Since humankind’s earliest arrival on this planet, we have been learning about how to control, well everything. Early humans benefitted by learning to control how they approached their environment such as how to spread seeds to multiply their favorite plants for gathering, how to herd animals off cliffs for guaranteed meat, how to store food for the winter, how to control rodents and pests from destroying their stores, how to build shelters to control excess heat, rain, snow and the like. They learned to control their breath to perfect their aim with bow and arrow, they learned how to be silent and hunt downwind from herds, and endless other methods to control themselves and their environmental conditions for greater survival probabilities.

As humans progressed, their efforts to control continued and gained strength. They learned to control bodies of water with dams, reroute streams to water crops, access water through wells, developed fortresses to control hostiles and provide safety for their people. They learned to control their neighbor’s expansion and invasion by developing armies with advanced weaponry that eventually led to control through their own invasions and domination of ever-enlarging empires. They learned how to gain greater control through mining elements and minerals that became metals for swords and machinery, learned to control fire and then electricity.

More recently, humans have learned to control space traveling machines and the extreme, hostile conditions of space. We have learned how to control conditions for developing pharmaceuticals to control blood pressure, various organs of the body, enzymes, viruses, bacteria, and an endless list of biological conditions. We have learned to control atomic and subatomic structures, to make new and lighter metals, batteries, computer chips and so on. We developed money and means of exchange and have spent decades monetizing everything and finding out how to squeeze more money out of nearly everything humans do. World trade, national and world economic systems are constantly manipulated to gain control over wealth and poverty. 

It would seem that ours is the history of developing control or trying to control nearly everything we come into contact with and this means each and every one of us is programmed and conditioned to see the world through the eyes of how to control it. Indeed, we have learned and for thousands of years we have attempted to control our children, our spouses, our families through manipulation, transactions, subtle and not so subtle means. Most women have learned to control men by simply observing what motivates them and what they want more than anything which is usually sex, power, and freedom. Through subtle or not so subtle transactions, trading orgasms for security, influence, or access to finances women have managed to bypass total domination throughout history. Some women have become extremely powerful and influential by using the powers of control to get to the top. Needless to say, so many men have done the same but by slightly different means. Men have learned to control women by observing their traits and seeing what is most effective at manipulating them. In many cases this control comes in the form of physical and emotional domination which sometimes takes the form of gaslighting, eroding the woman’s confidence in her own observations and insights in an attempt to keep her under her husband’s control. Men control one another through transactions that are threatening to the others’ ambitions or to their safety. This is best seen in the activities of mafia dons and their minions. These are just a few examples of how all these control games play out, there are so many.

All this of course gives rise to the question, is control a good thing or not? Certainly, control has helped humankind to not only survive but thrive on the world stage. But where does the advantage end and the disadvantage begin? When does wanting control become so desired that it results in losing control destructively? Aren’t all addictions really a negative result of over-controlled humans trying to prove that they are really in control when they are not, or rebelling against the overcontrol of their lives? Studies in mental health clearly show that people who are overly controlled emotionally are either the most dangerous amongst us or the ones first to crack under extreme stress. Aren’t people who are addicted to controlling others leaning toward fascism, autocracy, extreme authoritarianism? Are there not many examples of the outrageous destructiveness of these world tyrants, dictators, and mobsters? People die under their dominion in the millions through genocide, torture, imprisonment, disappearances, starvation, and neglect.

Let’s look more closely at the question of positive control and negative control. In a mining operation an inspector investigates the tunnels to assess for potential cave-ins and other dangers in an inherently dangerous environment.  Through careful observations and tests the inspector calls for supports in certain locations, and assesses further for the potential for poisonous gas leaks and flooding. This is not done out of fear but out of caution to avoid loss of life, delays, and setbacks to the operation. The investigator makes recommendations to control for these possibilities and they are hopefully followed with positive results. Infrastructure is added to prevent ceilings from caving in, vents are added to remove the poison gases and pumps put into place in the event of flooding. These are all good controls based on neutral observations, not coming from insecurity but from proactive decisions. However, not everything works this way because of a major human problem-fear.

In every case you will see that unfortunate results are produced when the motive is fear, not just normal caution. All tyrants and dictators are fearful bullies, totally insecure, narcissistic, and sociopathic. Therefore, everything that emits from them is harmful and destructive in the long run. Why? Because their motivation is always to control others and situations out of paranoia for their own sense of security. The more power and influence they gain, the more paranoid they become and the poorer their judgment becomes until they crash and burn. It never fails to destroy them in the end. Now governments, corporate structures, political parties, religions and any top-down hierarchical structures are often extensions of the tyrant so that we could say the culture has become tyrannical, or the corporation has become so, or the political party/cult/religion holds tyrannical views. You can always trace it back to a human, espousing certain beliefs, dictums, wants etc. and these are always based in fear.

So, fear determines when control goes bad and when it is simply a pragmatic problem -solving device. Let’s look at the deeper truths involving control. First of all, in truth, having control is a myth of huge proportions. There is no control, there is not even the glimmer of hope of control. I talked to a friend of mine, Laurie Skreslet, an Everest climber about the risks of climbing and he told me, “The strategy is to study all the risks and then reduce the risk factor in every way possible by using proven equipment, studying all the routes and knowing their hazards, taking careful note of the weather and upcoming conditions, inspecting all equipment multiple times and having protocols in place for every possible situation known.” Still there may be accidents, even disasters. That is the name of the game. One never knows all the risks and anything is possible. That is life itself. No system is foolproof. It may be almost foolproof but even then there can be one in a million chances that it will not work and that sometimes happens. A meteor can hit the safest plane made and crash it. What are the odds? Miniscule but it is possible. Do we allow this to terrify us and keep us up at night. Not really. Any one of us could not wake up in the morning but we go about our business as if we will. At our core we understand we are not in complete control and never will be and that is okay with us. For some it is not. So, they spend their lives struggling to establish complete control over everyone and everything. For what? For the myth of security. Life is not secure for the body and for the ego. Life is totally safe for essence. Where is your loyalty? That makes all the difference. Bodies die. Personalities experience disappointment and failure. So what? That is the way it is and it will never be any different for humans despite all the fantasies or technological advancements.

The best we can do is try to make life as safe and enjoyable as possible for the majority of people. At this time in history most people have something to eat, shelter, and better conditions than they have ever had throughout history. There is still much work to do, mostly having to do with proper distribution of food and means, and ending the wars and violence that deprive people of safety around the world. All of these wars are a result of control freaks who are fearful, weak, and have no wisdom.

Upon asking most spiritual teachers, “What is the answer?” Every one of them will say, in so many words “Let go, let God.” Riiiggghhht! With our collective conditioning and programming about the importance of being in control, that is a tall order. Most people can’t even let go enough to take a proper shit much less let go of all their thinking, planning, analyzing, controlling, and retelling the ego narrative over and over to themselves. Yet, that is the requirement for ultimate peace of mind. Letting go of it all and discovering the no-body that is their true identity, their baseline in consciousness, is the only solution. No-body does not have to be in control. No-body is not afraid of anything. No-body has nothing to prove to anyone, not even itself. What a relief to be a real nobody instead of a pretend somebody. In fact, what if nobody was the new somebody. No, that’s not possible or desirable. But perhaps no-body will save the world from over control by having no-body to control.

At the end of the day, we are all no body. Our bodies are born, live, and die. We are the consciousness that experiences having a body for a while and experiences not having a body before we are born and after we die. That consciousness is pure spirit and is the source of the only life we know. It is not after control, it is after experience.  

Inner Shaman Retreat

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“ Medicine For Handling Radical Change” With Jose Stevens (and contributions from Lena Stevens)  Thursday, June 19, 2025 (4PM)- Monday June 23, 2025 (11AM) $979 all inclusive. To register please contact the Power Path at 505-982-8732 or email [email protected]

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