SPARK 114
DISTINCTION: Politicians are not your leaders.
NOTES: The belief that politicians are your leaders is marketed
to you by politicians.
192 mega-governments register themselves at the United
Nations as world leaders but they are not. Neither are their associated generals or corporate
officers.
It is categorically impossible for political, military or business persons
to be leaders. Here is why: the rules of interaction in the current system do not allow it.
- Politicians and other elected officials cannot care for the true well being of humanity because they must please whoever has the money or they won't be re-elected.
- Military personnel must follow orders from their superiors rather than following their own conscience or they get court martialed.
- Employees at any level of the company are forced externalize social and environmental costs to maximize profits for their shareholders or they are out of a job.
If I am a
politician I play the game of I’m right,
you’re wrong. I identify other politicians as the enemy, then start a costly conflict to keep the business elite
happy, which keeps me funded and re-elected. Masses of people have brainwashed themselves into
thinking it is safer to do nothing about this.
If I am a
corporate director I play the game of I
win, you lose. By arranging that social and environmental costs go to the
general public or to future generations I collect the most Monopoly™ money, corrupt the politicians, and wipe my competitors off the board. Masses of
people have hypnotized themselves into thinking it is smarter to do nothing
about this.
Leadership is
a completely different game from politics or business.
Leadership is the game of taking responsibility
for the well being of all.
Mistaking
politicians and CEOs for leaders has given us a planet on the brink of ecological
collapse, a free-energy-from-oil fantasy-world society that is running out of
oil, predatory capitalism that demolishes economic stability, and no
proactivity towards overpopulation, health care, pollution, sustainable energy,
or developing the potential of each person. If we assemble the world’s
politicians to agree on a fair, ambitious and binding treaty for reversing
climate change all we get is procrastination.
There is deep
longing in the human heart to follow a good king.
Can you feel it in you?
But where is the good king to serve? Our deep longing is why we gullibly
believe campaign promises even when we know candidates will betray us.
Politicians
compromise to please their benefactors. Leaders understand there are things you
cannot compromise on.
Politicians believe what they have now is probably better
than the risk and fear that come with change. Leaders make change. They go
first, pushing something forward that they believe in. They paint a new picture
of the future and then gather and empower leaders with flexibility to go there.
If you lead you
may be labeled a heretic, or these
days, a terrorist. The
profound fear of being singled out and thrown into some nameless prison keeps
most people’s mouths and souls tightly shut.
For those of you who feel to afraid to be yourself, here is one
useful fact. Today there are too many heretics to capture.
Heretics are leading
new and startling nonviolent movements all over the world. Not just talking about it, but
taking immediate and responsible actions to open new gameworlds for whomever wants in.
These leaders
are right now creating and living in cultures of higher responsibility than
mainstream culture. Find out yourself. Learn about and connect in with any of the
111,000 heretical organizations registered online at .
EXPERIMENT: This experiment has 3 phases.
PHASE 1: IDENTIFY
YOUR LEADERS Your leaders are the people who open doors for you to expand into
greater personal capacity. You have thought-leaders, action-leaders and
life-leaders. Who has empowered you? Beware that a leader may not necessarily
feel like a friend. This is because a leader is not motivated to act in ways
that make them more popular. A leader says what needs to be heard, and persists
until it changes the circumstances.
Perhaps you are
empowered by your mother or father? A school teacher? An author? Explorer?
Researcher? Filmmaker? Artist? Perhaps one of your leaders is a faraway blogger
who just keeps delivering eye-opening text to you. Perhaps it is the person
leading a weekly meeting or a training session that you attend. Is there a
climate activist, poet, musician or performer who is a leader for you? Think
about it. Who nurtures your heart, inspires your soul, brings clarity to your mind
and stamina to your body over the long haul? Perhaps your partner is a leader
for you? Or one of your siblings? List ten of your true leaders and how they inspire
you.
PHASE 2: SUPPORT
YOUR LEADERS Paying taxes supports politicians. They use half your tax money to
buy weapons, subsidize corporate profits, and pay their own expenses. Figure
out ways to support your leaders.
Your first idea may be to donate money to your leaders’ projects. This is
important, for sure, yet there are many other things you can do. For example, it
is mind-boggling how many people derive enormous benefit from the work of a
leader and yet never tell anyone else about it! They keep it secret!
Stop
hiding away your leaders! Make it a practice to tell short exciting stories
about what you learned from a leader. More ideas?
- If you have any bootlegged films, music or software throw away your collections and buy the real thing. This supports the creators you love.
- Communicate with your leaders and write them public thank you notes. (e.g. Thank Leonardo DiCaprio for the way he died in Blood Diamond. Exclaim your gratitude for the brilliant life-joy and dynamic genius of Lana Wachowski's speach at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crHHycz7T_c. Tell Kosha Anja Joubert how masterfully she navigated the 2013 Global Ecovillage Network conference in Switzerland http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2YIcIqn5OI)
- Participate in your leader’s classes and workshops. Buy their books, CDs and DVDs and give them to everybody you know for birthday or Christmas gifts. Your relatives might not read the books, but you never know who will come over and borrow them!
- Go online and blog about the work of your leaders. Explain what they are saying in your own words.
- Give five star ratings. Write radiantly vulnerable online endorsements.
- Share links to their websites and blogs.
- Build their legend.
These small actions truly support your
leaders.
Go out of your way to take actions that support your leaders each day.
PHASE 3: EXPAND
YOUR OWN LEADERSHIP Commit to yourself as a leader. For example, Patch Adams,
the world-reknown humorous-human doctor, writes
back to every single person who
writes to him . Child or adult, any country, if you
write a letter to Patch he writes back, personally, to you. That is commitment.
Bring your own leadership to life by publicly sharing your vision of what is possible: write, talk, sing, dance, film, paint, journey, build, design, research, do what most inspires you to take responsibility for the well-being of all.
Then connect with, support and motivate the people interested in what you are doing. Keep learning from and feeding your tribe. Yes, you can.
(NOTE: If you want free emailed
SPARK experiments to play around with every 3 weeks write to Sonia
Willaredt at the Next Culture Research & Training Center:
sonia@nextculture.org)
Best wishes,
Clinton
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. It is scathingly clear and to the point: 
Consuming Us 
: the art and science of community-based dialog. I am just beginning to read it, and it feels excellent.
