    33

    Power and the Invisible World

    'Fetch me a fruit of the Banyan tree.'

    'Here is one, sir.' 'Break it.'

    'I have broken it, sir.'

    'What do you see?'

    'Very tiny seeds, sir.'

    'Break one.'

    'I have broken it, sir.'

    'What do you see now?'

    'Nothing, sir.'

    'My son,' the father said, 'what you do not perceive is the essence,

    and in that essence the mighty banyan tree exists.

    Believe me, my son, in that essence is the self of all that is.  That is the

    True....'

                                          Chandogya Upanishad, vi, 13

    The fundamentalist submits to the authority of his minister.

    Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV bent his knee in the snow to the Pope.

    And we submit to the authority of the doctor.  Control is power, says

    the dictionary, and the dictionary is quite right.  But how is the illusion

    of control turned into power over you and me?   Witch doctors,

    prophets, priests, scientists, and medical doctors gain our confidence

    by giving us the feeling that they are tapped in to an invisible truth, a

    truth hidden behind the surface world we see.  The keepers of the

    mysteries exude a certainty that through their contact with this

    invisible world, they are able to solve the problems that, to us, seem

    baffling.

    As a result, we give these figures almost anything they want.

    Americans are currently pumping money into the pockets of

    physicians and their attendants at a rate that is truly astonishing.

    Expenditure for medical care, to everyone's dismay, is the fastest

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