I wish I could set a data mining algorithm on my thoughts for the past fifteen years and ferret out consistent themes. I could try to Google this blog, but Mind on Fire captures only 40% of that period, and not always with great depth or consistency. No matter. I’ve been cycling this problem through my soft gray computer for the past few weeks and have come up with this:
I am obsessed with power.
Actually, I’m obsessed with questions of power. I don’t like when it’s distributed unevenly. I’m uneasy when I have it and chafe when I’m under it. Here are a few examples:
- When Jana and I got engaged many many moons ago, I was a conservative, family values kind of guy. But it didn’t make sense to either of us that only the woman wore an engagement ring. Consequently, we both wore them, which many of our friends thought was kind of weird. This is the earliest sign of my nascent feminism.
- Gender hierarchy and ideological control within Mormonism are primary factors for my jumping ship and affiliating with the Quakers, who have been relatively consistent in their vision of radical egalitarianism over the centuries.
- Jana and I raise our kids in such a way that we include them on major family decisions (including financial ones, and leaving Mormonism). This is not to say that we don’t have the bulk of the power in our relationship with themn (in subtle as well as overt ways). We are, however, more conscious of how we exercise that power, and do our best to empower our children and maximize their opportunities. When we do have to discipline them, we do our best to avoid outright displays of parental power.
- As I wrap up my master’s degree, I realize that my primary concern in the study of religion is the distribution of power. Close attention to relationships and mechanisms of power is shared by all of the theorists I’ve chosen to study, including Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Catherine Bell, and Judith Butler. My bachelor’s degree was in political science. Power was definitely a concern there.
- Now that I’m thinking more about how technology and information (access to and distribution of) affect our global society, I want to know the following: Who has access to information? Who controls that access? Who gets to create new information?
I’ve also learned that I have some deep-seated values that are directly opposed to the concentration of power: respect for transparency, collaboration, and access. The more these characteristics are encouraged, the more evenly the power is distributed and the more everyone is empowered. This is a good thing. For example, publishing the Bible in the vernacular (on that newfangled printing press) was the most effective means of challenging Catholicism’s monopoly on religious power in Western Europe. My relationship with Jana has fared better when we’ve encouraged transparency, collaboration and access between us.
Yes, even in those ways. Minds out of the gutter, now.
Where am I going with all of this? As I bury my lofty dreams of studying religion, I realize that all along I have had this obsession with power. I don’t plan on ditching that. But I want to consider how I can encourage transparency, collaboration and access (especially where information and technology are concerned) and thereby fight the concentration of power. I’m open to suggestions.
Note: I have a few years to ramp up–I probably won’t be leaving my IT job until Jana completes her PhD.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Elise // Jun 2, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Here’s a few random response thoughts, mostly in regards to the who has access, control, and creation power for the information distributed through technology. I have a really hard time sorting through all the info provided, especially in regards to anything political or controversial. Take elections, for example. I read info on Republic candidates and it sounds great. I read info on Democratic candidates and it sounds great. I have a really difficult time seperating fact from bias. I know that there are people in positions of power that can manipulate political/news info toward their own bias, I just don’t really have enough practice or experience to figure out where the bias stops and where the fact begins, or vice versa.
Also, I’m really interested in the fine line between leadership and power. I feel that leadership is a good thing, and I think you’d agree, John (correct me if I’m wrong, of course). But leadership can so easily be abused for the sake of power. It would be great if all leaders could be trusted not to abuse their position for power, but of course that is unrealistic. So how do followers hold their leaders responsible enough to keep them honest but keep leaders free enough that they can be effective and creative? Leaders need to have some sort of power in order to be leaders, but too much power seems to be a negative thing…..the balance is hard to find.
2 Jackie // Jun 2, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Wow, your perspective is so interesting. I’ve always been obsessed with power, but only my own power, as I believe that I take after my father that way.
I think most people think like this, many people can see power imbalance when it happens to them, but when it happens to others it seems less important.
But what a refreshing point of view that you include your kids on decisions, I think that’s important. It was always frustrating for me as a kid to not know what was going on in the house, I guess I liked power back then too!
Although, now that I think about it, I don’t like too much of it….how complex. I like a little bit of distribution too…hmmm is anyone else like this? I guess I’m an “everything in moderation” type of person.
3 John // Jun 3, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Elise, I share your struggle to sort out information. I feel that I am often too easily swayed.
Jackie: Welcome to mind on fire! Thanks for your thoughts. How did you find us?
I can’t deny that I have some desire for my own personal power. I do want the power to shape the world the way that I think is best.
I think that one of the problems with this world is that we see power as a zero-sum game, that someone can only gain power at the expense of someone else losing theirs. Maybe I’m naive, but I believe it’s possible to raise the level of empowerment across the board, especially when it comes to knowledge.
4 Sidney Williams // Jun 7, 2007 at 4:24 am
I am also finishing up my my master’s degree in divinity; however my primary concern in the study of religion is the distribution of justice or shared power. The commandment to love God and one’s neighbor seems so simple, yet humanity fails daily. The ironic thing is I never understood that at the root of our sin is the quest for power.
In our quest for personal power we deny the power of God, the being which is greater than all created beings. In reality, finite beings can never possess enough personal power and yet we spend our lives in denial as pursue temporal matters. There is a power to be obtained in the spiritual realm, but this power works in reverse polarity. This power gives the strength to love, when every human fiber suggest we ought to hate. This power gives us to courage to hope, when there is no empirical evidence to push forward. This power can only be given and there is no political path to obtain.
In our quest for power over the other, it can only be achieved temporarily. Real power over the other is also granted by the other. In relationships power is granted when one feels safe and confident is the grantee. Husbands who take power over their families by force, live a life of deception, hate and fear. True love cannot be experienced without giving up one personal pursuit of power. Likewise the relationship between father and son is not one of domination, but of eternal love. The son has its origin in the Father and the bond between them goes beyond the grave.
This understanding has come to me in studying the Trinity. God is neither over His Son nor the Spirit. There are each unique and yet equal. The earth and the heavens were created by all of them. This premise is critical to the ecology of humanity. There is no supreme being or governing authority. There is only a loving reconciling community that pours out its power for the redemption of the powerless.
Imagine a world that built on the foundation of the trinity, where people and nations who have been given power accept the mantle of helping the powerless without a political agenda. Imagine a society where there is a love for that which makes us different, instead of racism, sexism and zenophobia. I wonder is capitalism might actually work as intended if people we empowered to be all they can be and those who have not receive such gifts are cared for as if they are truly loved by those who have been gifted.
I hope this doesn’t come across as sermon, but I believe that the message of Christ has been hijacked through the generations by individuals in pursuit of personal power. From certain Popes, to Slave Owners, to the Religeous right and even to store front preachers who prey on powerless women there has been a consistent distortion of the Christian message. Even the message of Dr. King has tagged as a “dream” rather than a Clarion Call to Accountability. For those of that have been given the gift to understand the reveal message of God through the ages, we must do all we can to seek justice for all.
My God Bless us all.
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