“Most people think leadership is about being seen. Being the one in front. Being the one people follow. But real leadership is quieter than that. It’s in how people grow around you. How they step into more of themselves because of how you showed up.
And the real test? What happens when you’re not there. Did you build something that holds? Did you create clarity, structure, and trust… or just dependence on you? Because if it falls apart without you, that wasn’t leadership. That was control. Real leadership leaves people stronger, not needing you to function… but grateful you were there” Cahill Blake.
When I was doing my doctoral graduate studies with adult education as one of my foci, a primary question that was instilled in me was about leadership; specifically, educational leadership, something modern politicians might do well to understand. The good educators go in and help the communities, villages, etc., understand how to adapt what they know such that when the educator leaves, the communities are empowered with new skills, ideas, and ways of doing that work in the areas in which they live. A lot of that comes from understanding the people the educator is trying to help. Politicians and technocrats today act like they have all he answers, and we somehow have come to think that we must bow down to them. When we work together, and when needed, bring in true educator leaders for guidance we will learn that we already have all the answers for living well in our areas.
I have a lot of people contact me to help them understand this idea of conscious connectedness as they grow on their spiritually journeys and movement to sustainable lifestyles. One of the most asked questions I get is why is the world such a shitty place right now. Why is everything on the macro even getting worse for us all and the ecological system we call Earth. Not everything of course, just the way that our global materialistic worldview and destructive, uncaring economic system is ruining the world. The good stuff like Love, joy, happiness, and great memories of friends, family, and connecting with new people of like-mind is what they wish we could have more of, not just moments, but as a daily lifestyle expectation continually infused through our daily lives.
They rarely like my answer that the decision for that better world is our individual responsibility and our choice – no mystery in what is needed. Humanity has spent millennia learning what it doesn’t like from the world management system that long-ago enslaved us. I have now literally spent years writing on this blog about what we really want. I love the word ‘empowerment.’ Unfortunately, it is all too often confused with the hegemonic idea that power is given from those who have it to those who need it to achieve something. Empowerment is really where you, the individual decide enough is enough and take back your own power to make your own decisions. It is the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s inalienable rights.
Ecological philosopher, Daniel Quinn says, “You’re captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live… I think there are many among you who would be glad to release the world from captivity… This is what prevents them: They’re unable to find the bars of the cage.” In a nutshell, the bars are not real- they are just the cultural assumptions that bind us to a failed worldview. I have talked about this a few times in the blog, e.g., Ishmael: The story of the Takers and the Leavers.
In Quinns Ishmael series of stories, “The narrator asks Ishmael, point-blank, what the next lesson will be. In response, “Ishmael asks the narrator to define ‘culture.’ The story’s narrator defines culture as the sum of all recorded knowledge among a people. Ishmael agrees, and points out that Leavers have a culture, just as Takers do. Leaver culture stretches back millions of years. Taker culture, by contrast, begins only 10,000 years ago, with the founding of agriculture. In general, the Taker attitude is to reject as much of the past as possible. Until very recently, in fact, Takers believed that human life and human culture began at the same time.”
When environmental educators (EEs) lament their inability to change the world, I tell them you have done what you can as educators – if fact you have done a wonderful job. But as the English proverb states, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink,” which means, you can provide someone with an opportunity or advice, but they have to make the decision to drink i.e., to listen and act.
“It is quite possible to graduate from Stanford — arguably one of the best universities in the world — without knowing anything of significance about the impacts of population growth, the second law of thermodynamics, ecosystem services, total fertility rates, how the climate works, externalities, exponential growth, the food system, the biology of race, nuclear winter, the limits to growth, Federalism, the history of fascism, or many other topics of critical importance to modern citizens.” Paul & Anne Ehrlich.
Truth is truth, whether we like it or not, but discernment is critical since cherry picking facts to support a specific view or opinion is also rampant. What has been called ‘shallow science’ is the lack of understanding of the big picture and the complexity of how systems work and interact with each other. “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored” Aldous Huxley. Instead of seeing the world from a very limited ground level perspective, let us move up to the 100 mile view of the world to see the connectedness more clearly.
“We hear daily how the lack of petroleum-based fertilizer will destroy the global economy, and it is seems true that Malthusian collapse was thwarted by the ‘Green Revolution’ that enabled agriculture to feed seven billion people. However, like much of shallow science has always functioned to provide water and nutrients sufficient for growing plants. What so-called fertilizer does is to short circuit the soil, bypassing its function, but leaving it in poor condition. This process also depletes soil’s ability to store and provide water, so plants are vulnerable to droughts. The input of chemicals will be a short-term fix. Using modern fertilizer treats the soil as if it were a cheap hydroponic tank. This farming method is also extremely polluting and produces oceanic “dead zones”. Furthermore, farming in this way adds enormously to global warming.
Prior to the Green Revolution, agricultural science focused on developing soil health by means of fallowing, crop rotation, and compost. This process builds up soil which as a plus is a major carbon sink. Some argue that yields from such methods are lower and only with petroleum-based fertilizer can we “feed the world”. This is debatable, yet, when soil turns to dust and blows away, we will only be left with hydroponic tanks and Spaceship Earth will only support a few” Ted Tripp.
A dim view by noted scientists during the 1970s through today. Alas, all too true as well if WE do not make the choice to change the trajectory humanity is on with its current economic world and dominance worldviews. The revolution we need is not to find a new kind of hierarchy and better technologies, as has always been the case, but a revolution of the human soul itself. There is a solution to all the world’s problems, but as I state often, we need a return to the ecological human – spiritually connected and sovereign in themselves working together for mutual benefit with each other and planet Gaia. In a world of Kindness and Caring, you will still have a lot of fun and great times. But it will be fully inclusive in all aspects with a safe sense of wellbeing. Not a place of separation, trauma, pain, and suffering.
To Be Continued …………………….
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