Ok-- the laws of power, we do need to be aware of them. It's about creating allure through mystification and fear. We end up projecting our reverence and our fears into this mysterious other, thus they retain control over us. The cure is complete self-development and education, which was why I returned to university. In fact, though, at this stage in human development, we can pretty much count on these laws of power being in action, which is why we need to adapt to them and combat them, rather than just critique them. A privileged position is gaining the perception you have when you really have lost everything, and you are no longer inclined to project either your good or evil into others, but the mjaority of people do not reach this lowest of lows.
In terms of combatting the people who use these psychological dynamics to dominate others, there are many means and methods, and the key to all of them is when you switch off your emotion. Just as a snake "sees" body heat, a predator will track you according to your emotion, so if you want to share the same advantages as them, you need to switch off the emotion effects and learn to listen. It's a whole different world then, and you can learn who is projecting into whom.
These human projections are actually unstoppable. I don't think you can stop them any more than you can stop galaxies forming around black holes in the universe. Really self-disciplined people can see it all in amazement, but otherwise most people do not see or understand the forces they are responding to. When I read Marechera's Black Sunlight, I found a passage that sems to speak from this perspective about power:
"What has not been done in the name of some straitjacket?’ My soul a neat shirtfront; these star-studded galaxies. Ashtrays on the desk overflow with stubbed inventions. Night and sky are refuges on a quay; the world debris piled at the edge of neat memoranda. White pebbles on a white beach dazzle the eye towards the lighthouse; a spurt of flame is the whiteman shooting grouse. Orion smiles at cracked tiles on Brixton roofs. The mirror flinches. Torn commandments of clouds shroud the sky from me. Time and space enclose me in their fetid rooms."
It's really a transcendental look at things relating to power.
In terms of combatting the people who use these psychological dynamics to dominate others, there are many means and methods, and the key to all of them is when you switch off your emotion. Just as a snake "sees" body heat, a predator will track you according to your emotion, so if you want to share the same advantages as them, you need to switch off the emotion effects and learn to listen. It's a whole different world then, and you can learn who is projecting into whom.
These human projections are actually unstoppable. I don't think you can stop them any more than you can stop galaxies forming around black holes in the universe. Really self-disciplined people can see it all in amazement, but otherwise most people do not see or understand the forces they are responding to. When I read Marechera's Black Sunlight, I found a passage that sems to speak from this perspective about power:
"What has not been done in the name of some straitjacket?’ My soul a neat shirtfront; these star-studded galaxies. Ashtrays on the desk overflow with stubbed inventions. Night and sky are refuges on a quay; the world debris piled at the edge of neat memoranda. White pebbles on a white beach dazzle the eye towards the lighthouse; a spurt of flame is the whiteman shooting grouse. Orion smiles at cracked tiles on Brixton roofs. The mirror flinches. Torn commandments of clouds shroud the sky from me. Time and space enclose me in their fetid rooms."
It's really a transcendental look at things relating to power.