In this regard I will share one model for others to consider, namely “servant-leadership”.
A paraphrase of its definition follows – “the servant-first leader makes sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served”. A key point is that if you want to make the world a better place, assuming a leadership role is quite sensible and I believe is to be appreciated. It isn’t necessarily fun or easy… Maybe that’s evidence of a non-power hungry servant-leader?

For more on this, I suggest – http://www.greenleaf.org/
FYI – I have NO relationship with this organization. However I recently attended a lecture on the subject at local university. I found it to very inspiring.

http://original.antiwar.com/avnery/2009/11/08/a-line-in-the-sand/

Unfortunately, the social and political culture of the United States, in particular, is much less conducive than it could be towards helping individuals discover and develop their gifts. The primary reason is that there is far too much focus on image and far too little appreciation for real substance. At the same time, paradoxically, there is great distrust of image because deep inside we know, even if unconsciously, that image without substance is meaningless. Meaninglessness leads to hopelessness as well as a lack of respect, including lack of respect for anyone in any position of power. And, no, power does not necessarily equate with leadership.

An empty, lost individual, dissociated from his or her essential core values cannot simply be trained to become a leader because we need good leaders. A person first needs to know who he or she really is. Then, and only then, if that person’s potential gift falls into the category of leadership, the qualities and abilities of good leadership will naturally arise from within that person’s being; from their way of being in the world. Similarly, those with other gifts will only be able to discover and develop what they have to share in the world if they are first able to grow, develop and evolve their understanding of the essence of who they really are as individuals.

In order to do this, we need a social and political climate that is much more open to and accepting of diversity. We need a culture that embraces, encourages and supports each and every individual to become as nurtured, developed and empowered as possible so they can live their lives more fully and completely. We need an environment that encourages and supports each individual’s intelligence, abilities and capacities as much as possible. We need to be able to live our lives based less in fear and more in love.

From such a society, natural leaders will arise, as will natural supporters. Note: not followers but supporters. A good leader cannot lead very well without good supporters, nor can otherwise good citizens do very well without good leadership to provide the necessary unifying inspiration, direction and oversight.

So the role of spiritual progressives in helping bring this dream, this fantasy, into reality is to find ways to encourage and facilitate a shift away from the negative and towards the positive, as well as away from the empty image and towards real substance. We must each do our best – each following out own inner, heart-felt guidance – to come to better know who we really are as individuals. As we begin to make real progress on our individual spiritual paths, we will also become better able to inspire and guide others to do likewise. As we remove the bushels that are covering our own inner lights, we will help illuminate the way for others so they can learn how to share their own inner lights.

Yes, I realize this isn’t likely to provide for dramatic changes in the short term – not during President Obama’s term(s) and probably not in our lifetimes. It’s going to be a long, slow, painful process. But it will be even longer and slower and more painful if we don’t each try our best, each of us as individuals as well as all of us collectively as spiritual progressives. So what can you do, what can I do, what can we do to help? What can we do within our selves? What can we do in our neighborhoods? What can we do in our cities, in our states to help facilitate real progress in our country and in our world?

I intend to read it again, but wanted to say that while reading it I was thinking that it would make a wonderful outline for perhaps some (?)classes, (?)seminars, or something of that sort, for people really interested in working out the obstacles to our progress. I believe Progressives by nature are fiercely independent souls, but it should be obvious by now that some type of structure is necessary to achieve anything. My own mind strays wildly at times, so that when someone mentions all the Americans killed in a war I can’t help thinking about how many of the other side died. When the CEO of the health insurance has a salary of $10 million plus perks, I can’t help thinking of the number of people who could be insured by at least $9 million of that money. In short, what I see is the need really for focus.

Corporations Dominate Our World

Corporations and Persons

I watched Television Ontario (TVO). The program title was “The Corporation – The Pathology of Commerce”. The program mentioned that the Supreme Court ruled that a corporation is a person than surely a person is a person. The program highlighted a checklist for mental disorders. Since a corporation can be considered a person, the mental disorder checklist can be applied to people as well.

Here is the checklist.
1. Callousness toward people
2. Impersonal relationships with people
3. Disregard for the safety of others
4. Deceitfulness
5. Incapacity to experience guilt
6. Failure to comply toward social norms to benefit people

From the checklist corporations displayed a psychopathic mental disorder. If we use the same checklist for our two highest leaders, then we would have to conclude that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney display a mental disorder. It would be my perception that the above two men are unfit to be president and vice-president, respectively. They hold too much power for men who have a possible mental disorder.

I am disappointed in my country and in Obama!!!

http://original.antiwar.com/roberts/2009/11/06/the-evil-empire/

Here are some comments from me when George W was president.

Paradox

Louis Tice of the Pacific Institute in Seattle, Washington offers a paradox, “You give up control in order to be in control”. Confident leaders do not have to rule by controlling and punitive threats. He also discusses Erickson’s book, “Eight Stages of Human Development”, regarding leadership. Leadership starts at the top with basic trust. A dishonest leader cannot be an effective leader. Controlling and punitive threats will have consequences and there will be a backlash against such a leader. People will subtly undermine the leader and in the end the leader is not in control and he or she remains in a constant state of fear. A fearful leader is an unstable leader. Good examples of fearful and unstable leaders are Napoleon and Hitler. We must be vigilant of such leaders, be it in the United States or in the world.

Please pay careful attention to Bush’s behavior. You do not have to be a licensed psychiatrist or a Ph.D. psychologist to know that Bush is a very sick person. His increased temper tantrums, his abusive language, his flying all over the country, and his apparent alcoholism and drug intake are signs that Bush is losing it. We have in the WH a very unstable being that could snap at any minute. We must never forget this psycho’s depraved indifference in the murdering of human beings. Pray hard for this demented and deranged despotic ruler!

Basic Trust

I have shared with you some information regarding a paradox. I will now stress the importance of basic trust in the eight stages of human development. The Bush misadministration has been a very secretive cabal because Bush does not possess basic trust that should have been instilled in his formative years. Everything the misadministration does is done in secret. Some secrecy in government is necessary but with Bush it is an obsession of a sick person.

The eighth stage and the last stage is integrity. Integrity is reached about the age of forty-five. For a person to reach integrity everything starts with basic trust. You pass through the various stages. In Bush’s life age forty-five is about the time he found God and said that he would not be a drunk. A dozen years later he becomes president through fraud and rigged elections. Bush is a nutcase but more seriously he displays a depraved indifference toward living human beings. It is my perceptual opinion that Bush is close to becoming an insane person. He is too sick to lead a democracy. He will do all in his power to bring down American democracy. Everything that he touches becomes demented and deranged. You see as Americans the unraveling of insane policies from an insane or close to insane person.