Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
- ~ William Butler Yeats
- Turn to any page in history and you will be presented with the evidence of a failure of leadership. Most instances have at their source complacency or corruption, which are born of the soil of fear and greed. While I in no ways claim to know what each leader should have done in history, I am keen to consider the topic heartily for my own purposes as I believe that every individual has a part to play in leadership.
- Look again at the stories of our forefathers over the ages and you will find that the crowd invariably prefers to have a king to represent them, to fight their battles and to make the difficult choices. “Make us a king!” they cry, rather than rising into the position of leadership which is rightly theirs to occupy. The framers of the U.S. Constitution were well aware of this tendency, and did their best to design a system that would keep this tendency at bay.
- What are the signs of the erosion of leadership in any political system or corporation? There is no need for an elaborate test, in fact, you’ll know it is happening when, as Yeats said so succinctly: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
- Will we repeat history in our generation, or will we find those who can lead us with full conviction, those whose hearts are set on reestablishing the conditions necessary for innocence to take root once again on our beautiful planet? Those filled with passionate intensity will seek to convince you that you must fight fire with fire. While I have no doubt that wars, crusades and revolutions have resulted in the world that we now have, I have to wonder if the world we now have is closer or farther from the state of perfection to which we, as a race, aspire.
Gregory Hake 
That line from Yeats took me a long time to understand. What helped me was the progression of people’s reactions to things in our current times. It seems the most moderate voices are those that stay silent, and the extreme viewpoints get the airtime by virtue of their volume. We need some leadership in the world, and the only one we can control is ourselves. Right now I think many of us cannot hear our own falconer, but that doesn’t mean he has stopped calling for us to come back. We just need to get close enough to hear.
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“The falcon cannot hear the falconer”..,here is the beginning for each person. Listening to that voice within that constrains to order and blessing in every thought and action. This is the full conviction! Love your blog, it makes a difference. Thank you.
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These words remain usettling today because we can see something of the picture – a world out of range, largely, of the Falconer’s voice, increasing evidence of chaos, intensifying reactions on the one hand and a permeating malaise on the other.
For the center to hold, there must be those who hold center, who are passionate about the truth and unreactive to desperate exhortations. Sufficient mass at the center allows for a corresponding influence. Though it may be invisible for the most part, this is the force upon which resolution depends. Each of us may choose to play a vital part in this unfolding drama.
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Well voiced concerns – thanks Gregg.
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That poem is one of the most moving pieces of literature because it hits the cord of truth. Everyone is supposed to be a leader in their own life. Taking the responsibility to live a righteous existence letting their higher nature lead them. For sure there would be a process of restoring but we’d be on our way. I really don’t know how long the Earth will sustain us unless mankind makes serious changes. Thanks for the post.
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