Get Your Obi-Wan On
This holiday season I’ve got Obi-Wan Kenobi on my mind. Obi-Wan, Jedi Master, mentor of Anakin Skywalker, teacher of Luke, is on my mind precisely because a client of mine hooked me. She said, “I’ve got to get my Obi-Wan on.” I liked that! Immediately it got me thinking: what does that look like, to get your Obi-Wan on?
I’m greatly attracted to this whole image of Obi-Wan because he is both a leader and a teacher of man, and despite his status as Jedi Master he is a fully fallible human being. Yoda, a Jedi of an even higher order, warns Obi-Wan, “Do not assume anything, Obi-Wan. Clear, your mind must be if you are to discover the real villains behind the plot.” Even Obi-Wan needs occasional reminding by his teachers that he may be losing his way, allowing his mind to become muddled. So we can learn from this man because he understands the struggle in the becoming.
I’ve distilled it down to three keys which Obi Wan gives us for ‘getting our Obi-Wan on’, keys that will elevate us as leaders and as people.
First, recognize and embrace the existence of the Force. Obi-Wan puts it this way, “The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” The Force has been described in many ways, the quantum field, the divine matrix, the web of energy that connects everything in our lives and in our world. It is this field from which all possibilities flow. When Obi says, “The Force will be with you, always.” he is showing us that there is no separation from it, nothing that is “other than” it. It is life essential and essential to life.
Second, what he suggests that we do is learn to work with it. It’s always there, creating one effect or another, and that we are not separate from it is a humbling reality. At the same time we can learn to become participants in the unfolding of our reality. Are you partnering with the Force with intention, becoming conscious creators, or living life in its sway?
At one point he implores Anakin Skywalker, ”You were the Chosen One! It was said you would bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness!” The fact is, we are all chosen ones. We all have access to the Force and we all have the ability to bring harmony and light into life. This is the way of things. So what in your life, in your organization, in your world is out of harmony and how can you restore it? What aspect of yourself do you need to access, to embrace, to reveal to bring about that which you are seeking? “Patience. Think. Use the force.”
The final element, what I see in Obi-Wan that epitomizes the ideal of getting my Obi-Wan on, is presence. All Jedi Masters have extraordinary presence. Masters of life usually do. Much more than being energetic or charismatic, Obi’s presence eminates from a place deep within, a place of profound integrity–living life from a place of wholeness, without falsehood or pretense. He does not just understand the practice of presence, he practices his understanding.
The beauty of true presence is that is is grounded in your center, in your essential magnificence, and not your ego (where Darth anchors his being). In life and in death Obi transcends, whereas Darth is consumed.
Our world is in the midst of a leadership shake up, as old systems and those who created them crumble and fade away. All of us in positions of leadership must take a far more humbling, presence-driven approach to leading if we are to see what arises in its wake being a grand movement forward from what has come before.
In the end however it is Anakin Skywalker–protege turned Evil Empire builder–who provides one of the most awesome perspectives on it all: “Compassion, which I would define as…unconditional love…is essential to a Jedi’s life. So, you might say that we are encouraged to love.”
(With a shout out to MLM — it was all you.)
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Hey Leon, Long time…….. This really touched a chord with me and appealed to my childlike nature. So cool. Please share more stuff like this – it’s so visual and lots of fun
Leon
Although we have not spoken in a while I hear you loud and clear.
have a great holiday season
Happy New Year!
MLM
I gave that line to my sister. LOL Have a great and super powerful new year!
Good job! what a great post! Thank you very much.