Corruption

 

“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We know that. The word originates from Latin ‘corruptus’, which is the past participle of ‘corrumpere’ meaning to mar, to bribe, to destroy, which in turn comes from ‘cor’ — ‘altogether’, + ‘rumpere’ — ‘to break’. Thus, to corrupt is not only to make something worse, but to completely destroy the original nature of a thing or person. In a way, a corrupted person is no longer human. This single word ‘corruption’ typed on Google will yield 167,000,000 results.

That’s a lot of corruption!!!

A truly enlightened society should not create conditions in which the wielding of power must, by definition, result in corruption, as power invariably does. Yet we, the people, admire power. We admire the powerful. Whether it be the people at the helm of governments, armies, corporations, or even ‘idols’ who seem to guide millions of screaming girls by their noses as they, the idols—not the girls, perform their inane perambulations across the flashing lights of a hastily put up stage.

What are the alternatives?

Humility? Meekness?

Surely, these are traits conspicuous by their absence in all people wielding power. And yet, supposedly, the meek shall inherit the earth. The ‘earth’ in this context symbolizes all appurtenances of material wealth.
Even though, the rich, by having attained wealth by the exercise of power, are bound to lose it.

There is a reason for this.

It seems to me that we do not corrupt others by imposing our will on them, be it by raw power or by the power of money, but we corrupt ourselves. Only ourselves. By descending to the level of materiality, we are no longer indivisible parts of that which is the eternal source of generosity and benevolence. Those whom we attempt to corrupt might, in fact, benefit by discharging some archaic karma. Perhaps we take on their burden?

Luckily, most of us do not wield excessive power. Perhaps, just as luckily, the generosity of the Universe spared us from its corrupting effects. Perhaps we can help those in power not to fall under its degrading effects.

But let us not make the mistake of painting all those who administer power with the brush of corruption. The rule of “many are called by few are chosen,” holds for all people, including those wielding power. Amongst the corrupted majority there are those few knights in shining armour who have become our role models. The masses will not recognize them, yet those few upon whose shoulders fate has bestowed power, yet who managed to resist its nefarious effects, those few will rise to be our true heroes.

My novel Headless World the sequel to my Avatar Syndrome, illustrates such conditions. You might enjoy seeing that there may be a way out of this dilemma. 

My webpage is http://stanlaw.ca.

Ask about FREE downloads at mailto:stan@stanlaw.ca