Cynics tell us that the primary human motivators are fear and greed. Lust for power is the logical progression from fear and greed, once the basic security needs of the individual have been met. Lust for greater power is also the historical behavior of businesses and governments that have temporarily been strong economically or militarily. Large business boards of directors and governments tend to be populated by the individuals who have acquired wealth, either before becoming powerful or as a result of becoming powerful, so the aggregate behavior of those entities is comparable in the whole to that of wealthy individuals.

The primary difficulty in understanding and accepting that reality is that businesses and governments have some number of idealists who do not reflect the whole, and as such, unintentionally mask the general behavior of the organizations they represent. Political power itself is a form of wealth, and as we suspect, it is periodically turned into wealth, via compensation for favors to wealthy people. For the purpose of the coming discussion, consider power as neither good nor bad, but as a very deep human need, so we will examine the exercise of power in the context of helping or hurting the advancement of the human race.

Lust for power is seen as negative in most value systems, for it is usually characterized as the malignant control over the lives of numerous individuals (Hitler), or of a failure to show obedience to the designated creator (Tower of Babel). Yes, there are many examples of cruelty and excess in governments and in businesses. The individuals involved, apart from having ultimately destructive values, were and are caught in a most difficult situation. They transcended the continuous worries that occupy most of the rest of us regarding physical survival, they have usually hit the limits of their individual abilities and/or opportunities, and they are both bored and dangerous. They believe they have nothing left to do but ascend as far as they can towards their personal version of total power over existence. Worse, they do not grasp the idea that their actual lack of power to achieve true God-like power in their current time frame drives them to "God complex" behaviors over the rest of us, yet does not begin to return a sense of security to them. They know they will die and they are powerless to do anything about that reality, and some become quite deranged. Nero and Hitler were two perfect examples.

In short, many of our most powerful people are to be feared and pitied, for the motivators and aptitudes that have allowed them to achieve financial security, then wealth and power, are not the motivators or aptitudes needed to lead our species toward Destiny. The very individuals who might enable Humanity to accelerate development toward Destiny do the exact opposite in the maintenance of their power bases. They want, above all else, to be "re-elected" and ever more wealthy, so their issues and practices do not reflect what we need from true leaders, which are vision and determination to evolve our nations and develop our peoples. Leadership vision can easily become distorted when leaders become aware of the reality of their own limitations. The best try to do some good, then retire and become philanthropists or helpful historians. The worst use us as toys until they are deposed or die.

Redirecting our thinking is clearly necessary to avoid the pitfalls of other humans who have achieved "power." The first concept is that dominance, i.e. the desired exertion of personal will over others, is utterly inappropriate to a species that wants to advance. It is an infantile behavior and a throwback to animal behaviors essential for non-human animal species survival. The second concept is that we are individually responsible to avoid behaviors that hurt others and ourselves in the achieving of Destiny. Thus, it is not our right to overpopulate the planet, to spoil it environmentally or to impede the growth and application of knowledge. It is, on the other hand, our responsibility to help "re-write the book of life," and to develop others and ourselves in our domain to maximum potential.

You and your offspring, like me and mine, may still be bit players for generations to come. That is okay until technology allows for the fundamental improvement in our mental prowess, across our entire species, at which time you or your progeny are responsible to participate, with your mind, your feet and your eyes facing forward, not backward. A level, intellectual playing field will have profound effects on the dominance of some humans over others. Think about a world in which success is a reliable result from considered judgment and applied effort and not an intellectual stampede or economic birth advantage that usually oppress the less fortunate.

Goal directed thinking is a contemporary term/process used to keep teams and individuals focused on achievement and away from fault finding and finger pointing. Understand that human progress is accompanied by plenty of mistakes and sometimes disasters. That is the nature of learning and growing. Embrace goal directed thinking and season it with open-mindedness to redefine short, medium and long term goals as our knowledge grows. Remember that what we know, or think we know, at the moment a goal is conceived limits the value of the goal. It is not necessary or wise to burden yourself or others with the task of developing a perfect goal now for the distant future (100+ years), for none of us, at this stage of our development, is equipped to do that. What does matter is a determined attitude to promote our evolution, and an action oriented approach to doing it during our lifetime, while being flexible about goal modification as the future unfolds and presents us with better information on what to do and how to do it.

It is learning to manage and limit the application of amassed, unequal power that is essential in redirecting our thinking. The examples of destructive exercise of power by governments in military or social oppression, by religions in limiting human endeavors toward growth, and by businesses in cannibalizing each other and controlling or undermining the job security of their employees, might lead one to doubt that the limited human mind is suited to use power wisely. As true as that may be throughout history, power over existence is exactly the innermost driver in the Destiny defined earlier. The point is that we must accept the necessity of achieving power and pursue it with full commitment, but in a manner utterly unlike what most of our past and present leaders have done.

Empowering large populations with significant increases in mental prowess is one very definite action that will re-distribute and grow power, and help avoid the excesses of individuals who have lost, or never gained, the perspective about their role in advancing the human race. Note, for example, that the theoretical distribution of power intended in democracies is utterly dependent on the education of the voting citizenry and the elected representatives, and on the availability of accurate and complete information about any subject and the time and motivation to think about the issues. Thus, the surest way to defeat the goal of democratic participation is to under-educate the citizens and to deny them access to information that could influence their thinking, or to dissemble and direct their thoughts by fallacious accusations and innuendoes. Political action committees can also nominate and fund the elections for attractive but weak or unscrupulous candidates and allow them to under-perform according to the party line, once elected.

Take a good look at the news broadcasts tonight. Ask yourself if the content is both superficial and not actionable, not to mention slanted, limited and self-serving for the producers and their funding sponsors. Where do you go when there is something non-trivial that you want to learn? What is the actual performance of government, business and the media in helping you learn what you need to know now to contribute to the advancement of our civilization? How would you rate that performance? How can you distinguish fact from falsehood? You cannot at this time in our history. Our theoretical checks and balances in government and business are simply that ... theoretical. Our laws regarding public communication lack the combined concepts of relevance, context, completeness and truth.

Globalization of businesses is accompanied by a new and serious problem for the citizens of developed countries. It is the complete insecurity regarding stable, future employment and higher earnings. Moreover, the focus of businesses on profit, which is essential for them to survive, has necessarily become the entire basis for their decisions about where to purchase materials and labor. The profit motive by itself is not at fault, but allowing businesses to ignore the human need for security is a blatant example of destructive exercise of power.

The global labor pool is used now as a club to beat workers into economic submission. Downsizing and other short-term profit related decisions are having a significant destabilizing effect on most of us as individuals and on our families. If you are old enough to remember life before the two income family, you will understand that the early gains in disposable income from having two people work full time have long been erased. Now you have no choice if you want to have anything much in the way of nice possessions. And your quality of life is substantially diminished compared to earlier generations, for few have time to nurture family, maintain or create a nice home, or, most important, relax and feel secure and expand personal knowledge.

Business decisions on moving employees or operations to new geographic areas expressly for profit enhancement are a high stress event for families when one career or income must be sacrificed. This absurd situation comes at a time in history where automation, electronic communication and excellent transportation should be enabling those of us willing to work to enjoy life and to grow. Such is not the case, and only the citizenry can do something to change this situation, for businesses have few drivers to consider the human need component of their employees. What will you do?

Governments, businesses and religions are not, in general, operated by monsters. Nevertheless, the parental/control roles they are taking during the 20th century, with our implied consent, are resulting in us becoming more like children, including loss of individual power and privilege. It is easy to understand why our governments and businesses would manage our society in ways that avoid our active participation in any meaningful political or business decision process. One does not include children in making adult decisions because children lack experience and perspective. It is ever more so at this time in history, despite the fact that we have more knowledge as a species than ever before. Ignorant people are easier to control, especially if they do not acknowledge or recognize their ignorance or act to overcome it.

Will you actually do something about your limited knowledge and your limited, essentially non-existent participation in government? Do you want to participate in the achieving of Destiny? If so, redirect your thinking. If not, then at least know you have sacrificed your role in history.

To be fair, it is understandable that many of us vote in a superficial manner, for we have little or no essential information on which to make a choice. The candidates themselves are not actually selected by us either. Finally, the entire issue of government appears so massive and complex that few of us feel equal to the task of trying to understand what actually happens within government. Is that wise?