The real sting here lies in what Lao Tzu refuses to call power: dominion over others looks impressive from the outside, yet it's fundamentally reactive, always requiring vigilance and force to maintain. Self-mastery, by contrast, is a kind of quiet inevitability—a person who governs their own impulses, fears, and appetites simply *becomes* someone others trust instinctively, without coercion. Consider a supervisor who rules through intimidation versus one who's genuinely unflappable: the second person's authority costs them nothing and cannot be taken away, while the first lives in constant exhaustion. That's the difference between borrowing power and actually possessing it.