... Continued

Now although at least some of the abuses of position with which we are concerned within business, professional and political circles would be attributable to out-and-out malice, many of these abuses, according to the Syndetic Paradigm, perhaps even the majority of these abuses, are attributable to something far less sinister, albeit no less ultimately destructive. For the Syndetic Paradigm, managerial or leadership incompetence, not malice as such, is held to be a far more significant operative factor when it comes to the prevalence of such abuses of position within business, professional and political circles. Power, in other words, is that to which all leadership initiatives necessarily default in the absence of being able to hold and process interpersonal and intrapsychic dynamics in meaning. In the absence of functional meaning, quite simply put, there can be nothing but power. Of course when we add to this the no less alarming fact that most individuals eventually find themselves holding by way of promotion or other circumstances positions of authority—the demands of which exceed their consciousness capabilities to function within meaning rather than power—we are not only given insight into the full extent of this problem, but no less led to the conclusion that psychoanalytical analysis and executive coaching are terribly underutilized. In The Syndetic Paradigm, the problem of power versus meaning is explored by way of the discussion of the dynamics of ego control versus ego strength.

So why does power corrupt? It corrupts because it gives license to unconsciousness. It corrupts because it licenses individuals to unilaterally, unreflectively and thus arbitrarily impose their will on others—impose their will without having properly engaged and processed through the Reality at hand. Power inflates the controlling ego and through it the ego is erroneously led to believe it has the power to make people, ideas and even Reality itself disappear without due process. In the big picture nothing is further from the truth. Power corrupts because it gives license to unconsciousness, and in so doing it not only destroys the growth opportunity of the victim of such imposition, but no less the growth opportunity of the victimizer. Failure to engage another in consciousness, not only does the other individual harm, but it no less does serious harm to oneself, for in both cases the precious opportunity to extend consciousness by way of self-organizing nature is altogether lost, corrupted.

By way of power you corrupt; by way of power you are corrupted. By way of absolute power you absolutely corrupt; by way of absolute power you become absolutely corrupted.