The Soul's Code
Mark Twain once described a man who died and met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. He said, “I have been interested in military history for many years, who was the greatest general of all time?�
Saint Peter responded, “Oh that’s a simple question. It’s that man right over there.�
“You must be mistaken,� responded the man, now very perplexed. “I knew that man on earth, and he was just a common laborer.�
“That’s right my friend,� assured Saint Peter. “He would have been the greatest general of all time, if he had been a general.� (T.Rath, Strength Finder 2.0 (Gallup Press, 2007) 29.)
While reading Hillman’s book “The Soul’s Code� the above story kept popping to the fore front of my mind. What if I am not doing what I am called to do? As an expecting father what if I fail to recognize the inherit gifts and talents that my son or daughter will bring to this world? As a leader and supervisor, how do I help those that I work with recognize and work towards their calling?
While there is no easy answer to these questions I think that Hillman makes a very good attempt at tackling these huge questions. From my perspective it appears like Hillman’s motivation for writing this peace is two fold. The first being for his own personal growth and need to process the world around him. The second being to radically move the psychological community away from its philosophy of treating problems to the contradictory new, yet old, philosophy of treating the whole person. He states, “I want psychology to have its base in the imagination of people rather than in their statistics and diagnostics.� (pp.33)
Hillman sites many stories about famous leaders that were seen as troubled youth at one point who then transformed into leaders on a worldly scale. He claims that the ailments that made these youths’ lives so difficult were also the events that made them the strong leaders that history remembers them as. He believes that the reason these future leaders struggled so much as a youth was because their inner calling/spirit or “Daimon� was not receiving the nourishment it needed.
Hillman describes the Diamon as many things ranging from a Guardian Angel to your Animal Soul, depending upon your spiritual perspective. Hillman states a couple of times that this Soul or Angel chooses you. At one point even suggesting that a persons’ soul chooses its parents, opposed to parents choosing their child. This spirit, angel, or soul then joins within the body to magnify ones gifts and talents. His examples of people born to play music or paint are examples of gifts that one must be aware of and magnify to find meaning in life.
He then argues that youth that are not connected with their Diamon often cause problems. In some regards those problems are good because they help build resiliency, and in others its bad because some people never connect with their true passions.
This book is definitely something that a person needs to read a couple times to truly understand its depth. As a leader I find a contradiction between my belief system and the authors. I believe that all people can be leaders, and that leadership is not something that one is born with but rather something that is learned. Hillman would probably argue the opposite and say that leaders are born. I think that Hillman and I would be in agreement that everyone has natural talents within themselves and once they understand what those gifts are, and if they choose to nurture them, that anyone can be an amazing leader in whatever field they are in.
Comments
Allen Ginsberg said "Follow your inner moonlight, don't hide the madness." I think that especially here in the meek midwest, we tend to hide our madness (whether sanity or anger based) and it compromises our individuality, as well as our capacity to excel. Tension and diversity are inherent to life and create biological and, increasingly, cultural strength.
Life becomes very boring when everyone hovers around homogeneity. It's unnatural. Hillman's analysis of the flaws of the traditional psychology of sameness that we cling to despite its detrimental effects was refreshing and enlightening.
I have a BA in psychology, but dropped out of the field after my first graduate level course. I had already been disappointed in the curriculum as an undergrad, but as I got deeper in and the boxes and labels became the center of everything I had to depart (despite my fascination with human behavior and thought). The "science" of normalcy squelched the true beauty of humanness.
Children truly embody the purity and diversity of the human spirit and I believe that each one of them has the potential to be exceptional. Unfortunately, whether it's not finding their "inner calling" or it's a result of bad parenting or sociological limitations, mediocrity seems to be the norm.
Bryan, you express fear about recognizing your child's inherent gifts. I urge you to simply provide as many opportunities and experiences as possible and sit back to see what emerges. Likewise, as a leader, "enable others to act" as Kouzes and Posner emphasize. When people, whether they are children or adults, are given knowledge, discretion, authority and opportunity "they're much more likely to use their energies to produce extraordinary results" (Kouzes & Posner, p. 21).
Posted by: Janelle | February 18, 2008 08:30 PM
I would like to offer another perspective on the choosing of parents Hillman discusses. This is a belief held by those believing in reincarnation. We not only choose our parents but we know the experiences we will have in this life. Any text I have read about reincarnation will support this. What I think is interesting is "enable others to act " in our text. If the soul truly has a code, all we need to do then is to create an environment where one can do that in order to live out their code. This seems to me to be the essence of leadership...enable others to act. The speaker last week also talked about creating this type of an environment was part of their success in the women's shelter.
Other fields support the idea of the soul having a code. In astrology, each person has a unique set of qualities that is imprinted by the electromagnetic field when they take their first breath. A chart called the natal chart is a map of the heavens showing the exact position of the planets when one is born. While people have choices, their natal chart shows how they will interact in their life experiences. Even other entities have natal charts, like corporations, cities etc. The sun sign and rising signs ( the sign coming over the horizon) can be used by leaders to understand and support their followers as they interact in their work. (as can social styles, enneagram, etc)
I am fascinated by The Soul's Code" as it most closely aligns with the Eastern teachings of spirituality I have studied for the last two years.
Posted by: Bette Jo | February 18, 2008 10:02 PM
Brian I enjoyed your post very much and you kept me engaged and interested because of your own perspective on the reading and how it related to you by bringing up those aspects of the reading that were relevant and meaningful. I hope that we can develop and create a culture of freedom and safety within this class to explore the 'madness' as suggested by Janelle without too much concern about it affecting our grade. Seems to me that this forum of blogging is ideally suited for taking risks, revealing our deeper selves, and offering our honest perspective on the various topics, ideas, and concepts we are blessed to review and possibly learn about for the first time. I appreciate Betty Jo's gumption about validating topics that were once considered 'left of center' or 'too far out' to enter into academic discussions. I am grateful for Prof. Crosby's foresight and intuition in requiring our involvement in ongoing dialogue and critique of our readings, that even though this process is cumbersome and time consuming it may reveal something beyond our expectations. This is what I would prefer, that this process would become more for all of us, than just meeting the requirements of getting graded.
Posted by: Diana Turner | February 19, 2008 01:38 AM
Brian I enjoyed your post very much and you kept me engaged and interested because of your own perspective on the reading and how it related to you by bringing up those aspects of the reading that were relevant and meaningful.
I hope that we can develop and create a culture of freedom and safety within this class to explore the 'madness' as suggested by Janelle without too much concern about it affecting our grade. Seems to me that this forum of blogging is ideally suited for taking risks, revealing our deeper selves, and offering our honest perspective on the various topics, ideas, and concepts we are blessed to review and possibly learn about for the first time.
I appreciate Betty Jo's gumption about validating topics that were once considered 'left of center' or 'too far out' to enter into academic discussions. I am grateful for Prof. Crosby's foresight and intuition in requiring our involvement in ongoing dialogue and critique of our readings, that even though this process is cumbersome and time consuming it may reveal something beyond our expectations. This is what I would prefer, that this process would become more for all of us, than just meeting the requirements of getting graded.
Posted by: Diana Turner | February 19, 2008 01:40 AM