POWER
http://thehpalliance.ning.com/profiles/blogs/power-1
“That which Voldemort does not value, he takes no trouble to comprehend. Of house-elves and children’s tales, of love, loyalty, and innocence, Voldemort knows and understands nothing. Nothing. That they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of any magic, is a truth he has never grasped.” (Deathly Hallows page 710).
If we break this quote down, we can learn a lot about what Dumbledore has to teach us about the nature of power. True power does not exist in Voldemort’s mutilated brand of might. True power exists in “house-elves and children’s tales, of love, loyalty, and innocence.” True power is something that each of us has access to at every moment regardless of our age, regardless of our gender, our race, ethnicity, sexuality, or creed. True power is stepping into ourselves. True power is what Harry and the Potters call, “one thing that I’ve got. One thing that you’ve got inside you too. One thing that we’ve got. And the one thing we’ve got is enough to save us all!”
So let’s talk about this. Power is probably at the height of our culture’s obsession. And for every Wizard, power is important. But if there is a distinction between true power and false power I think we better have that discussion now. Let’s talk about it.
In Harry’s world, what is false power and what is true power? And in our world, what is false power and what is true power?
Posted in What Would Dumbledore Do?
June 5th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I think the most crucial difference between Voldemort’s power and “true power” is that the former comes exclusively from humans, while the latter comes from a greater Source. The power of Voldemort and the Death Eaters is about everything humans are on the surface - their hate, greed, fear, and pain. The power described by Dumbledore, however, comes from somewhere deeper. It is who we truly are. I believe that at our deepest core, all beings are at one with the Source, or the Divine, or whatever name you want to give it. It is from that Source that is our truest being that the power of love comes. And because the power comes from somewhere superior to our “surface selves,” it is greater than any magic devised by earthly beings.
Because this power isn’t usually very dramatic or easily visible, however, it is often underestimated in our world. But the truth is easy to see if you look for it. A typical example: which takes more strength, to lose your temper at someone who has made you angry, and try to exert your “power” over that person in order to intimidate them, or to admit to that person that you played a part in the argument and to seek to restore peace? I think most people would say the second is more difficult, and I think that tells us a lot about what true power is.
I’m sorry, that was badly expressed. I hope it made sense.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I agree, Jane, and I think it was expressed well.
Voldemort didn’t know what “true power” was, because he thought he knew it all. He thought he was omniscient, and that was, ultimately, his downfall. He never bothered to learn of true power, of, “house-elves and children’s tales, of love, loyalty, and innocence,” because he thought that he already had, “true power,” which he did not. As Jane said, “It is much easier to lose your temper at someone who has made you angry, than to seek to restore peace.” Of all this Voldemort was, as Dumbledore put it, “woefully ignorant,” and that is why he was defeated, that is why Harry beat him, because unlike Voldemort, Harry had, “true power.”