Power, like wealth and fame, is not substance. It is circumstance. It gathers, it amplifies, and it moves on.
By Raphic Burdo
Power rarely announces itself. It accumulates, then alters the mind. At first, it feels earned. A result of effort, discipline, clarity. Then it becomes assumed. Expected. Natural. And eventually, it risks becoming identity. This is the turning point; quiet, almost invisible. What you hold begins to hold you.
Power, like wealth and fame, is not substance. It is circumstance. It gathers, it amplifies, and it moves on. Not owned. Not permanent. Not you. Yet the mind resists this truth. You will be praised more than you deserve. You will be agreed with more than is accurate. You will be deferred to more than be healthy. And slowly, without resistance, you may begin to believe it.
There is a danger in being surrounded by softened voices. When disagreement fades, clarity fades with it. When truth is filtered, judgment distorts. And in that distortion, arrogance takes root; not as intent, but as drift. There is also a deeper illusion that you are the author of outcomes, that success is self-contained, that control is complete.
But no ascent is solitary. Chance, timing, context, and unseen hands shape every rise. To forget this is to harden. To remember it is to remain human. The discipline, then, is not to reject power, but to relate to it correctly. To hold it without attachment. To use it without display. To exercise it without becoming it.
Read: How to Manage Negative, Dominant Power Dynamics
Power can contract or it can expand. In one form, it narrows the world, placing the self at the center and others at the edge. In another, it enlarges the world, creating space, dignity, and opportunity beyond the self. The difference is intention. One path seeks recognition. The other seeks contribution. One accumulates. The other distributes. One is visible. The other is enduring. Return, then, to a simple question: Am I carrying this role, or is this role carrying me? If the role carries you, it will consume you. If you carry it with awareness, it will pass through you without distortion. Because it will pass. Power will move. Wealth will shift. Fame will fade. What remains is quieter and more exacting, the imprint on people, the strength of institutions left behind, the integrity of decisions made when no one was watching.
To live well is not to avoid power, but to pass through it unchanged at the core. To remain steady when elevated, measured when praised, aware when obeyed. And to remember, always: You are not the source of the light; but only its bearer for a brief moment.
Read: A Gentle Tale Unfolds in Shadows
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Raphic Burdo is student of literature and psychology. He podcasts YT @Burdo Digital
