The Prime Minister Wears Horns
The great peace-loving nation of Canada (of which I am always happy to call home) celebrated another successful national election the other week. Canada’s elections do not create much fuss or fervor, barely a blip on the international radar, yet with so many nations today locked into vicious struggle over who should lead, it’s worth noticing when a people pass the torch well.
So it caught my attention the following day when one of my Facebook friends changed his profile picture to that of Canada’s newly anointed Prime Minister wearing on his head a nice pair of bright red devils horns. Clearly my friend was not a fan of Mr. Prime Minister, which is perfectly fine, and clearly it was meant to be funny. But I didn’t laugh when I saw the photo, and not because I’m a fan of the Prime Minister. So what was it about the photo that gave me pause?
It’s this: where does the impulse to invalidate other human beings come from? Because that is what the photo was intending to do. Yes, politics can be contentious and divisive, but that is not inherent in politics itself. Polarization is the result of the way we choose to conduct our politics, and it is a projection of our worldview.
Yes, when “our guy”(whoever he or she may be) loses an election we feel disappointment. Naturally. Whenever in life expectations are not met there can be disappointment, and we do need to find ways to let go so we can accept the outcome. Yet for many of us the path for releasing the disappointment of hopes and expectations lost (and of fears gained) is to disparage and belittle those who “won.” The Prime Minister is a devil! In Taiwan it’s, “The President is a Chinese lackey!” The intent is the same: invalidate. Cut the other down.
Where does this come from? And more importantly, how helpful is it? What is the value of tearing the fabric of our connectivity in a time where connectivity is needed more than anything?
It is easy to denigrate those who lead us when they do not meet our standards or agree with our views. Easy. Anyone can do it. It is much harder to find creative ways to support their efforts to be the best leader they can be.
Whenever energy is spent tearing down the work of those who are leading, two things can happen. One, those leading spend an inordinate amount of time defending themselves from the attack (and that’s exhausting and wasteful). Two, those doing the attacking spend an inordinate amount of time, well, attacking (energy used destructively, not creatively; to tear apart, not bring together).
So I’d like to propose a radical idea. When those who lead you do not meet your expectations, when you are lead by people you do not care for, send them creative energy, in whatever form you desire. Send them the energy of wisdom, insight, courage, grace, openness, truth, whatever it needs to be for you. Send it and send it continually, regardless of whether you agree with their actions.
Imagine the potential of that, on a mass scale, if we all did it. The entire energy changes. Consciousness itself changes. And the gates open for the potential of something greater to emerge.
Change will happen to you as well. The more time you spend sending the light of validation to others, the deeper potentials within you begin to emerge. No longer will you desire to waste an ounce of energy cutting down another human being, regardless of their actions in this world, and all that energy can then be channeled towards creative action, inspired action. Action that fosters the flourishing of a world or workplace or family that works.
It starts with you…magnificent you.
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great article and I like your radical idea.. I will do my best to remember it when I fall into invalidation. Thank you Leon!
Thank you Natalie. It really is easy to slip into invalidation (as easy as cursing the driver who cuts us off). When others seek to impose their standards and values on us, so often our tendency is to react with disrespect or invalidation. It’s easy to invalidate, but it doesn’t encourage us to interact with them in any fruitful way. It takes mindfulness and commitment to the expression of something greater with ourselves as the path to expansive validation.
Leon
I am going to pass this wisdom on to our CEO
Leon,
I follow your blog and learn a lot from reading it, my admiration. I must say though that I find the idea in this last post a bit simplistic (sending continuos ‘creative energy’ to your ‘adversary’, longing it to become massive). While I can see how this can work in some scenarios, I truly believe that this cant be of any good in politics for instance. See for example the centuries-long struggle of a certain community/population/country to have its rights recognized/respected and not violated by a more powerful/demographically bigger and usually media-influenced opposing side. Instead of spending your efforts in making your adversary better and hope to get something out of it, why not just ‘ignore’ it and make your own project stronger?
Thanks for posting up your thoughts here — you are absolutely right, this is a simple action, and it’s intended to be. The thing is, it’s not an action intended to solve the perceived problem or to strengthen the person you see as your adversary. This is a solution intended for you. It is a solution aimed at shifting you in those moments when you become aware of your desire to invalidate another being. In that moment of awareness you have a choice on how to use your mind: to invalidate or to uplift. And while it seems that it is about the other, it really is just about you…the sending of the light to another is fundamentally the choice you make to uplift yourself, to elevate your thoughts and energy.
The beauty of this is that each time you make that choice you are affecting others, and whole new arenas of possibility (and solution) arise from that elevated state of awareness…solutions that are not readily available from a state of rejection and disregarding. I hope that helps clarify!
In light,
Leon