I'm back from a week-long corporate training course. For most of my waking hours I studied leadership theory for mutual benefit of my employer and I, and - fitted into spare moments- Jung's writings mainly for my benefit.
It was an intense week during which I hardly stepped outside. This was not especially easy.
There were some shocking case studies highlighting some destructive and sometimes literally fatal management failures. The ability of important people to screw things up - all too often because of hubris - is alarming. For all the progress that is supposed to be happening, the record of spectacular failures does not seem to be improve.
As for psychology, I returned to the matter of the Shadow, that repository of suppressed negative traits and characteristics. It was an instructive study, leading me to think about the characteristics that I try to pretend don't exist - impatience being one. The thing is to accept this and work on it, for denial only gives it more power.
Then there are the elements that stand in opposition to an urban technical job - love of open spaces and an esoteric disposition being two. Again suppression is a mistake that leads only to frustration and stress. In turn that will drive career choices concerning where I live and what I do so that my link to the wide open spaces may be maintained and reinforced rather than wither under the pressure of commuting.
The eighty mile journey home took an hour and a half, which is fairly good for a crowded motorway (which is a type of road like an Interstate). Then I went to the barn because I really needed to after five days indoors.
For all that managment theory, the practical exercise of leadership with a horse was as instructive as ever. As usual I needed to be purposeful, observant, understanding, communicative, responsive and ready to praise. Working thoughtfully with a horse is a powerful exercise, and so rewarding.
One imagines that perhaps aspiring leaders should be introduced to horses. However it has taken me two decades to reach this point, whereas my employer would like me to be "trained" in a week.
This whole matter of finding instant "answers" is so typical nowadays. Well I suppose that those of us who take longer and delve deeper will be rewarded through enlightenment, and that in turn may yield other more material benefits. Ours seems like a hard road, long and tricky. Perhaps the reward comes through appreciation of the details along the way?
I remember so many details of the trails that I used to ride as a guide. Now it is the beauty and variety of those things that I remember, the challenges overcome, the fragments of history, the places where splendid views unfolded. That seems to exemplify the path to enlightenment with a little hindsight.
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