THE LEADERSHIP ISSUE: VOLUME 8, ISSUE 16
THE DECAY OF LEADERSHIP
by Malik Isasis























In December circa 1994, I received a book entitled, “Transformation: Understanding the Three Levels of Masculine Consciousness” as a Christmas gift. Robert A. Johnson, a Jugian Analyst wrote the book. I received the book from my then, girlfriend’s, friend, Stacey.

Stacey wrote on the inside, “I see you’re so fascinated by the workings of the female; I am happy to enlighten you in the ways of men, and maybe in turn you can enlighten me.” I was twenty-two years old at the time, and didn’t know my ass from my elbows. As a matter fact, I put the book away, like most people who receive books as gifts. It wasn’t until 2001, when I was cleaning out a cabinet and found the book again and read the inscription by Stacey, that I decided to sit down and read the book from cover-to-cover. Stacey’s inscription made more sense to me with a few more years under my belt. She was also twenty-two; apparently, women do mature quickly than men.

Although the author Robert A. Johnson comes from a Caucasian, Western male perspective with Freudian roots that are naturally biased toward people of color and women, there is still great insight that can be gleaned from his writings, especially for those of us living in Western societies.

Johnson is much better at articulating his ideas than I, so I will quote the intro at length:

"Tradition indicates that three levels of consciousness are available to us: simple consciousness, not often seen in our modern technological world; complex consciousness, the usual state of educated Western man; and an enlightened state of consciousness, known only to a very few individuals, which is the culmination of human evolution and can be attained only by highly motivated people after much work and training" (Johnson 3).

To illustrate his point, Johnson uses three literary characters to represent the three-levels of consciousness in the book. Don Quixote, “a near-perfect representation of the simple peasant man”(Johnson 15), Don Quixote falls under the simple consciousness due to his abundance of optimism and ability to find something to live for; Hamlet, “a man of tragedy, he who makes chaos and failure of everything he touches (Johnson 35). Hamlet falls under the complex consciousness. The author tells us “most people today are Hamlets, caught in that dry place between Don Quixote. Faust, who rounds out the three literary characters, represents the enlightened state of consciousness. “Hamlet’s basic error was his failure to incorporate his shadow or dark side into his working life (Johnson 52). Faust, a servant of God, an intelligent man, has reached all the pinnacles of success, but has found himself alone, hopeless and miserable—so miserable in fact, that he is on the verge of suicide. To add to his problems God and the devil has placed a wager on whether or not he can be diverted from the path “that is true and fit” (Johnson 53). Through conversations with the devil, Faust is able to find his way, by adopting a higher level of consciousness.

"It is a compliment of the highest order when a man finds that he cannot go farther and that his life is an irredeemable tragedy. His ego consciousness is stalemated, and this stalemate is the only medicine that will drive him out of the Hamlet tragedy and inspire him into a new consciousness. A fault of this magnitude cannot be repaired, but can be healed only by finding a whole new level of consciousness from which to function" (Johnson 55).

Johnson throughout the book uses these characters to go back and forth to illustrate the emotional work, self-actualization and maturity that are needed to grow through the three levels of consciousness. I am in complete agreement with Johnson that most of us will never make it past Hamlet or the complex consciousness. We are too consumed in anxiety, pain and hopelessness. This level of chaos becomes our identity and self worth. We are too distracted by our own genius to achieve the discipline it would take to achieve the third level of consciousness, that is, the enlighten state of consciousness.

In 2003 I attended a lecture by Princeton Professor, Cornell West. West said something profound. He said that we no longer have leaders who would die for us. Leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Ghandi, Malcom X, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa who would not only die for their cause but would die for their people. These people are an example of leaders who were able to transcend to the next level of consciousness, the enlighten state of consciousness. Today our leaders lack sacrifice, they much prefer that others sacrifice for their political gain. It is personal gain over political responsibility.

“The Decay of Leadership” I suppose is a misnomer. The world has always been governed by Hamlets, with a hand full of Fausts in the populace appearing through out history to make significant changes in social movements. We don’t expect much from the people we elect, and they in turn don’t expect much from us. It is not a decay of leadership. Our leadership is a symptom of our failure, our lack of critical thinking, our ability to be easily frightened, easily manipulated and managed by superficial distractions, and easily misinformed. Or maybe it is us who are selfish. We are who we elect, right?

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