The Power of the Herd (41 page)

Modern civilization often reinforces the notion that ignorance is bliss, but cultural and political structures designed to help us ignore what challenges us only keep us in limbo. Once innovations and life circumstances crack the comfortable shell that was incubating a much larger, more compassionate, creative, responsible state of consciousness, we can never truly go back to that previously insulated state of being — one that, truly, “knew not” what it was doing, and
must
be forgiven as a result.

Around 500
BCE
, the Buddha offered mindfulness and meditation techniques to address this multifaceted issue. Five hundred years later, a dramatic effort to move humanity through an even more fitful stage of intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual adolescence inspired the first four books of the Bible's New Testament. At the height of the Roman Empire, an innovative social activist and religious leader named Jesus spent three years on the “lecture circuit” encouraging people to evolve beyond an extremely violent, predatory way of operating in the world. While he offered parables and overt directives on the causes and recommended solutions, he also understood the concept of shame as a block to transformation.

Jesus knew that people would feel intense, debilitating shame and guilt as a result of “waking up” and recognizing the “sins” perpetrated daily by anyone adhering to a predatory-dominant lifestyle. The skills he outlined verbally and the behaviors he modeled nonverbally were so sophisticated that civilization is still trying to catch up.

Reading accounts of his words and deeds, we see the following skills and principles in action:

1.   An ability to reach out to objectified, marginalized populations

2.   A courageous, uncompromising use of nonpredatory power

3.   Rejection of all retaliatory behaviors, including revenge, grudge holding, and aggressive or defensive responses to insults, shaming tactics, betrayal, and, during the last few days of his life, physical violence and pain

4.   Compassionate engagement with all cultures and social classes, which
encouraged people to change hurtful
behaviors
without rejecting their deeper state of being or their potential to become something greater

5.   Emotional heroism

6.   Extremely high tolerance for vulnerability

7.   Unwillingness to use others' vulnerabilities, mistakes, and “sins” against them

8.   Forgiveness in the face of injustice

9.   Unwavering faith in the ability of humanity to move beyond fear, aggression, oppression, shame, blame, and pain to a compassionate, awakened, harmonious state of being and behaving

10. A graphic, multifaceted, highly symbolic use of what the Fulani later called the sharo — an act of physical, mental, and emotional endurance that, in Jesus's case, engaged a compassionate form of power that could embrace death itself

The last tactic was so complex and multilayered in meaning and intent that it is often misunderstood. For instance, I've heard skeptics say that if Jesus had actually been a divine incarnation of God, he would have magically conquered his enemies and avoided death on the cross. Some Christians, on the other hand, have used this episode to scapegoat the Jews for the role that a few Jewish individuals played in the events leading up to the Crucifixion. When we read the sketchy details outlined in the Bible, however, it's clear that Jesus did everything possible to guarantee that he would endure this challenge — with an incredibly sophisticated, group-consciousness-altering goal in mind.

Throughout history and across all cultures, significant innovations in emotional and social intelligence have often been accessed through what we now call “shamanic acts,” techniques that induce altered states of consciousness bridging the gap between consensual physical reality and the more fluid, creative, spiritual realities that visionaries tap to bring something new into existence. While some shamans use trance drumming, dancing, or psychedelic drugs, others employ fasting, physical endurance, isolation in nature, or a combination of these to jump-start significant transformative states. Major religious innovators, from Lao-tzu to Moses, the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad, appear to have done this with a wider social agenda in mind, moving from personal shamanic acts (such as wandering through the desert, fasting for forty days and
nights) to creating group shamanic experiences that help others see and process life challenges from a more expanded perspective.

Whether you see Jesus as a divine incarnation or not, it's clear that he had an unusual talent for drawing large groups of people into transformative experiences, particularly those promoting nonpredatory wisdom, mutual aid, and emotional heroism. From his birth in a barn to the sacrament of Communion (in which he offered his “flesh and blood” to disciples, encouraging them to carry this highly symbolic ritual forward), Jesus underlined his intent to act as a “sacrificial lamb” for all of humanity, not just his own culture or tribe.

Enduring the
public spectacle
of the Crucifixion, however, was an even more brilliant, intensely courageous move. By performing an extreme sharo of
conscious
self-sacrifice — demonstrating compassion and self-control in the face of death itself — Jesus transformed Rome's ultimate intimidation-torture tactic into a symbol of triumph over oppression. From a cathedral-thinking point of view, embracing the cross served yet another purpose: By encouraging people to project their shame, weaknesses, and darker qualities onto him, he invited these painful by-products of transformation to “die with him,” promising a clean, pristine rebirth into a more expansive, empowered existence. In this effort, he literally offered to diffuse shame and guilt for the people who participated in the events leading up to his crucifixion. At the same time, he made it clear that he was ritualistically offering to release these same debilitating emotions in future generations — through the timeless archetype he enacted in the passion play of death and resurrection.

In researching his life on a more practical level, however, I was surprised to realize that during his brief time on earth, Jesus actively preached against and/ or avoided all four of the Stone Age Power Tools covered in this chapter. Not everyone was willing to embrace his innovations, of course. But history shows that as news of his words and gestures spread beyond the Middle East, they tempered the “conquest and revenge” cycle proliferating throughout the world.

While countless individuals and communities have taken to heart the principles he introduced, civilization still condones and even promotes predatory behavior, despite attempts to outlaw it. Sometimes, ironically, dominant individuals adopt Christianity as a social control to oppress and shame large populations into submission. The good news is that anyone can access the original text directly — engaging with Jesus's innovative parables, sayings, and behaviors while also using the ever-present archetype of his death and resurrection to release shame and embrace transformation.

But what happens after we remove fear, shame, blame, objectification, projection, revenge, and predatory dominance from the equation? What does power look like when the shackles are removed?

Here's where an all too often ignored dimension of history foreshadows an unexpected answer: Among Alexander the Great, the Buddha, Genghis Khan, Joan of Arc, George Washington, Katherine the Great, Geronimo, Winston Churchill, and many other influential leaders, a pattern emerges. For thousands of years, the invisible forces of charisma, bravery, poise, focus, endurance, and conviction have been most reliably bolstered by a silent, nonpredatory tutor. Recognizing the horse's multicultural importance, not just as a beast of burden, or even a companion of kings, but as a
teacher
of kings, conquerors, heroes, and pioneers, is an essential first step in wresting this wisdom from obscurity and purposefully exercising it in the future.

The horse stands at the place where all trails come together, and a new moon shines upon us. To retrace the steps of sorrow and injustice, courage, compassion, and innovation — elevated by a being that has been used for both conquest
and
freedom — is to know the dark and light of power.

To become a student of the horse — rather than a calculating, disconnected master — is to master our own predatory tendencies, reclaiming our original calling to move beyond instinct in
partnership
with nature, tapping our potential to become visionary leaders capable of rallying the endlessly evolving, fully conscious forces of a truly empowered herd.

  
1.  U
SE
E
MOTIONS AS
I
NFORMATION
(C
HAPTER
13)

Employing this Four-Point Method for Emotional Agility — in combination with the Emotional Message Chart, a key to the constructive messages behind fear, anger, frustration, sadness, grief, depression, jealousy, shame, and disappointment — allows you to access feeling and intuition in service to your goals.

  
2.  L
ISTEN TO
Y
OUR
H
ORSE
(C
HAPTER
14)

Your body is the horse your mind rides around on — a sentient tuner, receiver, and amplifier for all kinds of nonverbal information. Use the body scan, a six-point method outlined at the end of this chapter, to gather information in unfamiliar situations, develop fresh approaches to challenges, and “read a room,” sensing the unspoken feelings and concerns of others.

  
3.  M
ANAGE
C
ONTAGIOUS
E
MOTIONS
(C
HAPTER
15)

People unconsciously transmit and amplify emotions during group interactions. Conscious leaders help followers decipher the useful messages behind troubling feelings. Masterful leaders can change the emotional tone of an entire group, driving others' emotions in a more productive direction.

  
4.  
M
ASTER
B
OUNDARIES AND
A
SSERTIVENESS
(C
HAPTER
16)

It's essential to understand the difference between setting boundaries (holding your ground or protecting territory, space, and resources) and motivating others (using assertiveness to influence others' behavior or direct them to take action in pursuit of a specific goal). Both activities involve a skillful use of power. You can avoid adding aggression, shame, blame, and resentment to these activities by dialing your power up progressively
(crescendo)
and then acknowledging achievement of the desired response with
immediate positive feedback.
In this way, boundaries are set with nonverbal cues, cultivating safety, cooperation, clear thinking, and greater trust between team members. And goals are achieved through a simple formula for assertiveness: Commitment + Crescendo + Immediate Positive Feedback = Increasing Motivation, including greater self-motivation in others, freeing leaders up for other pursuits.

  
5.  D
EVELOP A
H
IGH
T
OLERANCE FOR
V
ULNERABILITY
(C
HAPTER
17)

This long-neglected key to emotional strength training uplifts the trust, courage, intelligence, and creativity of the entire group.

  
6.  
C
HOOSE
THE
P
ROGRAMS;
B
E
THE
P
ROGRAMMER
(C
HAPTER
18)

Habits handed down by parents, teachers, and society, though useful at times, can limit personal growth and organizational innovation. Great leaders know when to employ established methods and policies, when to import “programs” from other sources, and when to create new ones.

  
7.  C
ONSERVE
E
NERGY FOR
T
RUE
E
MERGENCIES
(C
HAPTER
19)

Mature leaders know that long-term survival and success depend on the ability to tap resources without taxing them and to calm and focus others in challenging situations. Use these advanced fear-management protocols to defuse panic and rally the troops, engaging courage and thoughtful problem-solving skills.

  
8.  E
MPLOY
N
ONPREDATORY
P
OWER
L
IBERALLY
,
AND
P
REDATORY
P
OWER
S
PARINGLY
(C
HAPTER
20)

Power does not have to be harsh, exploitive, oppressive, or shortsighted if you master the skills associated with this guiding principle.

  
9.
  
P
REPARE
FOR
D
IFFICULT
C
ONVERSATIONS
(C
HAPTER
21)

True innovation depends on having uncomfortable yet productive conversations on difficult topics. Use this method to turn interpersonal conflicts into opportunity.

10.  E
NGAGE
IN
C
ONSENSUAL
L
EADERSHIP
(C
HAPTER
22)

Teams of experts excel when they can fluidly exchange leadership roles according to who's calmest, clearest, most experienced, most inspired, or most invested in the outcome. Consensual leadership depends on developing teams who display a high tolerance for vulnerability (Guiding Principle 5). While their technical expertise may vary, people capable of sharing leadership must also know how to conserve energy for true emergencies (Guiding Principle 7), respectfully discuss difficult topics (Guiding Principle 9), and actively diffuse “evaluation apprehension.”