Headed Back Where I Belong
This past week I extended my writing about leadership into the political arena. I’m done with that. I have come full circle. I’m back to where I started. No more political commentary.
Throughout this excursion I have often thought about my favorite piece of writing about politics. It came from Tom Robbins in his 1990 novel Skinny Legs and All. The story tells of the conscious awakening of a young woman named Ellen Cherry. Robbins wrote,
She understood suddenly, and for no particular reason of which she was aware, that it was futile to work for political solutions to humanities problems because humanities problems were not political. Political problems did exist, all right, but they were entirely secondary. The primary problems were philosophical, and until the philosophical problems were solved, the political problems would have to be solved over and over again. The phrase “vicious circle” was coined to describe the ephemeral effectiveness of almost all political activity.
For the ethical, political activism was seductive because it seemed to offer the possibility that one could improve society, make things better, without going through the personal ordeal of rearranging one’s perceptions and transforming one’s self. For the unconscionable, political activism was seductive because it seemed to protect one’s holdings and legitimize one’s greed. But both sides were gazing through a kerchief of illusion.
If something you read sixteen years ago is still with you, then you probably ought to pay attention to it. Whenever I take note of Ellen Cherry’s epiphany, Albert Einstein also comes to mind: “Problems cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness that created them.”
I’m headed back where I belong; to helping us, “…through the personal ordeal of rearranging one’s perceptions and transforming one’s self.” I’ll meet you there next week.
Saturday, November 4th, 2006 at 11:28 am ◊ Comment or trackback◊ Send this post to someone who will thank you for it »
◊ Filed in: Leadership & Commitment | Life's Lessons | Life Purpose
November 4th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
I think many political activists jump on bandwagons because they evade their own issues. It’s much easier to play in a band than to play solo. Chaos is a device of the negative world, here to seduce some of us into being preoccupied by minutiae when all we’re doing is exacerbating our spiritual ineptitude.
People have to change themselves in order to change their world. Then and only then can be come together in spiritual harmony.
Great post!
November 5th, 2006 at 12:44 am
Very well said Dick. And i agree with Alexys. When I was a little younger I used to have strong urges to voice my protest (still do sometimes). But for most part, I have discovered that ‘voicing’ is my need. Not a solution.
I can make more of a difference working on my self and making a difference where I can ‘under the radar’.
But on another note– the world needs people who protest too!
November 5th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Alexys and Astha - thanks for the reminders. I do a dance around political leadership because I have worked with, known, and interviewed some that went about their work with great integrity, in a spirit of service, and relatively ego-free. They were all great listeners, interested in everyone’s agenda as well as any that they might harbor. So I know what is possible.
What I forget sometimes is that when anyone (including a leader) is so focused on their own agenda that they can’t even hear or acknowledge the validity of anyone else’s, when they dismiss or denigrate disagreement, and when they are addicted to power, then they are like a closed box. No light can enter.
I heard a talk that Deepak Chopra gave about leadership at a Harvard B-School symposium. He was speaking of his own first experience (as a child) about leadership — Nehru. Chopra said that the leader is the “symbolic soul of the group.” That rings true to me. So I believe that what passes for leadership in the political arena has much deeper implications for the rest of us than what appears in the headlines. Political questions are reflections of soul questions.
November 9th, 2006 at 6:24 am
Such wonderful wisdom from each of you here. I’m so grateful for thoughtful and informed dialogue, which I ALWAYS get from your blog, Dick. It appears to be an unfortunate reality, which I’ve also heard Deepak say, that a political figure represents the collective consciousness of the people who elected him.
In the movie The Secret I learned that when we protest against something, we are actually calling more attention to that something we are against. Instead of protesting the war, for example, we might consider rallying for peace. Anytime we are concentrating more on what we don’t want than what we do want, what we don’t want will continue to dominate.
I thank you all for the reminder that it really is up to ME to see the world the way I want it to be rather than the way I don’t want it to be. If I can concentrate more on what I’m grateful for, that which I’m grateful for will begin to dominate my thoughts and will be what I see around me.
November 9th, 2006 at 7:35 am
Jodee - I’ve heard the idea attributed to Zen, to the Tao, and to the I Ching: what we pay attention to tends to grow, what we ignore tends to wither. It is very much alive in some contemporary religious groups such as those that honor Ernest Holmes as their spiritual guide–New Thought, Religious Science, Unity, Science of Mind (not Scientology), etc.
And, for me too, gratitude is almost always a way out of malaise.
On a related note…
I had a conversation with a master of the I Ching as the US was preparing its incursion into Afghanistan. He told me that the way to deal with evil was not to got to war with it because that only serves to feed it. The way to deal with evil, he said, was to contain it. Contained, it has nothing to feed upon but itself and it dies.