Orienting Toward Wizard
Some of the concepts and terminology I’m about to use, as well as the title of the blog post, were lifted directly from here.
Having said that, I think I’m going to end up at a very different final destination than the original poster. So, credit where credit is due, but don’t feel compelled to read the original to understand my point.
King Power
King Power is money. I think the original article would try to lump in other things, like status, but one of my foundational operational primitives is that all of those things are fungible with money.
It’s technically possible in some communities to have status without having money, but those communities do not themselves have status in the wider culture. You’re welcome to feel about that all kinds of ways, and we may even agree, but it’s not germane to my point.
King Power is your ability to exert your will on other people, to achieve an outcome. This is most likely because you can pay them to do the task. (Originally, I was going to use another example here, such as being CEO, but that’s basically just paying them to do the task. See what I mean about it being fungible with money?)
Modern, industrialized, Western society teaches us that King Power is Good. You are virtuous and should be rewarded for seeking it. Gather money. Gather power. Become the CEO. Start a company. Own the local car wash.
What is best in life?
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!
— Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Wizard Power
In contrast, Wizard Power is your ability to exert your will on the world. All those things the King is paying for? That’s other people exerting their Wizard Power.
Fixing your own car? Wizard Power. Sewing your own clothes? Wizard Power. Growing your own food? Wizard Power.
When a king exerts King Power, they’re constrained to the world of options that have been made available for purchase. They can have anything on the menu. We are told that this is good.
When a wizard exerts Wizard Power, they’re constrained to the world of what’s possible. They can have anything which could be put on the menu. That we are not told this is good is a lie perpetrated against us by those with King Power.
Why?
Because the more effort and energy you spend on acquiring King Power, the less effort and energy you spend on acquiring Wizard Power. Each person has only so much energy, so much time, and though you can do anything, you cannot do everything.
Is This a Manifesto?
I mean. Inasmuch as basically everything I write is sort of a manifesto. What is a manifesto if not a dark essay?
Let’s call it a primer. It’s going to make a lot of future things make a lot more sense if I can refer to King Power and Wizard Power without having to define the terms.
I suspect you know where I’m going with this, and you’re very likely right, but the devil is infamously in the details.
I have removed his place, his seat, and his tomb.
I have destroyed his soul, his spirit, his body, his shade, his magic, his seed, his egg, his bones, and his hair.
Though thou shalt not exist, thou shalt suffer.
— The Book of Overthrowing Apep (~400 BCE)