I Feel vs. The Ideal - Act for More

There is no such thing as potential.

 

It is in a person’s nature to be lost within the materialistic and narcissistic needs of the self. The needs of an individual’s body and mind are the only needs that can truly be felt. Therefore, one often has a tendency to ‘look after number one’ rather than struggle to understand and help the alien world beyond. It is a tendency that often results in lack of communication, justice, equality and truth. An easy response to this common occurrence would just be “That is the way the world works, so we are just going to have to live with it. People are flawed, stubborn, and lack the drive to make any major change unless it is profitable for them.”

Perceiving the world in this light can only lead to non-action. It is the reason why the fight against climate change is only inspired by profit and self-righteousness. It is the reason that millions of people across the planet are starving and in extreme poverty. It is the reason why nations call to arms rather than accept that their cultural agenda must fail. These problems of humanity do not necessarily have to continue. For many reasons, both for the self and others, we can put a stop to such illogical self-indulgence.

Human limitations are not reasons to write off our efforts and give in. Instead, we must see these problems as challenges to overcome. We must understand who we are and why we act in such ways. Only then, can we truly go in a direction that best fulfills our ultimate wishes.

1) The Iron Will

 

People are truth-seekers. It is in their nature to perceive the world around them and then make sense of it. The physical world itself, is very logical, scientific and concrete. However, people cannot help but take their static perception of the physical world and apply the same format to ideas like justice, beauty and love. Is a concept like justice as concrete as the physical world? Of course not. Yet society enforces laws that are as concrete as the physical world around them. The ‘iron will’ of the human mind is the same in this regard. Unfortunately, there is no one single truth that unifies the intangible concepts of things such as justice and beauty. Therefore, there are six billion conflicting realities on our planet at this present time. The true power of these realities can be seen when we understand that each reality is believed with the strength of conviction that is entirely equal, cross-individual.

Of course, there are many people in this world who understand that the world is naught but a grey area. The hypocrisy of this statement can be exposed, however. For one, the mere statement “The world is grey, not black and white,” is a ‘black and white’ statement: To say the world is grey is ‘the black’ and to say the world is not grey is ‘the white’ (or vies versa). For two, despite claiming that the world is grey, the individual can not help but choose one path and one belief that best meets the need of the self. For example, if we took the case of religion, it would be strange if we saw a person who claimed that they were both Jewish, Christian, Muslim and atheist. The mere statement is a blatant contradiction. However, since the world is grey and all ideas can be seen as true, there is nothing wrong in making such a claim.

In understanding this concept, I then must wonder why do people choose to believe in the things they do when there is so much more potential for greatness? If we must believe in something, then lets believe in a great thing. I’m not talking about believing in such ludicrous things like astrology or Draconianism. I’m talking about forming beliefs and actions that break us from our predictable human selves and into a vast potential where we no longer act based on what we feel, rather, we act based on what we ideal. I would hope that these ideals would be concepts such as love and equality rather than concepts such as prestige, power, and wealth. As long as we have our iron will’s, we will be limited to a one direction in which we will be incapable of understanding that there are other realities that are just as valid. Once we let go of ourselves, we will be able to move on.

 

2) The Ego

 

Overcoming our iron wills is no easy task. It safeguards us from the disproval of society; it maintains our need for self-preservation and most importantly, it brings meaning to our lives. True freedom is a frightening thing. How does one act when it is understood that every road traveled leads to the same place? How does one decide which road to take? Furthermore, what does one do when he or she realizes that every single road leads to nowhere in particular, and that it is the road itself that is the ultimate destination?

Let me explain further: Let’s hypothesize that we take an individual, let’s take Kelsey Grammar for example. Let’s take Mr. Grammar, place him into a locked white room with nothing in, and clone him perfectly twenty times. We will now have an empty room full of Kelsey Grammars. Will each Kelsey speak uniformly with the same words and the same times as each other Kelsey? Maybe initially, but what will happen is each individual ego will differentiate itself to perceive in a way that seems beneficial and superior to the others. Maybe one Kelsey will try and figure out a way to break out of the room, maybe another will try to calm everyone down, maybe another will resist it all and absolutely panic, and maybe another will do nothing at all. They are all different roads Kelsey can take to bring meaning to and differentiate the egos. What is important here is that each person must come to matter.

This is the nature of being human but this is not necessarily how a human must act. What the Kelsey’s should do in this situation is break through the locks in complete disgust and go their separate ways. Surely, this will eventually happen when everyone comes to agreement that this is the best option. But unfortunately, a “song and dance” will first most likely have to be enacted which will satisfy each newly acquired individual ego as uniquely beneficial first. Validation: “Kelsey, I realize that you are frightened right now, and I understand the merit in that kind of thinking. We obviously must get out of this mess,” instead of first saying, (Command) “Let’s get out of this mess by breaking open the lock,” immediately. The validation must be accomplished first before the most logical action can be achieved.

What I want to see is for people to forget all this crap and just come to the best conclusion first. I want political parties to forget their own party agendas; I want officers of the law to do what is right and not what is correct; I want marriages to be about family and not about the ring; and I want businesses to be productive, not necessarily profitable. How am I going to accomplish such lofty goals. It is simple, I will raise awareness, I will raise awareness until the day I die, that is my only philosophy in this respect.

3) The Human Condition

“But wait!” All the humans cry, “We are all going to die and then there will be nothing! We can only judge by what we feel and not what we think. We can only act based on our own personal experiences. We must necessarily act from within in order to work outwardly”.

I agree, it is strange for me to claim that we all live in a causal universe and yet I plea for us to act contrary to what is in our nature. However, we still have the ability to act and to change. We are not limited to what is in our nature. It is in a man’s nature to seek to possess multiple wives but how often do we see that sort of thing happen in this day and age? We don’t necessarily have to act according to our nature.

It is also seems unfair of me to ask one to forget about his/her personal desire and what is right for him/her, and then sacrifice, for the benefit of some intangible, grey-area ideal. However, everything is grey, being human is grey and our human needs of ego result in actions that our downright pathetic. I ask us all to transcend all this so that we can better reach goals that are truly ideal, even if the ideal is still one of life preservation, and the self-sacrifice is great.

 

Humans are emotional creatures. Every action we take and every thought we think always has at least some emotional involvement. So why don’t we act on positive emotions such as love and care? Let us act for reasons of care, and create a lasting, sustainable world where no one suffers and everyone is free.

4) The Process

How does I lead with this agenda? Do egos respond to self-proclaimed leaders? Of course not. So one must offer rewards, transactionaly, in order to motivate. These rewards can be money, gifts, prestige and admiration. This condescension and appeal to the ego will surely work for any menial, concrete task, as long as the individual values such as things.

But how does a leader instil and change values, transformationaly? Charismatic, spiritual and emotional communication will surely find their way into the hearts of men. Still, this kind of leadership inspires current, necessary change. An incredible amount of these kinds of transformational skills are required to make even the most simplest of social changes. We can take, for example, the incredible leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. to understand what the power of this kind of leadership can do. It can break down iron wills and allow the white race to understand that black people matter. Wow! Black people matter? Crazy.

No, this is not enough either, even the strongest of peace makers are fairly ineffective when combating the power of the human ego. The only possible way to defeat such a thing is to do just that: destroy it. We must all let go of our egos so that we can actually start thinking sense. We need to let go of all of it, and focus on the ideal, objectively. We need to take the iron away from our will and build it on the ideal. For example, instead of saying “I will always strive for world peace,” one should think about WHY they want such a thing and say “It is important that everyone is free to control the path of their lives. It is never acceptable to take that away from anyone. Furthermore, we ought to love and appreciate others for their differences.” Of course, powerful egos would not give this statement a second thought. However, living by this concept will demonstrate non-aggression, and in doing so the ego will begin to see others as a non-threat, and hopefully the aggressors will see the value in the need for care.

 

In sum, the human race must get past itself as a group of individuals and instead understand itself as a human race. Beliefs must be formed because they are good ones, and not because they are self-beneficial. Objectives must be established because they are best for all, and not best for one. Actions must be taken because they are right, and not because they are useful. The world of grey consists of six billion truths and not six billion falsities, so let us all follow the greatest truth of all: that there is more than just us.

Author's Note

Yes, this is my philosophy of leadership essay.

Reviews

[Alex McFadyen]

Bah! My best work and no one will ever know....
lol,

sort of.