Two Conceptions of Power
Robert Mesle describes what Bernard Loomer thinks about unilateral power:
In a unilateral model, the burdens of inequality are borne most heavily by those who are weaker: “The natural and inevitable inequalities among individuals and groups become the means where by the estrangements in life become wider and deeper. The rich become richer, and the poor become poorer. The strong become stronger and the weak become weaker and more dependent.”
Loomer emphasizes that there is a price to be paid even for those with great unilateral strength, for their strength lies in impoverishing their own relationships. They must learn not to care about the sufferings of others.
And now relational power:
Faced with inequalities, people with relational power will choose to bear a larger burden so that the weaker have a chance to develop their own relational power. Unlike unilateral power, relational power is not competitive in the sense of being mutually exclusive. Relational power is like love: The more we love each other, the more both of us can grow in love. To achieve this state will require that we take turns carrying the burden of love when one of us is less loving, but, in the long run, your goal is to increase my love, my relational power, and for me to increase yours. As Loomer explains, “In the life of relational power, the unfairness means that those of larger size must undergo greater suffering and bear a greater burden in sustaining those relationships that hopefully may heal the brokenness of the seamless web of interdependence in which we all live.”
That last bold part sounds a lot like Jesus to me…
Collage:
Stephen Eichorn
Palms I (DETAIL)
2008
Hand cut collage on paper
60″ x 40″
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