Power Trip

Recently, I was working from a coffee shop here in Austin. I was seated at a table that gave me a clear view of the counter where drinks were picked up. Three men, all of them well-dressed and white, came in. After ordering their coffees, they clustered by the counter, blocking the corridor. They were oblivious to people trying to pass by or pick up their coffee orders. I bring up their race and social status because both of these are significant contributors to power dynamics. At an unconscious level, they were used to standing wherever they felt like standing and it was everyone else’s job to ask for permission to pass by. They seemed like nice guys. I’m sure they weren’t doing it on purpose. And that is part of the problem: people with power are very frequently unaware of power dynamics.

A few years ago, I would not have noticed this; at least not through the lens of power dynamics. I likely would have just thought of them as rude and/or unaware. But social consciousness has made me much more aware of how the dynamics of power are played out in everyday life.

Power is systematized energy. It applies to all human groups from two people to 7.88 billion people. How this power is expressed and experienced is directly related to the level of consciousness. This is why our core mantra at Massive is: “Consciousness changes to the dynamics of power.” Because power and consciousness are so closely related, both are on essentially the same spectrum; the gradient from darkness to light.

Let’s call Light power, justice.

And let’s call Dark power, evil.