The problem with theisms of whatever form, from atheism to monotheism to pantheism to polytheism to any of other forms of theism that have ever been named, is just that: They are all forms of theism. That is, they all without exception take as central to any concern with divinity the question of whether, and if so in what form and number, there is or exists some single divine being, or some multiplicity of such beings.
Read moreConducive power is the power of softness. What is soft is gentle. It is mild-mannered, comfortable and comforting, easy and easing. Whatever may come, what is soft remains calm and undisturbed, and induces ("brings into") calmness in whatever is disturbed. The word soft itself ultimately derives from the Proto-Germanic root *som, which meant "fitting, agreeable." The power of love, the power of the open hand, is soft power.
Read moreThe greater coercive power grows, the greater the number of those it puts behind bars, and the greater the number of bars with which it contains them. Eventually, those over whom coercive power is exercised can no longer even see the world beyond the bars that enclose them, confining them in their prisons. Their world itself shrinks down to the size of their prison cell.
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