The Hope, the Mind-Behaviour-Gap und die dunkle Seite der Macht

Ein offenes Bekenntnis, das ich gerade in „The Hope“ von Andrew Harvey gelesen habe.

„In the early 90s I was at a meeting in New York with several of the leading organizers of what was to be the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio. A quiet, handsome, well-dressed man in his 40s took me aside afterward and introduced himself as the head of a major agribusiness corporation. He said, „I have something very important to tell you, and I will pay for the joy of telling it to you by offering you lunch.“
At lunch the next day, he cut to the chase: „Rio will accomplish absolutely nothing because you good-doers are so naive about the real world. Most of you that I have met truly believe that if the CEOs – like me, for instance – really knew what harm their corporation policies were doing, they would rend their Armani suits, fling out their Rolex-wreathed arms, burst into tears, and change. This is madness and shows how little you dare to know about what is really going on. And how can you even begin to be effective until you understand what you are up against?
Let me tell you what you are up against. You are up against people like me. I know exactly what my company is doing and what devastation it is causing to thousands of lives. I should know; I am running it. I know and I do not care. I have decided I wand a grand gold-plated lifestyle and the perks and jets and houses that go with it and I will do anything – bend the law, have people `removed´, bribe local governmental officials, you name it – to get what I want. I know, too, that none of my shareholders care a rat`s ass what I do or how I do it, providing I keep them swimming in cash.
I said that you were up against people like me. That is true in one sense, but not in another. Because the truth is that I am in you too. A part of you is like me, just as ruthless and dedicated to your own selfish agenda. But you can dress up this ruthlessness as your `mission´ and never unmask the lust for power that might be lurking behind your righteous facade.
What limits all so-called seekers and activists that I meet is that they both shy away from the full realization of the power of the dark. The seekers I meet are, frankly, `bliss bunnies´, about as useful in the real world as a rubber ball would be in a war. The activists I know enjoy denouncing others but aren`t at all in the business of unmasking their own destructiveness, or the self-destructiveness of their dreary and banal self-righteousness.
The bliss-bunnyhood of seekers and the offensive self-righteousness of activists make it very easy for people like me to control the world. I know too, by the way, that the dark forces I play with are playing with me. I am under no illusion that I will not someday have to pay the price. Don`t the French say, `The devil has no friends`? I`m willing to pay that price in return for the pleasure of being able to afford this restaurant, in return for being able to ring up the president of the United States in front of house-guests to impress them. Am I getting through to you?“

Andrew Harvey folgert selbst daraus an anderer Stelle: „On the other hand, an activism that is not purified by profound spiritual and psychological self-awareness and rooted in divine truth, wisdom, and compassion will only perpetuate the problem it is trying to solve, however righteous its intentions. When, however, the deepest and most grounded spiritual vision is married to a practical and pragmatic drive to transform all existing political, economic and social institutions, a holy force – the power of wisdom and love in action – is born.”

Dieser CEO scheint zumindest kein Gap zu haben!

So wie ich die Zusammenhänge zwischen individuellem Bewusstsein und der Wahrnehmung von Wirklichkeit verstehe, kann ich hier sehr viel über mich selbst lernen. Nicht auf meine `bösen´ Mitmenschen, die scheinbar nicht so `gut´ wie ich sind, zu zeigen und sie zu belehren, was sie machen, kaufen und konsumieren sollen und was nicht. Das ist auch eine dunkle Form von Macht und Gewalt über sie, aber keine konstruktive, die meine Mitmenschen annimmt und mitnimmt, sie animiert und inspiriert. Sie ist eine dunkle, durch die ich mich selbst über sie erhebe, ihnen ein schlechtes Gewissen mache, also etwas Dunkles in ihnen anspreche, anstatt mir unsere wechselseitige Verbundenheit in universeller Gleichheit durch Liebe, Güte, Mitgefühl und Vergebung selbst bewusst zu machen und uns dadurch gegenseitig zu ermächtigen.
Das Spiel des Egos ist so verführerisch, dass ich Andrew Harveys Einsicht teile, dass es ohne eine zielgerichtete wirksame spirituelle Praxis, sich davon zu befreien, keine nachhaltige Transformation der Welt gibt.
Die `dunkle Seite der Macht´ in mir ist jedoch nur solange dunkel, wie ich sie als blinden Fleck behandele und in die Dunkelheit verdränge, psychologisch gesprochen ins Unbewusste. Da dieses Unbewusste jedoch weiterhin in meinem Geist verbleibt, beeinflusst es mich – nun wie von mir herbeigeführt – unbewusst und konkurriert mit meinen bewussten Zielen und Absichten. Und voilà, fertig ist mein eigener Mind-Behaviour-Gap!

Diese Erläuterungen befinden sich genau auf dem schmalen Grät zwischen Belehrung des Geistes meiner Mitmenschen und Erleuchtung der Dunkelheit meines Geistes.
Ich hoffe, ich konnte die wechselseitige Verbundenheit, die ich empfinde, liebevoll zum Ausdruck bringen. Dann werden wir die nicht nur einseitige, sondern beidseitige Ermächtigung spüren, die aus dieser Verbundenheit erwächst.