Interesting piece, Tony. And, by the way, "Happy New Year" all. I've been reading, but not posting for a little while. The article reminded me of an address given by Parker J. Palmer several years ago on leadership. I've tried to excerpt the key points, which means that this post is too long and perhaps a bit disjointed. Still I think there's some connections between Palmer's "shadows" and the "dark" tone of the Gehry article. Palmer sets his course this way: I'll give you a quick definition of a leader: a leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project on other people his or her shadow, or his or her light. A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to create the conditions under which other people must live and move and have their being m conditions that can either be as illuminating as heaven or as shadowy as hell. A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what's going on inside him or her self, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good. I want to look at the shadow side of leadership. In the literature on leadership there are so many pamphlets and books which seem to be about "the power of positive thinking." I am afraid that they may feed a common delusion among leaders that their efforts are always well-intended, their power always benign. I suggest that the challenge is to examine our consciousness for those ways in which we project more shadow than light. I'm not talking simply about the heads of nation states, i'm talking, for example, about a classroom teacher who has the power to create conditions under which young people must spend half of their waking hours, day in and day out, five days a week. Have you ever walked into a classroom in which the leader is projecting light? Have you ever walked into a classroom in which the leader is projecting a huge and ominous shadow? That's the question, that's the choice. --"Leading From Within", Parker J. Palmer. That same choice, I would say, is made by architects, landscape designers, nursing home attendants, lawyers, janitors, and taxi drivers. I'm not sure I like the parenting imageI don't think it is necessary to infantalize your client in order to lead the process. But then, "parents" are the archetypical leaders. Any time an "expert" is dealing with a client there is a leadership dynamic at work. And, according to Palmer, that would mean that the shadows within a particular leader are also at work. Palmer suggests that there are many shadows within us, and then focuses on 5 of them: 1. Insecurity-- identity determined by function rather than innate value of one's life: " I go around the country talking to people in higher education, and wherever I go I ask students, 'When was the last time that you were asked to relate your life story to the things you are studying?' They say, 'What? Our life story doesn't count here.' The whole deal in higher education is to replace your 'little' life story with the 'big' story. The whole deal in an expert-dominated, technocratic form of education is to devalue those little parochial stories on behalf of the 'true' one. Reflected in that strategy I see a kind of leadership which is so insecure about its own identity that it has to deprive other people of theirs. "I've talked with some nurses and doctors who say, "Think of what we do to patients in a hospital. Talk about depriving people of identity so that leaders can have more for themselves!" This kind of organizational culture comes out of a profound insecurity on the part of people in power." 2. The perception that the universe is essentially hostile to human interests and that life is fundamentally a battleground: "As I listen to everyday discourse, it is amazing to me how many battle images I hear as people go about the work of leadership. We talk about tactics and strategy, about using our "big guns," about "do or die," about wins and losses. The imagery here suggests that if we fail to be fiercely competitive, we're going to lose, because the basic structure of the universe is a vast combat. The tragedy of that inner shadow, that unexamined inner fear, is that it helps create situations where people actually have to live that way. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy." 3. Functional atheism--the belief that it all depends on me: "Functional atheism is an unconscious belief that leads to workaholic behavior, to burn-out, to stressed and strained and broken relationships, to unhealthy priorities. Functional atheism is the unexamined conviction within us that if anything decent is going to happen here, I am the one who needs to make it happen. Functional atheism is the reason why the average group (according to studies) can tolerate only 15 seconds of silence; people believe that if they are not making noise, nothing is happening! Functional atheism is an inner shadow of leaders that leads to dysfunctional behavior on every level of our lives." 4. Fear--many forms but Palmer singles out one as particularly damaging for leaders: "I think a lot of leaders become leaders because they have a life-long devotion to eliminating all remnants of chaos from the world. They're trying to order and organize things so thoroughly that the nasty stuff will never bubble up around us (such nasty stuff as dissent, innovation, challenge, change.) "ÂWhat we forget from our spiritual tradition is that God created out of chaos. Chaos is the pre-condition to creativity, and any organization (or any individual) that doesn't have an arena for creative chaos is already half dead. When a leader is so fearful of chaos as not to be able to protect and nurture that arena for other people, there is deep trouble." 5. Denial of death: "We live in a culture that just does not want to talk about things dying. You see this all the time in our institutional life. You see leaders all over the place demanding that they themselves, and the people who work for them, artificially maintain things that aren't alive any longer and maybe never have been. Projects and programs that should have been laid down ten years ago are still on the life-support system even though they've been in a coma for decades." Wellspring p.s. My dog, Winna, never barks.

My dog has many serious health issues, one of them being anorexia. After being at the ER for a week a few years ago he was extremely close to death, the Vet said let him have anything he wants as he will most likely die. He's alive and kicking. I did what the Vet said for a few years. Now I am feeding him some special very expensive food that his general Vet put him on. He has CHF and failing kidneys and this new food is supposed to help manage these conditions. He's happy as can be and always has been. He hasn't had any hair on his back for 8 years. Every Vet has tested him because they all have theories as to his hair loss, and thrown their hands up, and said who knows, but he's happy. His current Vet said he has an unstoppable will to live :) I love him, he's a wonderful little dog. The food costs $60 he doesn't love it, or hate it. If he's in a mood he will pass up ANY THING so his love it or leave it attitude is pretty normal for him.

AmigoneThis is not a play on words, but rather the family name for the business. In case it is hard to read, the name is "Amigone Funeral Home" Morbidly funny I know, but that is my sense of humor. :) Amigone ETA link

So sorry Always that you have been treated poorly by the other person. It is too bad that she continues to show her true nature in such an unflattering way. I would kill her with kindness. It is a wonderful way to confuse people I would say glowing things about her and say I'm sorry she feels that way but this this and this I like very much about her and I would let it get back to her. But I would not go back with her if she asked. I don't trust people like that but I just want them to wish they could be my friend again. It's a sly kind of revenge. So sorry that happened to your dogs sleeperblues. I honestly don't understand that kind of thinking I am looking after Dorothy the doodle right now and I can't imagine treating any dog other pet like that. She is a member of my family when she's here. She has a bed to sleep on right beside us like our other two dogs. Our cats sleep downstairs with the DS and DN. Dorothy is 7 this year and she has been coming to my house since she was 3 months old. What I do when I dog sit, cat sit or pet sit parrots etc is I take a daily picture and make a a short journal entry everyday. I then make a little book for the clients. I also send texts or emails of course but use other pictures for the texts. They seem to appreciate my efforts. People who have pet sitters could require something like a daily time and date stamped photographic update via email/text. It might curtail some of the shenanigans. I just do it because I actually enjoy the mini creative process. Letting people know their pets are healthy and happy makes me feel good too.