It has been said you are what you eat but more importantly you are what you feel and leaders, political or business need to be aware of just how much their inner psychology affects the value and the outcome of their decisions and hence how it will affect the lives of those to whom they are responsible. The importance of personal psychological work is clearly dramatized in this honest statement by a former U.S.diplomat and assistant to UN ambassador Andrew Young.
During the 1969 Revolution in Libya, I had an awakening realization I was going through the pain and separation of a failing marriage, when I realized that I was allowing the anger and mistrust that I was experiencing in my marriage to dictate my negotiation attitude toward the Libyans. Just as I had adopted a win/lose approach in my marital life, I was adopting a win/ lose approach with the Libyans. The inability of my wife and me to act with love and trust in our personal lives was a critical factor in my role during these political interactions of the United States Government and Libya.
John Graham
Causes in the Emotional Realm
The anger, fear, jealousy, and power trips of our political leaders, affect the way our town, county, country, world is run more than we realize. In the 1960s, John Vasconcellos talked openly about - “ the Vietnam War in myself and in all of us," as well as the "inner Pentagon" and our own "internal Nixon." According to interviewer, he told people that dealing with these issues was just as important as protesting the war.
Social reformer and those who bring major changes to society often have had a personal problem themselves that was similar or related to one in the larger society. In working through their own problem, they discovered a useful resolution to the social problem. (This insight might inspire each of us to clean up our own act, for by so doing we might make an important contribution to society in this same area.)
Many of those working with business and political leaders have now learned to include the psycho-physical health of the leader in their local and national strategy. Because they have found that well balanced participants can build an emotional atmosphere of trust and goodwill and can do much to improve intergroup and international relations.
Psychologists David Feinstein and Stanley Krippner suggest the following:
Ideally, political leaders should be those who have undergone a substantial exploration oftheir own unconscious motivations and have reached an advanced level of emotional maturity. . . . The real problem is to raise the consciousness of the general public so that it is capable of recognizing public figures whose policies mask their own inner conflicts. Policy makers could he educated to find both sides of an ideological conflict within themselves. Even if the process did not change their ideology, it would increase the likelihood of empathy and respect for opponent's position, thus enhancing their capacity for creative collaboration.
Significantly, the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras, and later Plato, introduced the principle of examination and spiritual initiation into the government of the state. They thus reconciled the elective or democratic principle with a government formed on the basis of intelligence and virtue in this higher synthesis.
We also need to recognize how our emotional state affects not only our own work and activities, but the general emotional climate in the world. Political consultants who design campaigns have demonstrated the effectiveness of appealing to the worst in us, to our fear, anger, and greed. When we're feeling depressed or angry about our own personal life, we're not likely to vote with wisdom or clarity but react out of fear to the politicians who have instilled this fear in us.
Becoming Aware
To begin this process, the first step is an awareness of our own negative emotional patterns. The second step is to look for the positive intent behind the negative pattern. To ask ourselves, how is this emotion trying to serve me? What is it trying to accomplish? Once this is done, we can then look for more positive and effective ways to achieve the same results.
Fortunately, in the last couple of decades more people than ever have been seeking psychological and spiritual help with their problems, and this is helping to clarify their political views.
On the news and in the media we generally see only the problems and, crises in the world, many of which are related to personal psychological problems such as greed, dishonesty, violence, or hatred. The millions of people who have overcome more of their personal problems and who are relating to each other and their world in a loving or constructive way are rarely featured Fortunately there is much goodwill and positive emotional energy in each of us and in the world, and this helps build trust among people so conflicts can be settled justly, new solutions found, and new projects undertaken.