Today I feel like riffing off of Halffull’s comment. He said:

“There are three tennents that any truly conscious person should work to improve: Love, Truth, and Power.

I LOVE a lot of your philosophies… but one thing which has always been lacking for me is the inclusion of the principle of power.

‘Just let go’ and ‘I need do nothing’… while very aligned with truth and love, completely negate the principle of power… and I believe it is something you may want to look into.”

[Sidenote: Halffull also invoked Steve Pavlina, who has written all kinds of fascinating stuff about the nature of reality, intention, etc. And Halffull’s blog is worth reading, too: http://connectingandshit.blogspot.com. It’s the way of the future for PUAs, if you ask me. Halffull is the only PUA I’ve seen who talks about “raising the girl’s value” to match your own, an advanced form of “leave her better than you found her.” But I digress ….]

So the question on the table is whether letting go and doing nothing negate the principle of power. I don’t think they do. But my view of “power” has shifted dramatically over the past year. To me, power used to mean something more like, ok I have a goal and now I need to be powerful to achieve that goal. But isn’t that really the ego’s version of power?

Now think Star Wars. Think Jedi. Think Neo in the Matrix. Think of aligning yourself with the Force. It’s all about letting go and doing nothing. It’s about losing the self to a Force that is all-knowing and all-powerful. It’s allowing yourself to surrender into the whitewater current of the river, getting sucked under the water for longer than you think it’s possible to hold your breath, and having faith that the river will bring you back to the surface to breathe again. It’s about surrendering to your part in the Master Plan that will save all humanity.

This is true power because it is the only Power that really is at all. The ego, all self-serving goals, are ultimately powerless. “Of myself I can do nothing.”

“Here again is the paradox often referred to in the course. To say, ‘Of myself I can do nothing’ is to gain all power. And yet it is but a seeming paradox. As God created you, you HAVE all power. The image you made of yourself has none. The Holy Spirit knows the truth about you. The image you made does not. Yet, despite its obvious and complete ignorance, this image assumes it knows all things because you have given that belief to it. Such is your teaching, and the teaching of the world that was made to uphold it. But the Teacher Who knows the truth has not forgotten it. His decisions bring benefit to all, being wholly devoid of attack. And therefore incapable of arousing guilt.”

http://www.acimfind.info/acim-manual/acim-manual-29.html

And one of my absolute favorite quotations from the Course:

“Once you accept His plan as the one function that you would fulfill, there will be nothing else the Holy Spirit will not arrange for you without your effort. He will go before you making straight your path, and leaving in your way no stones to trip on, and no obstacles to bar your way. Nothing you need will be denied you. Not one seeming difficulty but will melt away before you reach it. You need take thought for nothing, careless of everything except the only purpose that you would fulfill.”

This is what I think of when PUAs talk about nimbus. A state where the self has dissolved, and he becomes one with his surroundings.

One more quote about power, to round out our trilogy for today:

“Make way for peace, and it will come. … [S]ee the mighty works that He will do through you, and you must be convinced you did them through Him. It is impossible to deny the Source of effects so powerful they could not be of you. Leave room for Him, and you will find yourself so filled with power that nothing will prevail against your peace. And this will be the test by which you recognize that you have understood.”

THAT is power. :-)

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Postscript: I *love* this no planning thing. I made no plans for Saturday night, but then plans just materialized with one of my favoritest guys on the planet (affectionately known as Ferrari guy). If you let the Universe take care of you, it does a damn good job!!