“We have been taught to live in fear”
On pages 18 and 19 in his best-seller “Conversations with God (Book 1)” Neale Donald Walsch writes these profound words, and we have used them on our Programs to explain why human behaviours are so negative and so damaging to other humans and to our planet.
“Every action taken by human beings is based on love or fear, not simply those dealing with relationships. Decisions affecting business, industry, politics, religion, the education of your young, the social agenda of your nations, the economic goals of your society, choices involving war, peace, attack, defence, aggression, submission; determinations to covet or give away, to save or to share, to unite or to divide – every single free choice you ever undertake arises out of one of the only two possible thoughts there are: a thought of love or a thought of fear.”
He goes on “Every human thought, word, or deed is based in one emotion or the other. You have no choice about this, because there is nothing else from which to choose. But you have free choice about which of these to select.”
The author asks the question:
“You make it sound so easy, and yet in the moment of decision fear wins more often than not. Why is that?”
The response is: “You have been taught to live in fear. You have been told about the survival of the fittest and the victory of the strongest and the success of the cleverest. Precious little is said about the glory of the most loving. And so you strive to be the fittest, the strongest, the cleverest – in one way or another – and if you see yourself as something less than this in any situation, you fear loss, for you have been told that to be less is to lose.
And so of course you choose the action fear sponsors, for that is what you have been taught. Yet I teach you this: when you choose the action love sponsors, then will you do more than survive, then will you do more than win, then will you do more than succeed. Then will you experience the full glory of Who You Really Are, and who you can be.”
In our language at Learning To Lead we say that we have been taught to play the Power Game and we play it at the expense of the Energy Game. But because, as Sir Isaac Newton explained, every force generates an equal and opposite force, the Power Game is destructive and it hurts. It destroys human energy and human energy is the key determinant of all human outcomes. Highly energised individuals and teams outperform their low energy equivalents. Highly powered individuals and teams get things done quickly, but at an awful cost to human relationships and our planet.
As a younger man I learned the Power Game quickly and used it. And for a while it worked. Then I had to unlearn it and find another way. My energy and the energy of those around me became a gentler but far more effective and exciting avenue to pursue. Now I have two real choices. Both work, but have different cost. It isn’t easy, but finding balance makes life an exciting challenge.
