Welcome to 2019. It has been many years since my last post which was written at the height of the great recession. Much has changed since then while much has also remained the same.
I had hoped that when I resumed writing that I would write words that uplift, inspire, comfort, or calm. Words that speak to our souls as well as our minds. And yet, re-reading my prior posts there is still a need to address What Is in relation to a vision of what might be and to examine the space between. Why is there a sense of greater separation rather than evidence of a bridge between the divide?
Sadly, there is still fear and uncertainty in our headlines exacerbated by those who profit from their perpetuation. We have only gone further down the path of an economy of thought where communications are now condensed to a handful of characters on Twitter or hashtags on Instagram further demonstrating a lack of deep thought or original thinking. Global warming poses an ever-increasing threat to our very survival with today's profits taking priority over people and planet. Income inequality across the globe has only grown worse since the so-called recovery and the middle class continues to dwindle in numbers. Can we hit the pause button long enough to question our collective reality?
The Parliament of the World's Religions celebrated it's 125th anniversary last November, 2018. Thousands of people from 80 nations and more than 200 spiritual backgrounds gathered together in Toronto. The common thread between them was action consistent with mutual love and respect for their fellow human beings, a moral principle considered superior to almost all others. Some version of this Golden Rule is found in all major religions including Christianity,, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism, among others. Treat others as we wish to be treated. Why is this so hard for so many today?
Today, we suffer from a lack of Enlightened Leadership. This lack is evident in the leaders of nations, the leaders of governments, the captains of industry and even within our houses of worship. While many have risen to power and millions more have been compelled as adherents, there are few who are truly worthy of followers.
James Kouzes and Barry Posner in The Leadship Challenge state that "Leadership is not an affair of the head. Leadership is an affair of the heart."
I read somewhere long ago that the only voice worth listening to is the voice of our own heart. That voice is seldom heard nowadays and its outward expression is often confined to our immediate friends and family but absent in the world at large. Many cannot differentiate soul-speak, the voice of our hearts, from mind speak. Reason replaces yet it is " the heart alone that knows what love is while the eye of reason has no power to behold it" (author unknown).
When we consider how our companies, institutions, governments, and even houses of worship function we recognize they are structured as top-down pyramids whose origins date back centuries in the form of dictatorships, monarchies and tribal warfare. If we want something new, something better, than we need to get creative and stop doing things that are centuries old. We need new models that, much like old machinery and technology, make our existing models obsolete.
We must never lose sight of the reality that our humanity is the one thing we all have in common. Enlightened Leadership, therefore, must be for the benefit of the followers and not to merely enrich
the leader.
I had hoped that when I resumed writing that I would write words that uplift, inspire, comfort, or calm. Words that speak to our souls as well as our minds. And yet, re-reading my prior posts there is still a need to address What Is in relation to a vision of what might be and to examine the space between. Why is there a sense of greater separation rather than evidence of a bridge between the divide?
Sadly, there is still fear and uncertainty in our headlines exacerbated by those who profit from their perpetuation. We have only gone further down the path of an economy of thought where communications are now condensed to a handful of characters on Twitter or hashtags on Instagram further demonstrating a lack of deep thought or original thinking. Global warming poses an ever-increasing threat to our very survival with today's profits taking priority over people and planet. Income inequality across the globe has only grown worse since the so-called recovery and the middle class continues to dwindle in numbers. Can we hit the pause button long enough to question our collective reality?
The Parliament of the World's Religions celebrated it's 125th anniversary last November, 2018. Thousands of people from 80 nations and more than 200 spiritual backgrounds gathered together in Toronto. The common thread between them was action consistent with mutual love and respect for their fellow human beings, a moral principle considered superior to almost all others. Some version of this Golden Rule is found in all major religions including Christianity,, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism, among others. Treat others as we wish to be treated. Why is this so hard for so many today?
Today, we suffer from a lack of Enlightened Leadership. This lack is evident in the leaders of nations, the leaders of governments, the captains of industry and even within our houses of worship. While many have risen to power and millions more have been compelled as adherents, there are few who are truly worthy of followers.
James Kouzes and Barry Posner in The Leadship Challenge state that "Leadership is not an affair of the head. Leadership is an affair of the heart."
I read somewhere long ago that the only voice worth listening to is the voice of our own heart. That voice is seldom heard nowadays and its outward expression is often confined to our immediate friends and family but absent in the world at large. Many cannot differentiate soul-speak, the voice of our hearts, from mind speak. Reason replaces yet it is " the heart alone that knows what love is while the eye of reason has no power to behold it" (author unknown).
When we consider how our companies, institutions, governments, and even houses of worship function we recognize they are structured as top-down pyramids whose origins date back centuries in the form of dictatorships, monarchies and tribal warfare. If we want something new, something better, than we need to get creative and stop doing things that are centuries old. We need new models that, much like old machinery and technology, make our existing models obsolete.
We must never lose sight of the reality that our humanity is the one thing we all have in common. Enlightened Leadership, therefore, must be for the benefit of the followers and not to merely enrich
the leader.
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