It’s good to be king in a stable world. But stability is an illusion.
When the people kings are leading are sheeplike it’s easy to lead. It’s easy to get those people to do what the king wants. This is not a tribe. When kings rule with an iron fist and work to maintain the status quo everything seems good. People are managed, not lead. They are treated like serfs, because in fact that is what they are. In a kingdom or empire, people do the bidding of the king. They are not allowed to impart change, the rules are set by the king, and only the king can change them.
Or at least that is what most kings think. In fact it may seem impossible to make change happen, but it isn’t. The stable world that the king has set up is not real. It is only an illusion. As soon as people choose to not be lead by the king anymore, they can revolt. It may not be successful, at first anyway. But in time the revolt will lead to change. Today people can lead a revolt again kings without much effort really. When you find a some leverage, you will be able to shake the stability of the king.
Most kings are narcissistic, and they think that they can’t be removed from power. That may be true too. They may continue to be king, but they just won’t have any people. If your tired of feeling like a peasant, and are ready to change some things in your life, break free, find some people like you on the fringe, and go form your own tribe. And don’t be surprised when others start to follow. When a real leader shows up, the revolt will begin, and the king and his kingdom will come down. If you don’t believe me, just look at the number of revolutions that have taken place throughout history lead by people who were regarded as nothing more than riff-raff by kings. Enjoy your revolution.
On thing that tribes have to be conscious of are “off the shelf” beliefs. These are the ideas that other people have developed. Those ideas are not always bad. Many of the ideas that I am sharing here in this blog are inspired by others. The thing that we must be careful of is not allowing the tribe to shape those ideas. Sometimes certain tribes take a belief to an extreme and in turn it becomes for lack of a better word, a cult.
Anytime that we choose to follow a belief blindly, we are in danger of becoming a tribe that is dangerous. Hitler was a charismatic leader who had a great vision for his country. The only problem was his belief structure about how to achieve that greatness was filled with murderous intent. Many of his fellow countrymen grabbed ahold of his beliefs and followed blindly. As a result he lead his country on path of destruction that ultimately devoured him, his country, and ripped a hole in all the nations on earth. Unfortunately the legacy of his beliefs are still felt by many people on earth today.
While most tribes are not as destructive as the one that Hitler assembled, they can have a localized legacy of pain and emotional breakdown. I have seen many people who have been a part of churches, companies, and even families who have been left in the wake of a belief system that required its members to follow along blindly never questioning the belief structure.
A tribe that does not allow input from its members is always in danger of falling into this trap. When beliefs are too limiting or extremely exclusive they can be dangerous. This is not to say that beliefs aren’t limiting or exclusive, but tribes need to be aware of who they are excluding. If you have a tribe that says Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream is the best, that is their belief. That could exclude certain people who prefer Hagen-Daaz or Blue Bell, but it doesn’t exclude members based on what type of Ben and Jerry’s someone might like.
Be aware that just because you belong to tribe, doesn’t mean that you have to follow or lead blindly. You do have a mind and your opinions do matter. If they don’t, consider finding a new tribe or starting your own.
Jonathan Coleman
