Communal Power

My last post has me thinking about non-violence and power. What springs to mind for you when you hear the word ‘power’? Do you picture a strong, muscle-bound man? Do you picture a superhero? What about military power? Is technological power – such as guns, nuclear bombs – what comes to mind? I suspect I’m not alone in considering physical power when I think about power. But there are other kinds of power: charisma, the power to charm others; mental power, the power to think clearly and well; emotional power, the power to withstand strong emotions and not crack; mental power, the power to resist temptations; and even communal power, power created and grown by joining with others (also known as shared power or power-with). Communal power is the power of protest. The power that is created when people come together to demand justice.

I wrote my Master’s thesis on (Golden Age) Wonder Woman’s non-violent use of power. Wonder Woman exhibits all the powers listed above in greater measure than the rest of us. One thing that stood out in story after story was her preference for communal power, for collaboration with others, most notably Steve Trevor and Etta Candy. There were some things she would do alone, but those were usually dangerous or beyond others’ capacities or both. This preference for non-violence and collaborative power comes from her theology. Wonder Woman worships the Greek gods and goddesses, and you might be thinking (rightly) that they were anything but non-violent. Well, that is what the Amazons have learned in three-thousand years on Paradise Island; that violence and war are not the answers. Love and connection are what will get us through.

Working on that thesis, I learned a lot of amazing things, one of which is that power resembles human eyes. You see, in binocular vision our eyes work together so that they can see more clearly than the sum of each eye singly. If you’ve ever had an eye exam for glasses, you might have noticed that even when the letters are blurry with one eye, they are clear with both. It’s as if 2 + 2 suddenly = 5! (Is there mathematical notation for ‘suddenly?’) Power is the same way. When we share our power with others by working together, our shared power is greater than our individual power added up. Wonder Woman working with Steve Trevor or the Holliday College women is more successful than the sum of their power. Cooperation creates power. We create power when we use our power with others rather than lord it over others. Power is not finite. It is not a zero-sum commodity. Power can be created.

Jesus knew this. I mean, really, what was his ministry about but creating power among people who thought they were powerless? Not the power to overthrow the Romans – although that is what the disciples thought at first and what they desired – but rather the power to rise above their material condition. He gathered people around him, taught them about love and justice and God, and empowered them to go out into the world, together, and make more disciples, more people loving their neighbors.

Because, as the Amazons learned, love is the true power that we all have within us. What’s more, we have the capacity to grow the love in us, because love, like power, is not a zero-sum commodity. Our capacity for love knows no bounds.