“Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. And one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites-polar opposites-so that love is identifiedwith the resignation of power, and power with the denial of love. We’ve got to get this thing right. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anaemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love. It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our time.�
–MartinLuther King Jr.
[tags]love,power,MLK,quotes[/tags]
i love this quote eric. we often misunderstand power (power over, power with, power among, power within) and mlk really clarifies this piece for me. it also makes me think of a book i just discovered while participating in the latest evolutionary salon (http://www.thegreatstory.org/ev-salon3.html). the author of the book, anodea judith, writes about the movement from the love of power to the power of love as a historical shift. also, another reference on this theme: paul and layne cutwright on their website enlightened partnership talk about the evolutionary edge of humanity being sharing power (http://www.enlightenedpartners.com/articles/sharingpower.html). all of this feels in such deep alignment.