BLESSED ARE THE POWERFUL
HE reign of love is passing, and the reign of power is coming again.
The day of popular democracy is nearly done. Already we are entering the twilight, towards the night that is at hand.
Before the darkness comes, it is as well to take our directions.
It is time to enquire into the nature of power, so that we do not crassly blunder into a new era: or fall down the gulf of anarchy, in the dark, as we cross the borders.
We have a confused idea, that will and power are somehow identical. We think we can have a will-to-power.
A will-to-power seems to work out as bullying. And bullying is something despicable and detestable.
Tyranny, too, which seems to us the apotheosis of power, is detestable.
It comes from our mistaken idea of power. It comes from the ancient mistake, old as Moses, of confusing power with will. The power of God, and the will of God, we have imagined identical. We need only think for a moment, and we can see the vastness of difference between the two.