The Difference Between Power and Force

Many years ago I read the great book Power vs Force by David Hawkins. It deals with the innate intelligence  deep within us that is part of the wisdom of the universe. It teaches that if we are in tune with ourselves we can determine if an experience is either nutritional or damaging.  This is not a critique of the Hawkins book, but my own perception of this subject.

There is no competition between the two. Power is light and force darkness. Force comes from those that identify as separate, with an agenda that  promotes their own particular goals. They perceive others as competition in survival. They live in fear, feeling strength through manipulation, intimidation and domination.

Force is doomed to failure for many reasons.  When a charged ego uses force it charges other egos and promotes conflict. The commitment to judgement is a form of force, investing in separateness. It’s shallow roots cannot access the strength of the whole. Those that focus in separateness can bond and increase their force, but are united only by a sense of a common enemy.

When we use force we feel as though we are doing it, plotting and manipulating. We do not use power, it flows through us. It does not aggrandize ourselves individually.  People who raise to prominence through force invest in their own separateness by the seduction of being special. The Course in Miracles warns against the dream of specialness, as though we and our children are somehow above all others. The Buddha said you can not wash away blood with blood. Jesus said that those without sin should cast the first stone. They point to the complete and utter primacy of unity. Of Power.