789 – The Mantle of Captain Spectacular

Oh, Percy, you poor, poor Summer child… EVERYONE has darkness inside them. Our Universe is made from the conflict-front of the battle between the Creator and the Adversary. Darkness is half of what we are made of. But we’re also half LIGHT. Being a hero is knowing when to use your darkness correctly in support of your light. Being a hero is mastering yourself.

Evil seeks power, the ability to control others’ destinies.
Good seeks strength, the ability to control their OWN destinies.

The key to it is that strength beats power. But it’s so much harder, and takes so much longer, to achieve. Too many want a shortcut. The only shortcut is power..and you can’t fight power with power. As King said, that just spirals out of control. You must fight those who seek to control others with your own ability to control YOURSELF. That works.

The truly strong have nothing to fear from the powerful, because the powerful gain their power by making others afraid. The fear comes from insecurity, the worry that the powerful know more about you than you do, and thus can see your weaknesses. The way to counter that is by already knowing your weaknesses, and have mastered them. Just like you can’t blackmail someone over something they’ve already told everyone, you can’t make someone afraid over weaknesses they’ve already conquered.

Strength beats power. And strength comes from within. The knowledge of, and control over, the darkness that comprises half our being.