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A good part of the serious problems and challenges our world faces is that, throughout history and certainly today, we have leaders who have not led us into the “Promised Land” of healing, harmony, and peace—but have led us astray into disarray, disorder, and turmoil.
It used to be that our community, political, and spiritual leaders were paradigms of wisdom who lived their values and manifested their principles. That is why it is said,
I did not go to the Master
to hear his teachings.
I went to the Master
To watch him tie his shoes.
Modes of Leadership
Throughout history and now, some leaders have been well-meaning but inexperienced and incompetent. Others have violated and desecrated their obligations and responsibilities to their country and people while seeking their own self-aggrandizement, power, prestige, and wealth. Their hunger for personal gain and unquestioned fidelity has far outweighed their commitment to the common good.
When good and true leaders have risen up, and have understood the human longing for justice and righteousness, when they have uplifted the human spirit with their vision for equality, freedom, and love—all too often they have been summarily dismissed, personally attacked, demeaned, denigrated, and discredited—their personal integrity and honor, besmirched and ruined. And at the very worst, they have met the crucifier or the assassin’s bullet.
Today, we have twenty-first-century leaders who are trying to administer affairs of state through documents that are centuries-old, and to fulfill roles that are far too big for any one person. Even our spiritual guides and leaders are floundering as the world crumbles around us, and the old forms no longer bring the kind of comfort or inspiration that they once did.
Yet these are the very people we depend on to lead our countries—and, thus, our whole world—and to strive for the very best way of life for us and our children. There is only one conclusion. We are counting on the wrong people and the wrong modes of leadership.
A Zen student, hoping to become a teacher, studied with the Master for ten years. After this time of apprenticeship, he felt ready to teach.
The young student came to the Master for his blessing.
It was a rainy day, so the student left his clogs and umbrella outside. The student said, “Master, I am ready to teach, and I have come for your blessing.”
The Master asked, “Did you leave your clogs and umbrella outside?”
“Yes,” the student replied.
“Did you place your umbrella to the right or to the left of your clogs”
The student stood confused and flushed, for he could not remember.
And the Master said, “The time of learning has not ended.”
Constantly Aware, Constantly Conscious
Our leaders need to be aware, constantly aware. And they need to be conscious, constantly conscious. Our leaders need to be wise and discerning. From where does awareness come? From where does wisdom and discernment come?
The Voice resonates and holds us.
Surely the Instruction that I give to you today is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond your reach. It is not in the Heavens that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the Heavens and get it for us ...?” Neither is it across the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea, and get it for us ....” No. The thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart .... I set before you this day, life and prosperity, death and adversity .… Choose life. (Deut. 30:11–19)
Everything we need to live and to prosper, to feel happiness and satisfaction, is not outside of us. It is right within us—in the inner reaches of our hearts and our souls. We each have a Voice Within—a Voice that echoes from the beginning before the beginning, that knows beyond knowing, that understands the mysteries of the universe, that holds the formula for a world of goodness, and love, and peace.
Our Task: Listen to the Inner Voice
Our task and our great privilege is to listen, listen, listen to that Inner Voice, to heed its lessons and to share and interconnect its message with the Voices Within of each and every other human being.
Successful leadership is not imposed from the outside but grows and flourishes and is eventually articulated from deep inside. We can be like this shepherd of sheep:
A shepherd was tending his sheep close by a beautiful green meadow, near a sparkling spring. He feared that a wolf might come and snatch away his sheep, so he resolved to keep a most watchful eye.
But, at nightfall, growing very tired, he lay down on the ground and fell asleep. Near midnight, he awoke with a start. He was immediately afraid, for he had never before fallen asleep watching over his sheep.
He rushed to them, lying in the meadow, and saw them crowded up against one another. He counted them, and none were missing.
He cried out, “Dear God, how can I ever repay You? Entrust your sheep to me once more, and never again shall I neglect them. I will guard them with my life.”
The caution, of course, is that some will claim: My Inner Voice is better than yours. My Inner Voice is truer than yours. My hearing of God’s word and will is far greater than yours. My leadership is superior to yours. That is the flawed model that has brought anguish and suffering to our world far too often.
True Leadership
True leadership can be complicated and messy. Accepting opposing points of view can be galling. Dealing with difficult personalities can be confounding. Respecting insufferable rants and outrageous behaviors can be painful. Mediating conflict can be arduous. Finding consensus can sometimes seem impossible. Weaving together a sense of Oneness can sometimes seem unimaginable.
True leadership is sourced not in political expediency, personal gain, or shameless demand. True leadership is sourced in God’s Truth of the common good, the highest good, the greatest good for all God’s children.
The birthing of a new world depends on our willingness and ability to listen to eternal wisdom, to experience enlightenment, to step forward to accept the mantle of leadership, to be like Joshua-of-old, who was able to succeed the incomparable Moses because he was filled with wisdom and the spirit of God.
True leadership interweaves all the thinking, feeling, spirit, and love of each and every person on this Earth who listens to the Inner Voice and who hears that voice giving its most potent and profound message: See the Face of God in the face of every human being. And love, love, love. Live and Be Radical Loving and Awesome Holiness.
Speak and Act “As If”
Do you still think you are unprepared or unworthy to listen and to do?
Then speak and act “as if”—as if your actions make a difference, as if your words bring wisdom, as if real change can come about through the work of your hands, as if the love that flows from your heart enters into other hearts. And soon you will find that what you do and say has become very, very real.
Please remember that everything you need is within you, and you can do this!
Once a young artist shoved aside a block of marble as useless.
The great Michelangelo said, “Bring that to my studio.
An angel is imprisoned in that marble and I intend to set it free.”
So, as did the prophet of old, when God asks,
“Whom shall I send? Who shall go for us?”
our only possible reply can be,
“Here I Am; send me” (Isa. 6:8).
With confidence, pride, and overflowing love, we are now ready to birth the New World—ours and God’s.
Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher
Monkfish Book Publishing. MonkfishPublishing.com/
Article Source
Radical Loving: One God, One World, One People
by Wayne Dosick.
For many of us, it feels as if our world is breaking apart. Long-held, comfortable beliefs are being shattered, and we face unprecedented questions and challenges. How do we heal the harsh divisions of class, race, religion, and cultures that plague us? How do we vanquish sexism, rigid fundamentalism, unabashed nationalism, senseless hatred, and violent terrorism? How do we save our precious planet from the threats to its very existence?
In this book is a bold, visionary, Spirit-filled blueprint for the redemption, transformation, and evolution of our emerging new world through radical loving and a day-to-day sense of the sacred. With age-old wisdom wrapped in contemporary garb, sweet, inspiring stories, keen insights, and gentle guidance, Radical Loving is a call to renewal and to Oneness?a promise that Earth can be Eden once again.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
RABBI WAYNE DOSICK, Ph.D., D.D., is an educator, writer, and spiritual guide who teaches and counsels about faith, ethical values, life transformations, and evolving human consciousness. Well-known for his quality scholarship and sacred spirit, he is the rabbi of The Elijah Minyan, a retired visiting professor at the University of San Diego, and the host of the monthly Internet radio program, SpiritTalk Live! heard on HealthyLife.net.
He is the award-winning author of nine critically acclaimed books, including the now-classic Living Judaism, Golden Rules, The Business Bible, When Life Hurts, 20 Minute Kabbalah, Soul Judaism, The Best is Yet To Be, Empowering Your Indigo Child, and, most recently, The Real Name of God: Embracing the Full Essence of the Divine.
For more info, visit https://elijahminyan.com/rabbi-wayne
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