Psychology of Power
Introduction
To change the world, one must start with growing oneself. A better world is created only when people are as powerful and capable as they can be. This allows people to thrive, and therefore be secure in their existence, and therefore minimize their need to overpower others in order to meet their needs. This has profound implications for the economy, for resource conflicts, and the general progress of humanity. The stronger a person is, the less manipulable that person is. In the words of Vishan Lakhiani, one must learn to be, in quotes unfuckwithable.
Understanding the rules of power, and becoming capable oneself is key to making a better world. There's already a lot of existing knowledge on these topics. Below are some key reference readings on the topics. Rest assured that the world's power brokers are students of these works.
Books and Concepts
- General Semantics - on the power of language and how communication works at a basic level. A seminal work.
- Positive Psychology
- Mental Hygiene. You become what you think and fill your mind with. So be careful where you put your attention. This is related to positive psychology. Another application of this is that you are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. Therefore be careful who you spend your time with. This could be in real life or the time you spend reading or thinking. Guard your mind so that you are not polluted with negative and non-constructive thought patterns.
- Psychocybernetics, Maltz
- Von Clausewitz - On War.
- 48 Rules of Power - a wake-up call to those naive in power games. There are profound lessons in there about how various historical events turned out based on rules of power. My critique of the book is that the author appears to endorse the different power games as desirable or unmuthable. Unfortunately most of the power games are based on selfishness, greed, and naturally, power. This is not what ose promotes, as we believe in collaboration and openness as the antidote to negative power games that uplift some while leaving most people behind.
