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UNITY: A TREATISE ON POWER

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By T.S.Tsonchev

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The Montréal Review, November 2012

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1. UNITY AS EFFECT AND MEASURE OF POWER

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We can define power in many ways because it influences and relates to different objects. There is a "political power," "gravitation" or physical power, "psychological power," etc. The general definition of the word "power" found in dictionary describes it as something that has the ability to influence things in a particular way. In this description, "ability" is a keyword, not "influence."

Unity is a result of the work of power. What creates unity, is what exercises power. Unity is an expression of power. Disintegration or dispersion is an absence of power. Thus, whenever we try to measure the level and existence of power, it seems that we should look at the levels of unity achieved and the longevity of unity's existence.

There are presidential elections in the United States today, it is Barack Obama and Mitt Romney staying on the stage and fighting for the hearts and minds of voters. Both candidates aim to win the vote of the majority of citizens or, in other words, both try to exercise a unifying influence over the electorate. The candidate who is able to win more votes, who unites more people behind his program and politics, obviously has more power over the candidate who wins fewer votes according to the electoral system of the United States. This example shows that the level of unity, i.e. the number of votes, is a measure of the power of the presidential candidates.

If Barack Obama loses the election on November 6, this could mean that his presidential power was less uniting (or weaker) than the presidential power of Bill Clinton or George W. Bush who won two presidential mandates. But this doesn't mean that he was a worse president than George Bush or Bill Clinton, or that he achieved less during his mandate. This is just an example of how power can be measured. Look at the unity that a company, a service, a person creates, look at the "gravitational" power one entity exercises over another or over many. Human beings have immense "gravitational power." It was written, "You you made them only a little lower than the angels" and it was said "You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet" (Psalm 8:7-8). Human activity on earth distorts everything in Nature. We cut forests, exploit natural resources, built cities and technologies; we transform the nature, which means we unite the nature for our particular human needs, according to our particular human goals.

Let's repeat. If we speak about the qualities of power and its effects, we can say that power has a particular, unique quality called: unity. There is no unity without power, the thing who possesses a force that leads to unity and keep it is powerful. And it is as powerful as much unity it is able to create for as much long time as possible . It seems that the last sentence consists all basic keywords of the idea of power: powerful is equal to able, unity is equal to creation. I don't think that something can be created without the achievement of some level of unity. This, as we will see later, doesn't mean that division within unity is impossible. Quite the contrary, the power is as great as it is able to keep the opposites united.

The power is the ability to attract. The absolute power is the ability to control. There is only one thing that has absolute power, it is called God or Nature, and we, humans, do not have the capacity to understand it simply because we are subject to it. What we can do, I think, is to discuss power not as an absolute, but as a force that exists on different levels.

I will start my journey in the world of power with the ancient Greek philosophy. It will be unusual journey because we will discuss ideas not always thought as related to power. It will be a long voyage in history and ideas.

NEXT CHAPTER: MONEY AS AN EXAMPLE OF MEDIUM

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*This text is part of a manuscript in progress entitled "Unity".

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