cony of his palace, the blood of millions dripping from his fingers, beaming down at a ragged mob gathered there to
honor him—the brute knowing that the scene is a fraud of his own staging, that the mob is there solely by virtue of
his soldiers' bayonets—but his chest swelling in satisfaction nonetheless, while, self-hypnotized, he basks in the
warmth of his victims' "adoration." (This is the creature whom other social metaphysicians, in their own alienation
from reality, call practical.)
Fear is the emotion which Power-seeking social metaphysicians understand best, the emotion on which they are
authorities—by introspection. Fear is the social atmosphere in which they feel most at home, and the absence of
fear in any person they deal with robs them of their delusion of efficacy; their sense of personal identity tends to
evaporate in such a person's presence. One can manipulate uncertainty and self-doubt; one cannot manipulate self-
esteem.
While social metaphysicians of the Power-seeking variety will often be attracted to the political or military sphere,
the type may be found in every profession and on every level of society—from the corporation president who
promotes his executives, not according to their ability, but according to their capacity for obsequiousness —to the
professor who enjoys undercutting the intellectual self-confidence of his students, by tossing off incomprehensible
contradictions as knowledge—to the vicious little sadist browbeating her troop of Girl Scouts. Differences in
ambition, skill, and interests obviously are relevant to the range of one's power seeking.
Also, there is the matter of opportunity. In a politically free society, the Power-seeking type is severely limited in
opportunities for "self-expression." But in a statist society, or in a society moving toward statism, formerly
repressed and inhibited Power-seekers start crawling from under rocks in startling numbers.
Faced with the question, "What am I to do with my life?" or "What will make me happy?"—the Conventional
social metaphysician seeks the answer among the standard values of his culture: respectability, financial success,
marriage, family, professional competence, prestige, etc.
Faced with the question, "How am I to make my existence endurable?"—the Power-seeking social metaphysician
seeks the answer in aggressive and destructive action aimed at the external object of his fear: other people.