The Powerful's Best-Kept Secret
The powerful speak in absolute terms. They tell us about the future, about what must happen, and what will happen. They know, so they say, what the future will be like. They paint a picture set in stone, predetermined. It works because people are longing for it and find it comforting. It means less uncertainty and less fear of the unknown.
The truth is that the powerful know, at least intuitively, that the opposite is true. The future is undetermined. The world is free to be changed and moulded. They know that the actions of human beings determine our future.
What’s possible, what’s likely, and how much the future can change, are only limited by human knowledge and human ingenuity. These are real constraints that we have to accept and adapt to. Powerful people know this too, and they take advantage of it by creating the ultimate constraint: telling people that the future is predetermined, unchangeable, and that trying isn’t worthwhile, enabling them to mould and influence the present in ways that will benefit them.
Shaping and changing the world is difficult, especially if the change is radical. That’s why it’s extremely beneficial for the powerful to have less competition from people with their own goals trying to change the world in their own ways. Conflicting goals necessarily require compromises or leave at least one party unsuccessful and disappointed.
If there is no compromise, determination is the force that will decide who’s successful and who isn’t. Why did someone manage to do this and that? Why did someone achieve a goal while someone else didn’t? Most of the time, the best explanation is that they were more determined to achieve it.
It’s less about how talented someone is or what skills they have but about whether they are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve a goal. To operate like a machine and not stop trying. Being determined enough to figure it out on the fly. It’s the most promising path towards determining some piece of the future, to fix the future.
The determined person’s actions might seem confusing to those who don’t understand determination and its power. Very straightforward goals and determination can lead to extremely complex and confusing behaviours. For example, who would have thought that Donald Trump buying a red Tesla in front of the White House would be part of Elon Musk’s efforts to get humanity to Mars and expanding human consciousness?
So there it is, the powerful’s best-kept secret: In theory, there is nothing that cannot be changed. The future isn’t predetermined but you and any other human being can determine the future. Being determined is the most important force in actually determining the future. The only constraint is information and human ingenuity.