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Fall 1991

NAMASTE,

On one Sunday evening each month we hold a discussion at the Bethesda studio. The topics vary, ranging from the academic and esoteric to the simple and ordinary. The one common thread, I hope, is that they are both interesting and relevant to our practice of yoga, considering that practice in its broadest sense.

Last May the topic was “The Abuse of Power in the Spiritual Community.” With recently reported scandals in such various groups as the Christian, Buddhist, and Yoga communities, the subject was timely. It is, of course, perennial as well. Abuse accompanies power as surely as the rain attends the spring. Not invariably, not necessarily, not everywhere, not always to the same degree in each instance, but often.

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Our discussion of abuse veered toward sexual abuse and more specifically the abuse of women by men. The occurrence of such incidents is certainly extensive and is perhaps the primary form of abuse. I say perhaps because financial abuse is also commonplace, more so in some communities than in others, and maybe as widespread. In any case, although stimulating questions and problems regarding the abuse of power arose in that discussion and in a similar discussion that took place later in the month at the Eagle’s Nest Spring Intensive, an aspect of the issue with which I’d like to deal at the moment is the larger subject of power itself.

For a person to abuse power, s/he must have power to abuse. What is power and from where does this power come?

According to the dictionary (Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary, Office Edition, 1984), power is: 1. The capacity or ability to do or accomplish something. 2. A particular ability, capability, or skill. 3. a. Strength, force, or might. b. Forceful impact: effectiveness. 4. The authority or ability to control others. 5. One having great authority or influence. 6. Physical force or energy. There are more definitions, but they become narrower in scope, so I’ll stop there.

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If we consider the first definition, then we can say that everybody has power, at least to some degree. We can all do or accomplish something. No one is truly powerless, although it may appear or feel that way at times. Implicit, though, is that, as in definition 4, if one person has the authority or ability to control others, then one person is more powerful. I would go so far as to say that whenever two people get together, one is always more powerful than the other. One may be more powerful in one circumstance, but less powerful in a different circumstance; and there may be a balance of power in some situations, or a struggle or question as to who is the more powerful. But in almost all circumstances, one person is going to be more powerful, i.e. more capable, more forceful, more influential.

Where does this power come from?

In one sense we get power from and give power to others. Sometimes power is granted from one person to another heedlessly, with no particular forethought involved. Most of us do this with police officers or other official authority figures, for example.

Often, though, the initial granting of power in an interaction is conscious, considered and willing. One person grants another person power in a given context because we decide s/he has or seems to have some special skill which will be of benefit, or because of that person’s reputation for or appearance of possessing superior knowledge, or because of the sheer magnitude of his/her energy.

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There is, however, power that is neither taken by nor granted to one person from another, and this is power that comes through our own efforts to open ourselves to the infinite power of the cosmos. We reside in a sea of boundless energy, and one of our tasks is to learn to swim in those power-full currents.

Certainly one of the most effective ways to open ourselves to this energy and to learn to navigate our course is through the practice of yoga. Indeed Patanjali, in the Yoga Sutras, devotes nearly the entire third chapter to the various powers (siddhis) and how they are acquired, so power is a subject that arises inevitably in any consideration of the practice of yoga.

Usually not long after seriously undertaking our practice we begin to find ourselves, as a result of our efforts, more able; we accomplish some of our goals; we become stronger; we have more energy. Because of this, not only do others perceive us as being more powerful, but we feel ourselves to be more powerful as well.

And this power is very different from the power that is given and received between people. It is not contingent on another person, but comes as a result of our aligning ourselves, quite literally, with the infinite power of the universe. Because we must make an effort to approach this alignment, it is easy to slide into the idea that we are the source of this power. This is no more true than that the farmer, because s/he tills the field and plants the seed is the source of his/her produce. S/he may till and plant ‘til the cows come home, but other forces outside her/himself must cooperate or his/her seeds will never sprout and grow to maturity.

It is at the point that we may begin to feel that our growing power is the result solely of our own efforts that it develops the potential to become a danger to ourselves and to others.

Carlos Casteneda, in his first book, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, describes power as the third natural enemy (after fear and clarity) of one who aspires to knowledge or seeing the nature of Reality, and he says it is the strongest of enemies.

Patanjali warns us that the powers that come through practice can be obstacles on our paths to seeing our true nature, and that as we progress we become increasingly susceptible to the temptations of power. He also tells us that along with our efforts must come surrender and non-attachment.

The issues of power, its acquisition and its use are difficult and vast. Many questions arise, and I have made no attempt to answer them here. These issues are not theoretical ones or ones that only people with years of practice need to deal with, however. At the outset I observed that each of us has power to some degree, in some small measure, whether we acknowledge it or not. And as an integral part of our lives, we both give power to and receive it from others as well as finding it within ourselves. The issues surrounding power, therefore, concern us all, and we need to be attentive to them, to give them some thought. In any case, it is certainly incumbent upon each of us to give, receive, and wield our power as consciously and as responsibly as possible. Along with insights into the acquisition of power, yoga, through the yamas and niyamas, provides us with the means to do this as well.

Pretty powerful stuff this yoga.

       

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