Control

Looking into the nature of control has been an interest of late. There are a few reasons it jumps out at me. One article I stumbled on that has a ton of intriguing notes (mainly about human nature) is: RECOGNIZING MANIPULATION AND INTIMIDATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF DOMINATION (CONTROL) - Control by false authority, manipulation, intimidation. Just reading through it are a ton of ways to recognize and deal with manipulation and intimidation. As I studied the article I realized how widespread these tactics are. People, as folks like to call it at work, are always trying to build their little empires. Part of the reason politics draws people is because it allows them to wield authority and with it experience power. I have nothing against power as it is necessary and good when used correctly. However, many people, due to poor character, are unable to handle it well and, from this all-too-common case, abuse things which have been entrusted to them.

What does all this have to do with control? Control is, in its purist form, boils down to, using Webster, "to exercise restraining or directing influence over". It is the possession of power. To me, this is not a natural thing, rather, it is a spiritual thing. People want to have power. I believe this stems from the original sin, pride, but, only as a side effect. Yet, I sense they are very, very closely related. Nonetheless, when people are obsessed with control (and power) just for the sake of being in control meekness cannot possibly follow. Power for the sake of possessing power is about the person, not the responsibility which entitled them to have the power. Being able to restrain and/or influence others is a great responsibility and something not to be used lightly. To me, it ranks with the kind of responsibility mentioned of teachers in Scripture. To be able to form souls, to cause them to make certain decisions (or not)...these are serious things.

An earlier usage of the word - "exert authority," from M.L. contrarotulus - touches a little more closely than that of the 15th century Old English. It is the experience of exerting authority, of using power, when what God-given (or God-permitted) authority is allowed to flow that people get a larger-than-life sense. It is, in reality, the force of God released through an individual to grant them power over another (or a thing) in order to change its natural course of action. Yielding the power of God temporarily takes one out of the natural and aligns them with the spiritual, for better or worse, and gives people a taste of God's might. Now, I am not saying being in control makes one God. I am saying that control can bring with it a supernatural experience that allows us to more deeply understand who God is and His nature. I think all too often people get lost in the experience and forget to be humbled by their being used as an instrument of God, and, see, rather, this event as making them somehow special. From this sense of uniqueness, I think people draw the beginning steps of incorrectly desiring validation (and the high) from the experience of control rather than the understanding that they are merely an object of the Lord.