I believe power is an intangible thing that cannot be seen in this world in its true nature. You can however catch a glimpse of it, moreover you can get the feeling of power.

It's best described like an emotion, power is in the situations where emotion is at it's strongest, fear, love, Anger, Lust, etc.

Power is fundamental to understanding this life, it can be stored by us and used to our benefit, or it may be squandered on trivial things and our power reserves may become dry.

The concept of Power exists in the philosophy of Carlos Castaneda and in the philosophy of Yoga where it goes by the Sanskrit name of Tapas.

According to Castaneda; our lives should revolve around storing power to benefit us and others in the long term, you cannot begin to understand life without a store of power.

How do you get power?

The easiest way Ican think to describe the act of obtaining power and then releasing it is in the scenario where you are angry with someone. In this situation everything they do gives you a feeling, that feeling is normally anger and is imediately wasted by shouting or thrashing out.

If you were to hold that feeling before it becomes anger, you realise it is power. You can sit on this power and prevent it from becoming anger.

This will take time and you will want to lash out but just sit. Eventually that power will be absorbed into you, and you will be able to use it to your benefit.

You may be able to speak the absolute truth in front of people, or perform a feat of endurance, maybe fix something that is broken or solve a problem that has previously been unsolvable. The scale of the effect will relate to the amount of power you have. Imagine a computer game where you store power for a special move, and you can only perfom the kick ass move when you have achieved a certain power level.

Great men store their power and do not use it unless it is absolutley necessary, Carlos says to be miserly with power, and not to waste it on futile acts.

Both Yoga and Castaneda require a store of power and an impeccable lifestyle to be in place before enlightenment can come your way.