The Western Gate

Daily writing prompt

Do you see yourself as a leader?

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” I renounce all claim to leadership”, a statement that would be the tenet of any anarchist, in fact a charge from an initiate in the Bavarian Illuminati. A statement I fully endorse, everyone is the leader or no-one is the leader.
It is a strange concept the more you break apart the reasons why we have leaders. In history perhaps the warrior was the figure-head of a community, then came those with the knowledge and wisdom of agriculture, those who understood the seasons and the progression of the year both Solar and Lunar. Then came the cunning who sought to be the overseer of common land and thus distribute the goods and welfare accordingly, or in the case of modernism, more product and benefit to those in that power which can then be trickled down to the ‘lowly’.
The benefits of being leader are wealth, and very rarely the satisfaction that your qualities enable and promote evolution of the community for its betterment. Inventors are not leaders but their research and development enhance our lives, yet, instead, those patents are marketed and promoted by ‘leaders’, with the aim of course to create wealth. A researcher develops a cancer battling drug. A leader markets that drug for obscene financial wealth.
Imagine the scenario, that rather than direct subordinates you lay a path that others can tap into, to do things better and more efficiently without laying claim that these ideas are yours, but based on wisdom and experience which you freely give, not because it is a product of your skill but because it is natural evolution. This is devoid of ego, of which is the other ‘want’ in leadership, not only for the want of wealth but the label and prestige attached with being looked up to, the idea that a statue of your being is manifested. The want of being ‘known and adored. Loved or feared.
Imagine if you, instead of outright influence give others the tools by means of psychology and allowing them to piece the jigsaw together, and once the eureka moment is reached accept no praise for your efforts but that the achievement itself is the trophy.
Imagine if there were no kings, presidents or prime ministers, instead only representatives of the community elected to;- promote ideas that the community insist are most important. These are ideas that are concerned for the welfare of the people in order that we can all enjoy life in comfort and safety.
One way to understand real leadership is to say, that the only leaders should be ‘mothers’ or ‘gardeners’, both understand the main quality of the goals of leadership are to sustain, to nurture and to love. They seek no reward except the fruits of their labour, that the children raised are confident and independent and likewise and as an analogy in itself – that the flowers grow.
To say we need leaders is to equally say, that inherently people are incompetent, and such is the way that we are raised. We are told what we should know in schools, informed we are powerless subtly or with the cosh, and enslaved by means of financial burdens from mortgages, health insurance, and every tax and utility bill that are needed to sustain our life.
When you have a pyramid, the top is not the concern, but the base and its foundation. Our society and the world is based on a false promise and each face we look up to is the mask which we are told not to look behind.

I renounce all claim to leadership, and I refuse promotion.