

=kit049.txt

KIT 49 - Leadership

"Free will is the hidden divine power in man, and it is his
ignorance of his divine heritage that holds him back."
(HIK)

"Those who have not recognized that the divine inheritance is in
them are still like the machine. But there comes a time in the
evolution of man where he becomes the engineer and works with the
machine."
(HIK) 

"The purpose of life is like the horizon, the further one
advances, the further it recedes."
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN  [ 3 preceeding quotes ]

Many people are disappointed or disenchanted in their lives
because they have not found the purpose of their life, or have not
achieved their projects. The consequence is self denigration which
acts as a deterrent to any further strivings. Now these negatives
vie together in reinforcing each other respectively in a vicious
circle dragging one downhill.

If one still entertains a spark of positiveness, obviously one
needs to break the vicious circle either by steering clear on a
tangent: finding freedom in one's person; or tugging the circle
into a spiral: the spiritual dimension.

1) The first step consists in getting very clear about one's
motivation. To make it easier, since some have difficulty in being
turned on by any motivation whatsoever, one might ask oneself:
what would you like? or prefer ? Actually you may well find that
this alters as you evolve and is based upon the values you ascribe
to things.

2) This consideration is however linked with the second one which
is: what am I good at? And if you don't think you're particularly
good at anything, where amongst my many inadequacies am I a little
more capable than in other respects? You might find that this
tallies with what you wish (as under 1).

3) But if you are a dedicated person which is the type of person I
am addressing, (because that is the hallmark of spirituality, and
that is what I am about) then you will only feel good about your
motivation if it is at the same time of service to others. This
gregarious motivation is founded upon a deep feeling: really
caring for others.

4) It is by aligning the three above mentioned considerations that
you develop the makings of a leader.

5) Many people out there entertain wishes, even motivations in
resonance with yours, but these remain in the never-never realm of
wishful thinking, or the legendary 'maana'. So to gear the leader
in making potentialities of your being into realness, that is if
you answer the call of the Seraphim by "send me" then you will
have to make those people's dreams which are also your dreams come
true.

6) It is an incongruous observation that most people do not like
to take responsibility; and a sardonic observation that people
paradoxically both want to be told what to do and do not want to
be told what to do. So much for the rational mind! But if you
embody their aspirations and prove yourself that they can be
materialized, then they will gain enough confidence in you to
trust your judgement.

7) This means that you have to go out on a limb and make it
happen; which entails that you have to work out every detail and
program the steps leading to the target set for accomplishment,
watch for the pitfalls, bear in mind the security measures to
protect the project and the people involved, guard people's pride
because you can destroy their psyche by dealing unfairly with them
or undermining their self esteem. On the other hand if you give in
to a person because they are more pushy, you might jeopardize the
project that so many have been looking forward to or have invested
their energy into.

8) This is where both your insight and your mastery are at stake,
and what is more, you are being tested in your love. If you trip
over, just one mistake, and they not only loose confidence in you
but you have blown all their hopes in themselves.

9) There are good reasons why people procrastinate or demure at
going out on a limb, and that is caution regarding their judgement
(or that of another). This is generally based upon past failures
due to faulty judgement. Also it is so difficult to foresee the
consequences of a move. The success of the chess-player is in
his/her ability to envision the consequences of a large number of
moves ahead, and those consequences of all the alternatives which
nears a cipher somewhat of the nature of a logarithmic exponential
progression coasting on infinity. The other reason is of course
sheer laziness, lethargy, timorousness and of course a lack of
self-confidence which is grounded on poor self esteem.

10) This is where one needs to cast an in-depth look at human
judgement, and where the things I have been saying lately about
the limitation and therefore unreliability of judgement based upon
our fallacious interpretations of situations prove to be relevant.
Our opinion cannot but be limited by our personal vantage point
which is just one vantage point in an infinity; moreover a further
limitation is our middle range thinking. And this is where
complementing one's point of view with the hunch of intuition
proves to be the hall-mark of the successful leader. Note: this
means reconciling these two poles of the antinomy of cognizance -
not simply dismissing one's personal assessment either. And this
is where complementing one's point of view with the hunch of
intuition proves to be the hall-mark of the successful leader.
Note: this means reconciling these two poles of the antinomy of
cognizance - not simply dismissing one's personal assessment
either.

11) But how do I develop intuition? And how do I gauge if it is
reliable? No doubt learning how to turn within will shift
consciousness into the intuitive mode. However one cannot
integrate the 'input processing' type of judgement with the
intuitive mode if one dismisses totally the judgmental.

Consequently, rather than 'placing a sentinel at the doors' just
of perception one places a sentinel at the doors of perception and
the doors of the speculative mind; one grasps the issues behind
the situations or facts as one turns within. However admittedly
the intuitive mode is in stark contrast to the speculative one in
that one does not set oneself up as the subject passing judgement
on an object, but one tunes oneself to a state of resonance, which
means that one discovers in oneself that which one was
experiencing as other than oneself.

12) How does one know if one's intuition rings true? By one's
scruple about truthfulness, one develops a sense of authenticity
about one's own inner sub-liminal feelings and promptings.

13) One might rightly ask: where is the spirituality in all of
this? Yes the spiritual dimension requires of one a whole other
quantum leap. It allies divine insight with divine power.

14) We started with looking at things from a very personal view
point. Now if we wish to crown our actions with this infinite
dimension offered us as our divine heirloom (but hardly ever
availed of), we will need to have the courage to make a complete
about turn of our vantage point and look at things as they would
appear from the cosmic vantage point.

15) One may well query: but how do you know you are not fooling
yourself? How do you know it is the divine vantage point? The
answer is that we are programmed with a built-in sense of
infinity, otherwise we could not envision infinity in numbers or
space or eternity in time. This intuitive inherent knowledge is
evidenced in our ability to envision that there can always be a
larger number than any number that we conceive etc. But to
transpose our consciousness into the infinity of consciousness is
a tour de force that few, mainly the mystics, sometimes the
scientists achieve. A clue to our ability to do so may be found in
our ability to transpose our consciousness in that of another
human or animal or plant or even mineral or angel and by analogy
in infinite regress: God.

16) The same applies to power, discovering the divine heritage
that is the infinity of potentialities invested in one's being. To
all intents and purposes it looks as though there were some magic
in this: the dervish reaches a point where what he / she wishes
materializes.

17) Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan gives the clue to both when he says:
if one's motivation is limited by personal interest, one's power
to achieve it is limited by one's personal axe to grind. The same
applies to understanding: one's personal motivation sets up
constraints on one's insight and hence one's sagacity. Where the
motivation is totally disinterested, both one's insight and the
power one yields are limitless, overwhelming, magical, and
inspiring. Albeit we must be clear that what we mean by being
disinterested does not mean indifference, but espousing the
aspirations of others and indeed of the nostalgia moving the
universe; which means not just caring for others (3), but caring
for others more than oneself.

18) At this stage the leader is a catalyst, inspiring and
emboldening people to follow their bliss and actualize their
incentive for the fulfillment of their purpose in the context of
the overall purpose of life, which like the horizon "recedes as
one advances".

=================================================================
