Change is inevitable, not only is it inevitable but it is natural and because it is natural it is what we want in life. We are this way of course because no one wants to never grow, always staying the same year after year or to watch the same movie play out day after day, stuck in an endless loop of continuously recurring events. Yet some would resist the natural evolution of life in time and go against the tide of change. They might deny even the swirling of the planets if they could.
Entrenchment in old ideas and customs and resistance to change by those in powerful positions has, throughout history, created a point of friction. Those in power want to stay in power. Wherever there is movement in opposition to that power, as there is to any other stationary object, there is friction. A turning wheel or a running river create friction in their own ways. The wheel spins on the axel, the river moves over the stone. Where the axel meets the wheel, there we find the resistance to the motion and the point of friction. The stones are worn away by the flowing of the river. For every change in systems of entrenched power, we have witnessed the effects and the hardships of the friction and resistance to a changing world. But there is also in changing times, the thrill of movement and the joy of the momentum, gaining ground, going forward.
In politics and in society, that there will be movement and that movement is guaranteed, as the movement of a seed growing into a tree, as the child to an adult or as the universe swirling through space. As life evolves in the social and political world and things move and grow, at times, it is obvious and undeniable that the movement will be towards justice and freedom. One could say then, that this growth it is predestined, as predictable as the force of gravity.
Even in the short history of the United States, there are many examples of changing social and political customs and structures where the evolutionary force was towards the liberation of humans and towards justice. As we look back on these examples, we find that, although there was great resistance to the movement towards liberty and justice, this movement forward was inevitable and though there were those who put up a fight to resist the change, the movement could not be stopped. These changes that took humanity in the direction of freedom and justice were both undeniable and unstoppable and the truth behind the law of nature, the law that insists on fulfilling the promise of the unalienable rights of the people, though hindered by resistance, is ultimately the destiny of humanity. As Dr. M.L. King Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe bends towards justice”.
The rights of the people, although muddied and corrupted by bigotry and prejudice includes, as we have found in this evolution towards liberation, the full spectrum of kinds and types of people and in this liberation we are awakened to the needs of any of those who were previously unrecognized and unprotected. This has been and will be again, the forward moving position.
The resistance to this recognition of the rights of all people is the position of authoritarian rulers, overlords, slavers, homophobes, misogynists and any and all those who have come to believe that they are entitled to physically or mentally rule over and subdue others.
If we look closely at this desire to have power over others and the overwhelming desire of people to not be enslaved, oppressed or controlled, we will see that the nature of this struggle, to go back to our example, is much like a stream moving towards the sea, there will be obstacles creating rough waters and swirling eddies but the stream will ultimately prevail on its way to the sea. The obstacles and eddies cannot resist the power of the moving water and eventually are worn away by the stream.
Leaders Over Rulers in A Changing World
Rulers rule, leaders lead. The nature of the entrenched ruler is to remain in place, static, holding power, to be immovable, like rocks in the steam until they too are worn away and they are always, eventually worn away. It is a hard and degenerative position to resist the inevitability of the movement of the stream and the heart and soul of the ruler who resists fresh leadership and the change toward liberty and justice must be hard like the rock. We have seen this over and over again in those rulers who may prevail in their positions for a while. They are first, hard like the stone but then, worn away, they disappear altogether or become like shadows of their former selves.
Leaders on the other hand, are out front, full of light, generating fresh energy. At times they are digging channels or building bridges, at times just riding the wave. Leaders do not resist the move towards justice and freedom. Leaders remove obstacles, break down walls, they lubricate the axel. Leaders love the rush and the joy of being part of nature’s own desire, which is the natural evolution of our species towards its greater purpose. The nature of the leader is to lead, they push at times, they pull at times, they join the stream and are renewed in their power, in unity, working with the force of creation, evolving along with nature, moving towards the sea of justice as nature will always do!
Leaders share power. True leaders aligned with the greater purpose, know and understand, that their work is not to control and maintain power towards their own personal ends but to participate in the general movement towards the liberation and greater purpose of all. Leaders know and understand that the mission, the purpose and the goal are all enhanced by the desire, the dreams and the work of those others who are also aligned with the desire for justice and freedom. Leaders understand that success is not in the struggle to compete and overcome the other to maintain power. Success is in lifting themselves and others up into the strength of the stream which is the cooperative and unified purpose of freedom and justice for all, for liberty around the world, for security and prosperity. Leaders are inspired, educated and motivated by those who share a place with them in the stream, swimming, floating, gliding along towards the ocean of love and peace. The leaders work, our work, is not a hard and grueling contest between the individual and the rest of the world, it is a fun and playful journey, wonderful in the amazing beauty and endless variety of this universe that we are uniquely involved with.
As For the Rest of Us
The fact is that there is no rest of us, we are all participants in the project in one way or the other. The challenge, the fun part that is, is that this evolution in life, in government, in politics and in society is enhanced by our participation. This adjustment in our political and social reality suggests that you and I too become co-creators of our always fluid and thriving society and government. Participation in these affairs is ownership, the essence of democracy, and that is truly and authentically how we change in the direction of a government that is “of the people, by the people, for the people”.
To sit it out, is to say that you have given-up your own place in the evolutionary affairs of humanity, it is to give-up on democracy, it is to give-up on the journey towards liberty and justice. It is to hand justice and your personal freedom to another.
But to walk away from the negativity, the mistakes and failed mission of our past and current ruling elite is another thing. That is to say that you are no longer willing to participate, either directly or indirectly in the crimes and corruption that the entrenched regime offers. Turning away from corruption is a good and necessary step, but when power is as entrenched, as the powers we know are, their hold on the workings of what should be a dynamic, people driven, government, by and for the people that is, is so strong that it puts a hold on, cripples and diminishes the natural growth and the evolution of the mind and body that moves us forward towards liberty and justice.
We have been taught by these power holders to expect the worst. We have been trained to think that nothing changes for the better as they fumble and fail to deliver on the promise of the good. We are asked by those in power, by the media and by those who are at a loss when presented with ideas that require an imaginative and positive outlook, to accept these failings as “the way it is”, as if there was no alternative or possibility of another kind of politics. We are confronted with the negativity of the idea that we should vote for and then support “lesser evils” when it is, all along, the greater good that we want and deserve. This out-look of failure and futility has taken the hope of democracy and the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and reduced these grand ideals to what might appear to be an impossible dream.
We are taught, largely because of the experience of exploitative and competitive capitalism, that the Earth, nature that is, and all the people alive here now, are out to get us. We are taught and convinced that life must be a constant battle which, where the humans engaged with this system of intentional shortages and scarcity for the many are concerned, is too true. But the abundance of the Earth is not theirs to withhold for long, to be used as a weapon, to keep us in intentionally created poverty. Every revolution tells us that the abundance of the Earth, along with prosperity and freedom are not to be sanctioned against our needs, the needs of the people that is.
To move forward we must not fall into the trap of focusing on what we don’t want. We have been in the shadow of disappointment and failure long enough to know what we don’t want. The energy we need today, as the worthy leader knows, is in putting the focus of our intentions and desires towards that which we do want. The established controllers understand our desires and the power of focus and intention which is why they make their grand promises to us even when they have no intention whatsoever of fulfilling them.
How long do we wait for equal rights, living wages, affordable-quality healthcare, a peace dividend? How long can we allow ourselves to be violated by these lies and the negligence of these fruitless administrations and the harmful actions that follow them and diminish our lives to the point of despair?
There is of course another way, another path that leads to the evolution of our species, towards the positive possibility of a clean and healthy environment, prosperity, freedom, but to move towards these desires and the necessary ingredients for lives well lived, away from fear and want, we must get on that road that leads to health, prosperity and freedom. It is in health prosperity and freedom that we find real security. There is no security under the boot of oppression or the constant threat of failure that false leaders offer.
If we want to survive, if we want to thrive and prosper, we must leave behind the idea that a lesser evil and the burden of unrequited justice is something to fight for or have. We have tried this in vain, it is futile, it allows the evil to grow like a cancer by providing a safe haven for that which perpetuates evil, for those who are without the urge towards the greater good. We do not arrive at the good by settling on and supporting evil in any measure. We arrive at what we know to be good by pursuing that which is good.
Effective leaders do not make excuses as to why they cannot lead. It is no good, it is not helpful, it is disingenuous to say that we cannot lead because of the opposition to our movement. That attitude, that way out, that message which says that a thing cannot be done is only another form of opposition . That false position or despair and defeat cannot stand against the force of true movements or the force of the inspired leaders in that movement.
True leaders lead and they are deaf to those arguments that put up the excuse of too much opposition to move forward. True leaders are not focused on the reasons or excuses of their failure, they are focused on success and in the case of the movement towards our better world they are focused on justice. They understand that the change towards a better world must be realized no matter the resistance, that obstacles must be turned into opportunities. They understand that their own attitude must reflect the successful outcome and the inevitability of the stream moving towards justice for all. They move along with and in the power of the stream, knowing that the universal force of life is with them, that the will and desire of the people carries them and they do not fear opposition. They do not settle for evil when the reward and blessing of justice is the goal.