But power: power is so frequently misunderstood. Liberals hate it, extremists are obsessed with it... our culture doesn't get it at all.
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(Probably because for the past several centuries, it has been on the top of that particular haystack. Distorted perspective.)
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So I'm finally coming to undertand power in functional terms - what does it do, how does it work? - without obsession or aversion.
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When it's seen this way, three things become immediately clear: you have almost no external power, and almost limitless personal power...
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... and we are really, really shit at handling power, both our own and that of others.
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Most people live to some degree in a fantasy world, where they either think they control almost everything that happens to them, or nothing.
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Because of this, we either overlook the tremendous influence of forces beyond our control, or of our own habits, psychology et al.
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With regards to responsibility, everything follows from this one sentence: you control almost nothing, but what you do nobody else can touch
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I can feel a new personality taking shape from all of this. Less neurotic, less concerned with things I can't control - more liberated.
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If you can accept just how much you can't control, you gain a tremendous amount of power over what you can control.