The Transcendental: The Church Project

Communication: A Power Source

March 17, 2024

In terms of public speaking, who do I think holds the power of communication? Personally, I find Lao Tzu to be one of those public speakers, but in general, I would say a person who is a keeper of spiritual knowledge or a spiritual person.

People may go: Um, but public speakers are people who stand on an elevated surface in relation to an audience or in front, facing the camera with microphones like one microphone won't do a good job of message delivery.

Well, maybe you hear the word 'public' and you're like 'the opposite of private', where you speak and you can be certain that you have an audience, you are visible and audible.

Writing is also public speaking. When thoughts or ideas get expressed and it is intended for people or the community, that is public speaking. Public speaking is communicating to people or the community. For others, they won't call you a public speaker unless there's an event and they could call you 'honorable' - 'honorable guest speaker' and you're made to feel really special, like you earned public speaking. But a public speaker is actually a person who issues or delivers a statement or a message to people or the community. If you have a social media page and you are publishing statements and messages, you are a public speaker. Speaker is also communicator. You are a public communicator.

But what does 'power of communication' mean? Are we talking about power in relation to freedom of speech or expression? Does the power of communication rely on the opportunity to speak before an audience with microphones? Are you given the power of communication when you are given freedom of speech or expression? When you have and you are exercising freedom of speech or expression, does that mean you have the power of communication?

In order to put things into better perspective, let's ask the question: What makes communication a source of power?

If you're a public official delivering a speech and because you have freedom of speech, does that automatically mean that your communication is a source of power? If you have 'executive powers' and you deliver a speech, does that executive power give your communication power?

People can have and exercise freedom of speech and the communication lacking power, the communication is not a source of power but instead a source of things not power like conflict, exclusion, anger, and other feelings that drain people's power and drive them to be at war, to power struggles.

Having power is a good thing, not having power is a bad thing.

People say power corrupts. It doesn't. When people don't have power, that's when they have corruption. People who have corruption, their communication doesn't hold power and therefore won't be a source of power. Powerlessness leads to corruption. It is power that gets rid of the corruption.

Corruption doesn't empower people. Power empowers people.

Corruption has elements like treachery and brute force. People get tricked or forced to be at war. Brute force suggests that there's element of physical aggression but it's not limited to that, 'cause brute force could also be emotional aggression like anger and intolerance. But that's how corruption disempowers people.

The power of communication is creative - from the root word 'create' synonymous to 'build'. Communication has the power of making things work, so people could have peace and harmony. Communication has healing and restoration powers. Communication is like the sun, it is a source of energy and power.

What communication creates in the community is how you know whether it's a source of power or not. When people are restless, the communication lacks power. When people are sick, the communication lacks power.

Lao Tzu's communication is a source of power. But what is it with Lao Tzu's communication that makes it a source of power? The book of the way teaches people about governance, and when I started reading and listening to that book, I was like: Why is there governance in a spiritual book? Why is the master talking about government? But then eventually, I was able to relate governance not to government but to leadership and then leadership to power. The book of the way is teaching about power - what it is and what it is not.

When powerless people teach others what power is, they will be talking about the seat of power like it is a thing for people to fight over like it's a game of the cup. They will be teaching people the power struggle. They will inspire unrest in people. And the community will be in shambles and progress, well, people will call it progress but it is not but ruins.

There is no such thing as the cup or the seat of power. It only exists in the mind of the powerless. 'Cause the powerless have to be at war to have the cup and when they don't get the cup, then that's when they get to see how powerless they are.

Everybody has power but that they're not tapping into the source.

What is that source? Spiritual truth.

Those who hold spiritual truth could see the game created out of powerlessness and it is called the power struggle. People looking at the cup and fighting over it because they think that's power and that if they don't get it, they don't have it. If you want the cup, you don't have power. You realize that, and you could begin tapping into the source.

Power doesn't deal with conflict. Why? Because there is darkness in conflict. Power and darkness don't go together. But power is what gets rid of the darkness. In the darkness, things fall apart, but when light enters, that's when people see why things fell apart and then they get to rebuild.

Lao Tzu and the book of the way, it's like a key that makes people go: What is this for? What box does this open? But it is the same for a lot of spiritual books. People see the bible and they're like: What do I really do with this?

The book of the way is more my spiritual book than the bible but I have like I said, spiritual texts from Psalms that I really love, and I only really used the key when I went to go hermitting. Lao Tzu was able to deliver the message to me while I was in spiritual retreat. That's how I tapped into the master's communication and found out about leadership and power. I suppose where I am going with this is you don't find out till you go hermitting. And because you're interested about spiritual work, how you do spiritual work in the community. From there, you get the language of spiritual work.

When you return to the community after using the key to open the box of spiritual knowledge, you could start doing spiritual work immediately. But personally, it's just this year that it became clear to me what that spiritual work is. You won't have to look for an audience, as far as churches go, people will just find the work as you found the key. Actually, you won't be looking. Why would be a different topic.