The Ten Commandments Of Personal Power

177 Pages·2016·0.39 MB·English

by  Weinzweig Paul

Personal Power Paul Weinzweig
Dr. Paul Weinzweig
THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS
OF PERSONAL
POWER
Creative Strategies for Shared Happiness and Success
©Paul Weinzweig, 1988.
Meridian Press.
ISBN 2-920417-27-4.
Personal Power Paul Weinzweig
Personal Power Paul Weinzweig
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I THE PURSUIT OF PERSONAL POWER 3
PROLOGUE 4
Chapter I: THE NATURE OF PERSONAL POWER 7
Chapter 2: THE CHALLENGE 10
Chapter 3: SELF-CONTROL 13
Chapter 4: HARMONY 20
Chapter 5: IDEALISM 25
Chapter 6: THE EFFECT OF OUR TIMES ON PERSONAL POWER 32
PART II: HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR LIFE ENERGY 35
Chapter 7: STRESS AND SELF-AWARENESS 36
Chapter 8: THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, AND ATTITUDES 41
Chapter 9: THE LIFE ENERGY EXCHANGE 45
Chapter 10: THE LAWS OF NATURE 51
Chapter 11: CULTURE AND THE LIFE ENERGY 60
PART III: HOW TO FREE YOUR CREATIVE POTENTIAL 64
Chapter 12: THE PURPOSE OF WORK 66
Chapter 13: HOW TO DISCOVER YOUR LIFE'S WORK 70
Chapter 14: HOW AND WHY YOU DEFEAT YOURSELF 93
PART IV: THE POWER OF CREATIVE THOUGHT 103
Chapter 15: A CHALLENGE FOR THE MIND 104
Chapter 17: THE NATURE OF THOUGHT 122
Chapter 18: OBSERVATION AND DETACHMENT 134
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Personal Power Paul Weinzweig
Chapter 19: SELF-CONFIDENCE 142
Chapter 20: OPTIMISM 149
Chapter 21: INTEGRATION 154
Chapter 22: VISUALIZATION, MEDITATION, AND DREAMING 162
Chapter 23: THE BODY'S WISDOM 167
EPILOGUE 170
REFERENCES 172
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Personal Power Paul Weinzweig
PART I THE PURSUIT OF PERSONAL POWER
"Life is a search after power; and this is an
element with which the whole world is so satur-
ated, - there is no chink or crevice in which
it is not lodged, - that no honest seeking goes
unrewarded."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Power"
(The Conduct of Life)
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Personal Power Paul Weinzweig
PROLOGUE
Amidst the remarkable and perilous changes that are rushing at life in the
modern world, it is easy to lose sight of the individual. In an age of
organizations and systems, of social problems and institutional solutions, it is
commonplace to forget that individuals are the mainsprings of all problems
and all solutions. The casting of the social net has brought insights and
practical benefits but individual human beings too readily slip through that net.
The growth of mass society with its undisciplined freedoms and centralization of
functions has resulted in a decline in personal responsibility and, consequently,
of Personal Power. A system - be it a family, school, corporation, or govern-
ment - cannot succeed if the individuals within it are without creative thought,
self-expression, or practical responsibility.
All the industrial, technical, and scientific progress of the Twentieth Century
has not brought happiness to people. One is far more likely to find a genuine
smile on the face of an impoverished Ecuadorian farmer than on the faces of
shoppers on Rodeo Drive or of the attache' set on Wall Street. Rex Harrison, the
great English actor, who lived in both India and the United States, expressed his
amazement that a people as poor as the East Indians should appear so open,
generous, and happy while Americans, the richest people in the world, looked
insulated and distressed. Wealth and technical progress alone are no ticket to
personal satisfaction and fulfillment.
The industrial and technological revolutions have brought many wonderful
benefits to mankind but in certain crucial respects they have failed to
champion the deeper needs of individual human beings. Without the
development of our unique powers of energy and thought, creativity and
character, life will be lacking in lustre, distinction, direction, and meaning;
hopes and dreams will falter and be scattered in the wind. Personal Power is
that capacity not only to survive life's vicissitudes, but to turn them into creative
achievements.

The philospher Bertrand Russell noted that if, in the Seventeenth Century, a
certain hundred people had been killed in their childhood, the modern world
would not exist. If the Personal Power of one hundred people could make such
a difference to the world, what a beautiful future we could have if one billion
individuals had the learning, freedom, and self-control to develop their
inalienable powers of personal expression. We have the resources and
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technology to make this possible. We need only the will, imagination, and
heartfulness to implement it. The physical or mental enslavement of any
human being diminishes the light and threatens the life of all others. No one
knows the birthplace of talent and every individual has a unique contribution
to make to the welfare of others. The rights to wisdom and to personal growth
belong no longer to an elite but to all people. For them this book was written.
Each of us has a "dharma" - a path to follow, a mission in life. Most of our
unresolved problems stem from the failure to recognize our talents and to
realize our true potential. Only a few fortunate ones are aware of their destiny
and are fulfilling it. Those individuals are the ones with Personal Power.
This book provides the ethical principals and scientific know-how for
unlocking the code to your future, your happiness, your success. Personal
Power is the guarantee of individual and social achievement. Personal Power is
a practical formula for shared happiness and success which enables each of
us to make maximum use of our inborn talents. Here, for the "Me Generation",
are the TEN COMMANDMENTS OF PERSONAL POWER
1. BE MASTER OF YOUR DESTINY
2. BECOME SUCCESSFUL BY DOING WHAT YOU LOVE
3. MAKE A CONSTRUCTIVE CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR WORLD
4. BUILD LOYAL RELATIONSHIPS
5. FREE YOUR CREATIVE POTENTIAL
6. DISCOVER COURAGE
7. CARE FOR YOUR HEALTH
8. AVOID SELF-DEFEATING BEHAVIOR
9. APPLY THE POSITIVE POWER OF YOUR MIND
10.COMBINE MATERIAL SUCCESS WITH SPIRITUAL SATISFACTION

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Chapter I: THE NATURE OF PERSONAL POWER
"There is no meaning to life except the meaning
man gives to his life by the unfolding of his
powers."
- Erich Fromm
"Power" is a vigorous word with many shades of evocative meaning. People
in positions of power - financial, military, political, educational, legal,
bureaucratic - respect it. People outside such positions often suspect it.
Personal Power, however, is very different from other forms of power. Personal
Power can never be taken away by the whim of the voters, by revolutions, by
the fluctuations of the marketplace, by parents, teachers, police or by
bureaucratic decisions from higher up.
Personal Power and domination are two entirely different concepts.
Domination is a symptom of personal weakness because it is caused by
ignorance, fear, and isolating egotism. Personal Power, in contrast, is based
upon knowledge, courage, and co operation. Personal Power is synonymous
with WISDOM: experience strained by the heart and crowned by intelligence.
Personal Power should not be confused with wealth, official power, fame or
the authority of office. Sometimes they are the same, but often they are not.
Many of the "walking dead" of this world occupy positions of official power in
government, business, education, and elsewhere. Any signs of Personal Power
which they may seem to exhibit are an illusion created by the prestige of their
office. Once they lose their wealth or leave their official positions of power, the
"walking dead" quickly lose the appear ance of power because that is all it was
- appearance.
In the early 1920's, the paintings of a renowned Russian artist named
NIcholas Roerich were being widely exhibited in America. In one of the large
cities, during the tour, a wealthy art patron arranged a festive dinner in
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Roerich's honor. Everything was luxurious and on a grand scale and the most
prominent people of the city were present. The host and hostess, both elderly,
heartily entertained the guests. Many speeches were delivered. Everything was
beautifully and magnificently arranged. After dinner, one of the female guests
said to Roerich: "This is indeed a remarkable reception," and added
confidentially, "Probably this is the last dinner in this hou se." Roerich looked at
his companion in amazement and she, lowering her voice, explained that their
host was absolutely ruined and just yesterday he had lost his last three million.
Roerich was shocked. The lady added, "Of course, it is not easy for him,
especially considering his age. He is already seventy-four."
The incongruity of this revelation with the graciousness and calmness of the
host and hostess amazed the artist. After that conversation, Roerich began to
take a special interest in their fate. Three months after that grand dinner they
moved to their former garage. It seemed that everything was lost; but three
years later this businessman was again a millionaire and again lived in his
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former palatial home.
The demeanor of the businessman, (his graciousness, cheerfulness, and
buoyant self-confidence), during the party in Roer- ich's honor, was not altered
in the slightest by the news of his financial bankruptcy. Such conduct and the
subsequent return to solvency show clearly that the businessman's power did
not come from his wealth but that his wealth came from his considerable
Personal Power.
Personal Power is accessible equally to the poor and the rich; the schooled
and the unschooled; those in favor and those out of favor; women and men;
young and old; the physically attractive and the not-so-attractive; to people
of all nations, races, and creeds. BUT YOU HAVE TO EARN IT. Personal Power
cannot be conferred from without; it can only be created from within.
The Webster's Dictionary gives several definitions of power: "great ability to
do, act, or affect strongly; vigor; force; strength." The strength of Personal
Power resides not merely in the muscles. It lives primarily in the self-mastery of
the mind, in the depth of refined feeling in the heart, and in the wisdom of
experience retained by every cell of the body. Personal Power is a synthesis of
mind, heart, hands, and feet; a working together, in effective harmony, of
thought, feeling, and will. To refer to Power as Personal indicates simply that
the power belongs to the person and not to the surrounding circumstances.
Personal Power is accumulated in time and space but lives outside of both.
Personal Power is gathered in the course of life's encounters but grows
according to the desire, the will, and the imagination. Personal Power is hewn
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