Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
See, I think it's so sad that you could NOT want those things. How could you go through life, never tasting great victory or achieving glory? As Napoleon said, "Better never to have been born than to live without glory!" What are your goals, peaceable mediocrity? Sitting around with friends and family sipping tea or drinking beer, watching TV, etc.? I mean what do you want out of life if it isn't something great, something few people will ever attain. The greatest feeling in life IS the feeling of power, no matter what anyone may think, as Nietzsche says, "this world is the will to power, and nothing besides. You yourselves are this will to power, and nothing besides," or "What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power in man, power itself. What is bad? All that is born of weakness." Power is the ultimate goal, the ultimate commodity, not happiness. Happiness is a SIDE EFFECT of power, but you cannot say that happiness causes power, yet you can say that power causes happiness. It's a mistake of feeble human logic to reduce life to happiness, when in point of fact if you chase happiness you will not have it, but if you chase power, you will attain happiness.
Every time I achieve something that makes me feel more powerful, more in control, I feel happier. That is what life is about, the attainment of as much power as humanly possible.
Be grateful to the ****kickers of the world then. If there wasn't all this mediocrity of which you speak, you'd never have anyone to hold power over.
I've spent the greater part of my life avoiding power at all costs, it repulses me, and to that end I am very happy.
What you want is alien to me Jonathan but it doesn't make it any less valid.
Be grateful to the ****kickers of the world then. If there wasn't all this mediocrity of which you speak, you'd never have anyone to hold power over.
I've spent the greater part of my life avoiding power at all costs, it repulses me, and to that end I am very happy.
What you want is alien to me Jonathan but it doesn't make it any less valid.
That's what you think, but my philosophy doesn't depend on your opinions of what you want, it's just empirical fact. It isn't like I believe that all guys want to date Jessica Alba, which may or may not be true. EVERYONE, no matter whether they think so or not, wants power. Every action you take is for power in the end. You just have a misconception of what the word power means, therefore you deny that you have sought power, which is patently untrue. Any time that you fight for just a few extra free moments in your day to relax, that is a quest for power. Any time you make time to hang out with friends, and want the ability to spend more time with your family or friends, that is a struggle for power. When you are trying to negotiate a raise with your boss, that is a struggle for power. EVERY human action can be explained in terms of power, which is what you didn't seem to understand. I'm not telling you my philosophy, I'm talking about reality, as it is, and as it cannot be denied.
Every plant and animal attempts to attain as much power as possible. Weeds spread as far as they can, trees grow into the sky as tall as they can, even if it means crowding out smaller bushes under them and depriving them of sunlight. Animals assert their dominance on the environment around them, fighting for resources and mates. People do the same thing, they just like to make up fancy words, "Ah I'm not interested in power, I just want to be able to relax and have a good life working a job I love!" Uhh, that's exactly what power is -- the power to work that job you love, the power to take vacations and relax when you can. EVERYONE wants power, no exceptions.
You just seem to have made power into something that it is not. You think that it means power over other people, and I don't know how old you are but how have you gotten to this point without understanding a pretty basic word? I don't care about having power over other people. That's a childish form of power. The greatest power is had over oneself, power to control your body, your actions, and for your will to become reality. When I'm working on a film shoot I don't delight in my "power" as director to tell people what to do. I delight in my opportunity to work together with them, and to get the best out of their creativity, hoping that together we can all strive to achieve something better than any of us could have done alone. The power is in the ability to make a project come together, not in the ability to boss people around. That is childish power because it's power only attained through the subjugation of a person, through whatever means, whether it's of a prisoner or an employee, but if you can make someone excited to do their job, and to work together with you, there is no need to lord power over them, because your power comes from getting the best out of them and making them WANT to serve your ends, without being forced to do so.
Power, properly wielded, is not some form of despotism, but instead is a great force for good in the world under the right control. You say you've avoided power, well first off that's not true, you've just avoided a certain type of power. Second, the type you've avoided you must admit you could not handle. If you had attained great power, like Bill Gates, you would be a superior individual -- his ability to change the course of human history, through charitable donations, through providing jobs for tens of thousands of people, and his company's innovations (as much as I'm not a Microsoft fan) greatly benefit mankind. Power is something to be desired, but not just for itself, also as a means to an end. The greater your power, the more you can exert your will on this reality, and everyone wants that, no matter if they admit it or not. Everyone has causes they care about and wish they could affect, whether that's curing cancer, or donating to artistic pursuits, or helping needy kids, whatever it may be that makes you feel passion, power is the means to exert your inner thoughts onto the outer world around you.
The difference between the powerful and the powerless is that what the powerful think, they can do and they can make happen, but what the powerless think is always just dreams and fairy tales.
Yeah I'm sure actually thinking about anything you say or analyzing your life or the world too much would probably hurt your brain. Don't strain yourself!
I laugh all of the time, haha, you have given me a great laugh for instance! I always think it's funny when people have no great aspirations, no great dreams, they are happy just existing. It's sort of sad too, but mainly just funny.
I wonder about the ages of those who are so indignat of this article and those who agree. (I haven't read all the pages so I'm not sure even if anyone agrees).
I'd say I so totally get now what she's talking about. Being settled is so much better than the alternative. But - I didn't get it until I was closer to 40. Even dare to say not until after I got settled.
Between 32 and 38, I was in "in-between" place, drowning under the bombarding messages that I was supposed to be happy in my own company, yet not feeling quite right about that.
Before 32, woo-hoo, I was the rising professional star woman.
I wonder about the ages of those who are so indignat of this article and those who agree. (I haven't read all the pages so I'm not sure even if anyone agrees).
I'd say I so totally get now what she's talking about. Being settled is so much better than the alternative. But - I didn't get it until I was closer to 40. Even dare to say not until after I got settled.
Between 32 and 38, I was in "in-between" place, drowning under the bombarding messages that I was supposed to be happy in my own company, yet not feeling quite right about that.
Before 32, woo-hoo, I was the rising professional star woman.
I get, and I agree with the article.
If you can identify with what she's saying that's great, it's your life and how you live it and view your path and all the things that encompasses is certainly your right entirely. My issue with the arguments in this article, aside from the ridiculous "research" she presented to back her premise is that she's not affording anybody that didn't do as she says and not as she did, any respect at all. MY choice has pretty much always been that I don't want children and I'm not secretly bitter and twisted and really wishing I had nor is it that I'm angry and wishing I'd settled. AND I don't believe that should I end up living the rest of my days in a long term relationship that it's because I settled, how insulting for the bloke? AND I don't believe that if I end up spending the rest of my days alone that my life will be unfullfilled or that I would wish it was different. It's not my fault that she had a great long list of requirements in a man that she couldn't fulfil and then she got so caught up in the "biological imperative" crap that's sprouted at women that she thought is was a good idea to have a baby through donor sperm and now she's woken up and discovered it's not as pretty a picture as she first thought. SOME of us knew, have always known that having babies does not "complete" us and that children deserve to know and learn equally from their father or a father figure. I personally don't hold that just any old bloke will do for that job if we're talking about "my" children, hence them not being in existence, and that's ok with me.
Not a dig at you btw, we all identify with different things, suffice to say like many of the other people that have disagreed with her here, so have I and these would be my reasons.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
No intention of it today! Sunday is rest day! 
