The Direction of Intention

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Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

This morning I read an article in National Geographic magazine about the last reindeer herders in Scandinavia. I found myself yearning for the simplicity of that kind of life. I’m not romanticizing the difficulties. Theirs is a hard life and it is likely a community about to disappear into contemporary society. What I am aware of and yearning for is a community with a clear central focus that knows each member is necessary – it requires the best from everyone if the community is to survive and thrive. And each member of the community knows their value to the greater whole. Their rituals are meaningful, their narrative intact. To betray the community is to betray your self – it is unthinkable.

Last night I watched the documentary film, Inside Job that tracks the decisions and events that made our 2008 economic suicide possible. It is basically the story of how the largest financial institutions in America knowingly sold worthless products to the world in order to realize obscene profits – all with the collusion of the government and the agencies tasked with regulating them. When their ponzi scheme failed it took down the world economy, 30 million people worldwide lost their jobs, more lost their retirements, and savings,… and the bankers and government officials at the center of it all profited mightily. To betray the community was rewarded. To betray the community was profitable.

I found myself wondering what the reindeer herders in Scandinavia would do to a member of its community that so violently betrayed the trust and ruined the health of so many of its members. What must a community do when their rituals are violated and their narrative assaulted? We did nothing.

What does a community do when their rituals have no substance and their narrative is hollow?

The juxtaposition between these two stories about community reminded me why I started this exploration of power – and not power over other; power with. I wrote it yesterday but it is present for me again today, these power-over stories and structures are old, old, old, and they threaten our very survival. We live in the age of power-with (it’s called a global community for a reason), no single member’s actions are separate or distinct; if one member falters we all falter. Just ask your local financial services representative (I use that term loosely) what will happen to markets in America if Greece’s economy falls. No need to ask the Greeks what will happen to their economy if a few American bankers drive the USA’s economy over the cliff – they already know. There is no such thing as “us and them” in our times. It is a world of “we” and truly powerful people know that in their bones.

Filed under: Rants, Truly Powerful People |