Power from submission, control from obedience – the novel At the Back of the North Wind suggests a thoughtful metaphor-parable for a paradoxical facet of life in Chapter V, when the young child called Diamond rides the horse of the same name:

... Diamond soon found that, as he was obedient to his father, so the horse was obedient to him. For he had not ridden far before he found courage to reach forward and catch hold of the bridle, and when his father, whose hand was upon it, felt the boy pull it towards him, he looked up and smiled, and, well pleased, let go his hold, and left Diamond to guide Diamond; and the boy soon found that he could do so perfectly. It was a grand thing to be able to guide a great beast like that. And another discovery he made was that, in order to guide the horse, he had in a measure to obey the horse first. If he did not yield his body to the motions of the horse's body, he could not guide him; he must fall off. ...

(cf Certainty and Doubt (1999-04-27), Face to Face with God (2001-11-13), Silence, Not Ignorance (2005-06-05), Dive Right In (2016-06-12), Loving Arc to the Universe (2020-03-25), ...) - ^z - 2020-06-11