our social influence is our influence on other nations around the world, our leadership, and our physical health and wellbeing. This becomes our healthcare systems, policing systems, and military strength.
Now if a nation does not empower any of these seven areas, that area can be overcome and overpowered by other nations or groups. This applies to nations just as it applies to individuals. The will to power and empowerment, although assumed to be about race, creed, color, age, or sex isn’t in fact limited by these factors. There is always somebody from each race, creed, color, age, or sex who empowers their lives and is not overpowered. It’s all about empowering.
The first step in empowering each of these areas is education. Success leaves clues and those individuals as well as those nations that have risen in power need to follow these clues. Awakening to and owning these traits and developing and furthering these traits in each of the seven areas of life can empower individuals and nations as well.
If we blame outer circumstances for why we are not empowered, we will hinder our empowerment, but if we start acting and doing the things that are proven to empower, we will rise in power. Instead of having individuals or nations sitting in the shadows of other individuals or other nations, it’s wise for individuals and nations to recognize that nothing is missing in them, particularly in their areas of competitive advantage, and that they are just not acknowledging, awakening, or honoring the powers they have. Once they awaken these powers and recognize them, through awareness and education, each competitive advantage that each individual has or nation has will shine.
If we as individuals and nations concentrate on what we do have and recognize our power and use it wisely, we will not become overpowered. Empowerment is not provided from the outside; empowerment comes from within. The moment the individual or nation realizes that nothing is missing inside them and they value themselves, so does the world. Empowerment is not what corrupts; it’s the fear of being overpowered that corrupts. The anticipation of loss of power corrupts, not the gain of power.
Dr. John Demartini is a human behavior specialist, educator, author, and the founder of the Demartini Institute. Visit his website at www.DrDemartini.com.
