Monday, January 19, 2009

The Presidency of Barack Obama and the King Archetype.


The Presidency of Barack Obama and the King Archetype.
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In the midst of the most serious challenges the United States faces in many decades, there is with the inauguration of our 44th president a feeling of hope, possibility and a sense of a coming together that has not been present in many decades.

The following reflections, based on a psycho-spiritual perspective, are an attempt to provide insights about the role of the president that Barack Obama is stepping into.
I will base my reflections on the work of the Swiss Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung who discovered the collective level of modern psychology and formulated
some of his theories around the concept of ‘archetypes’.

The term ‘Archetype’ can be understood as ‘inherited unconscious ideas or images that are present in our psyche.’
There are many primordial images or archetypes in our inner psyche, starting with the ‘Great Father and the Great Mother archetypes, the Child archetype, and then more specific ones like the ‘Lover’, ‘Magician’, ‘Warrior’, ‘Priest/Priestess’, ‘Wise Woman/Man’ archetypes and so on. Every archetype has great gifts and also a shadow side to it.
From the theory of archetypes looked at, every human being is an assembly of archetypes. All our basic roles, father/mother, child, leader, teacher, care giver, minister, entertainer and so on, are related to inner ‘prototypes’ or an inner image.
The level of access and expression of various archetypes varies from person to person.
For instance you may be a mother, yet larger than that is the impersonal ‘Mother’ Archetype representing the qualities of ‘mothering’ in its full power and breath.
Different mothers tap into the impersonal Mother archetype to different degrees and to different aspects of it.
Some are very mothering, others struggle, and others are impacted by the shadow side of the Mother Archetype, and behave overprotecting or smothering.

Now, I like to apply this model to the Presidency:
It is helpful to quickly look back to the founding of this country. Although this nation was founded in rebellion towards the British Empire and its King, the role of the president is quite closely modeled on a King in traditional monarchies.
In contrast, the democracies of Italy or Germany and the Scandinavian countries have a weakened ‘King’. The Chancellor, or Prime Minister is a ‘mini king’ yet doesn’t have the political and archetypical powers that the American Constitution gave to the president, which are as close to the role of a ‘King’ as a democracy allows.
Somehow, our founding fathers modeled the position of the Presidency on the ‘King Archetype’.
Yet not every man elected to the presidency brings the same amount of inner connection to the true qualities of a King Archetype.
Looking at George W. Bush, from an archetypical model, one can say that he is actually more connected to the ‘Warrior’ Archetype. The theme of his speeches, including the closing comments of his presidency, were filled with images of being under threat, of fear of getting attacked, of protecting and attacking, simply because that is the primary lens through which he mostly looks at life.
What does a ‘Warrior’ need to be a warrior – he needs war, otherwise he can’t lead.
As simple as this may sound, the power of the archetypical energies are very profound and run us on an unconscious level.

Below are some descriptions I found ‘googling’ about the King Archetype in organizations.
I marked with italic qualities of the King Archetype that I have seen coming thru Obama.

Also note that the description starts with the word “Ideally”:

“Ideally, the leader holding the energy of the King is noble. He conducts his kingdom, realm, or organization by the highest ethical standards. He is magnanimous, that is, he exhibits greatness of mind and heart, with elevation and dignity of the soul. He treats friend and foe with the same lofty generosity. He is concerned for the welfare of all those below him. Talented subordinates do not threaten him. His main concern and his main question are with service: how can he best serve his people and all the lives of others impacted by the organization for which he provides leadership? The healthy King leader is a model of responsibility. He always considers himself one hundred percent responsible for the success or failure of the organization. He keeps the big picture before everyone's mind, rather than sweating the small stuff. The King leader represents stability. He is neither fickle nor rigid, but has a vision for his realm (organization/country) and relentlessly pursues it. He gives the people working in, and touched by, the organization a sense of being grounded in the real world. There is an evenness and firmness to his mind, a calm temperament that is not easily elated or depressed. The King leader rules with justice and fairness. The weak and the strong in the organization are given equal consideration by the King. He does not play favorites. Therefore, everyone in his realm feels protected and secure. The King is realistic about the social and economic pressures faced by the lowliest persons touched by his organization, and therefore feels compassion towards them.
As the term “ideally” indicates, no human being can fully fulfill the description above, because in this realm here, ‘nobody is perfect’. And those who are the most enlightened and awakened beings are usually not drawn into politics.
Yet it is quite amazing to see that quite a few attributes that Obama has shown so far, fit the descriptions above.
This indicates to me that the King Archetype is remarkable accessible to him or maybe even more accurate to write, is coming thru him in words and actions.

It is important to also remember that every Archetype has a ‘shadow side’, like everything in life, the Yin – Yang principle applies in this dualistic world.

The dark side of the King Archetype is the ‘Tyrant King’
“The Tyrant leader on the other hand is fearful and suspicious. He feels he must treat his subordinates in a condescending way, that is, he must constantly put them down, and rule by fear rather than love. He is disordered and uncentered. His priorities center around himself and his own prosperity, not that of the organization. He is threatened by the power of others.The Tyrant leader is interested mainly in self-aggrandizement and so is easily slighted by petty matters. What he really wants is adoration and worship by his subjects. He is ruthless and loves to intimidate others. He ignores blatant injustices in his realm, or justifies injustice through twisted thinking. Rather than exhibiting balanced control of his realm, he is over-controlling and authoritarian.
The healthy King is the servant of the King archetype and therefore keeps a proper balance between being possessed or dispossessed by it. The Tyrant is possessed by the King archetype and therefore thinks he is the King archetype rather than its servant.”

This is the root of the saying, “power corrupts”, because it activates the ‘Tyrant’ in the subconscious.
This is what every great leader and the people around him, us, have to watch out for and to remind them that they are in their position to serve something bigger then themselves.

Lastly one more quote from Wikipedia about the King
Archetype:

“So humans need a symbol of this collective spirit, this miracle of collective effort. A monarch is such a symbol. The king or queen fulfill such a role. They remind us of something of utmost importance. They remind us of our collective power, our ability to create and survive through cooperation.”

This is what Barack Obama can tap into:
As the holder of the presidency, he can use the power of the King Archetype to remind us of our collective power, of our ability to create and survive through cooperation.

I want to end with reminding myself to watch out NOT to make Barack Obama my new savior, the messiah of our age. This is the greatest disservice we can offer him.
It is important to look at our projections onto him – and very likely there might be aspects of the father figure we always wanted and never had or the parent who will take care of us.
He will have his wins and losses, and there will be mistakes and ‘blindspots’.

YET, from my perspective, there is truly reason for hope, because we have elected a man to the highest office, who is actually suited for this most difficult job on the planet.
The whole world watches this transition, because in people’s psyche they know, that the person elected to the American President embodies the country.
Our planet, this precious blue pearl, needs more then ever that the leader of the still most powerful country, embodies the benevolent aspect of the ‘King Archetype’.

I like to end with a global version of the usual ending of the speech of the presidents:
“May the Great Spirit bless Barack Obama and his government, the people of the United States and the Nations of the world.”

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Michael, for your beautiful analysis and prayer for the future of our country and the world. It is a joy to be alive and to share it with you. May we all be free.

    Michael Lucy

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