Power is a hidden dimension of reality and is a much talked about notion in Melanesia. Power is viewed through a dual lens of religion and of physical attributes.

Through the religious lens, power is everywhere and can be found with men. Eventhough they are hidden, they do influence a man’s life.

In a more physical sense, power may be associated with any kind of skills, wealth, prestige, success and good luck as well as with failure misfortune, sickness, death and social disruption.

Power is felt behind any major event and lies among ancestral beings or spiritual beings. What may be described as an act of hallucination among Westerners is actually an act of power play as believed by Melanesians.

Any non-Melanesian might ask why such encounters of power are not questioned but rather believed to be true.

How different it may seem to foreign cultures, there is no one to debate other cultures? Likewise a practice or belief of a foreign culture or group of people may seem unrealistic to one culture, so are theirs to another.

It seems that what contributes to the power encounters considered to be true to us Melanesians is found in language.

How so, you might ask? Well the concepts of a mother tongue will remain convincing than the concepts of a second languageif the speaker remains in his or her social environment.

In the search of power, everyone searches for it but not the whole lot of searchers will have the benefit (or luck) of acquiring it.

Basically, it seems that there are two options.it is that one may find access to power by tradition or by revelation.

Imagine a physical instance where an individual vies the position of a “big man.” He does not or is not pronounced a as a “big man” instantly right?

He has to build up exchange relations that reciprocate each other and always remain a step ahead in those relationships.

Now that is more to tradition, where a man is in search of power through his own efforts. If you recall earlier, power is also conquered through revelation.

It might not necessarily be conquered by rather power reveals it availability through dreams or other extraordinary events.

A particular source of power in the Melanesian context are dreams because traditionally, dreams are understood in terms of revelation.

Where a Westerners might past events, Melanesians tie it to future events with the dream springing forth with some prophetic meaning only the “interpreter” can reveal.

Although the interpretation of the dreams may not bear immediate fruit, there is also room for improvisation of the interpretation.

Therefore, real knowledge that is received either through tradition or revelation is a precious and secret possession that becomes a part of a man and eventually shapes the man’s self-consciousness

Overall, during these changing times of adjustments and meeting difficulties, it depends on the choice of the one who is expecting an outcome whether to choose the traditional criteria of power or the one by revelation.

Amanda Kundil