Profit must include more than just dollars. We need a spreadsheet that measures peace, happiness, health and hope for the future. In order to get this we need to recognize the power that has been forgotten.
Real power is what we have when we have choices and often we cannot see the power available to us.
For example, a young mother may not feel powerful when her newborn infant keeps waking at night, crying for attention. She will feel drained and at the mercy of her baby. A young father will not feel powerful because the needs of his children exhaust his days. But caring and loving children really teaches them about what is worthy of our attention . Loved children often grow up to be responsible, creative adults, who have the tools to raise their children with empathy and good guidance. These families are capable of being functioning citizens who are then able to imagine how to contribute to a healthy society.
Where the emphasis in a family is about punishment and control rather than an observation of their childrens' needs they grow up blind to the powers of sustaining life. Adults who were abused as children often cannot see how they are abusing their loved ones, and by extension cannot imagine how to create peaceful societies.
There are those who have survived brutal childhoods and still have learned about loving kindness as a social adhesive, but so many will fall under the false promise of power-over. It becomes a mindset of dedicated denial of the infinite power of life where great conquerors walk a thin tightrope in a spiritual vacuum.
Healthy humans learn how to use their power wisely.
