This post intentionally not left cavitatiously blank:
Knowing what/who: If you feel like knowledge/information is power … you feel strong when you win an argument … you want to be recognized (feel validated, worthy, significant) for your intelligence and theoretical/systems reasoning. Instead of leaning on your own understanding and head knowledge… take action in a spirit of trust (mutual consent)… It’s not all about “intelligence“ even if you could know everything. Knowing *that/who* is only 1/3 of the battle—trusting the point that every person is of equal and priceless value — and applying it in how you treat them — is the rest. Then all of your formulas and hardcopies and digital records will turn back into words that synthesize being into life and action, teams who never stop loving the game, and symphonies who never stop making music together. Never forget to ask “How is this applicable, and why is it important?” What good is an infinite number of Eureka moments with no practical application, and no point?
Knowing how: If you feel like power is physical strength and practical application and know-how, if controlling the means of production is important to you… you feel strong when you shout louder or are recognized (feel validated, worthy, significant) and appreciated for your shows of physical strength/service and practical expertise. Instead of fighting/performing, be brave enough to be vulnerable to the inalienable value of every person, to feel not just brave in physical strength and useful in service/labor, but courageous in emotions and purposes that empower the value of others. Never forget to ask WHY you are doing any particular action. Then all of your emotional deadness won’t need thrills to reawaken and will turn back into construction. But never forget to ask, “Is this real, is this meaningful, or am I rationalizing its efficiency into legitimacy?”
Knowing why: If you feel like power is satisfying every urge and hoarding and displaying wealth/status/influence/products of labor/human capital: Draw out (empower) the value of others without seeking their recognition (whether they voted for you, or critics/fans gave you rave reviews, or “subordinates” followed your directions because you paid/incentivized them). Encourage their own creativity rather than being led by your own ulterior motives to manipulate their deepest hungers for meaning, purpose, value, and significance, or distracting them away from those hungers by trying to fill their abysses with fashions, bread, and circuses that will never satisfy. Then all of your gentrification will turn back into beautification. Never forget to ask if everyone’s celebratory consent is fully informed.