We think of power as something solid - bills signed into law, executive orders stamped with authority, concrete barriers erected at borders. We imagin

Humans Live and Die By Their Myths

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2024-11-06 18:00:02

We think of power as something solid - bills signed into law, executive orders stamped with authority, concrete barriers erected at borders. We imagine change happens in marbled halls and wood-paneled rooms, through the shuffling of papers and the banging of gavels. But this is actually just theatre; a shadow play on the cave wall.

The true nature of political power is not solid; it flows like water, invisible yet pervasive, seeping into the crevices of our shared imagination. When a figure rises to prominence - whether through the ballot box or the burning barricade - their real impact isn't measured in legislation or policy. It’s their allegorical presence that sends ripples through the collective conscience, disturbing the carefully maintained artifice of "the way things are."

Think of how certain phrases enter our lexicon, sneakily spreading like spores on the wind. They nest in our psyche, sprouting new ways of seeing. "I have a dream" doesn't derive its power from any law King helped pass, but from how it reorganized our relationship with possibility.