So Elon Musk has become an alt-right Icon.
“you know sometimes words have two meanings” Led Zeppelin.
Currently, we evaluate everything in a linear “up/down” fashion –we rise in status; we climb the ladder to success; we ascend Jacob’s ladder to heaven. When Abraham Maslow created his hierarchy of needs he placed “self-actualisation” at the very top of the pyramid.
Going up/being in control is “good”. Going down/being out of control is “bad”.
We fall into sin, fall off the wagon, descend to hell. When we fall in love we’re out of control, and if the love is unrequited, it feels like hell.
So it’s obvious that we would think self-actualisation (being at the top of Maslow’s pyramid) is a very good thing indeed – almost saintly. However in terms of the definition, Elon Musk is a self-actualised man. He’s “fulfilled and doing all that he’s capable of”. He’s definitely smashing his goals and achieving his potential. Unfortunately, he’s far from spiritual (which is what Maslow had in mind).
We also know that many far-right Christians aren’t going to heaven any time soon. The steps they’re climbing are to hierarchy not heaven, which is a rigid, blinkered, joyless way to live. Joy that is restricted to climbing and winning has a very short shelf life. A short life on a shelf.
Perhaps instead of climbing and winning, we could change the game to expanding and collaborating.
People are now referring to Elon Musk as an alt-right Icon. “Icon” used to mean “worthy of veneration” as in a devotional or religious work of art.
In the same vein, awesome used to mean inspirational, reverential, or inspiring of wonder and beauty. These days we use it to describe doughnuts or Elon’s latest flame thrower.
Perhaps we need to completely restructure what it means to be good/bad or left/right because these old definitions now lack meaning. Liberals have become rigid and conservative. Conservatives have become reckless with liberation.
We no longer fit so easily into these silos of duality. And while we’re at it what about masculine/feminine. Both far-right and far-left are becoming deranged in their determination to confine masculine and feminine energy into labeled containers, as if what’s on the surface (or how things appear on the shelf) is all that matters.
By focussing on gender, we’re missing out on all the creativity and flow that happens when we mix the two energies together.
If we go back to ancient Greece thousands of years ago, a male and a female God competed for who should rule the capital city of Attica. Each God created a gift to impress the people. Poseidon (God of the Sea) created a horse (perhaps inspired by the white horses of foam that crested his waves) Athena (Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare) created the olive tree (which produced olives, oil, and firewood). The people chose the practical gift over the beautiful one and renamed the city Athens in her honour.
What’s interesting is that Poseidon had a male gender but a feminine energy (wild, free emotions, storms, serenity, exquisite beauty; Athena had a female gender but a masculine energy (analytical thinking, logic, strategy, relentless drive for war).
The crowning glory of the Acropolis is the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena. Inside the temple, there was originally an enormous (40ft high) wood and gold statue of Athena in full battle armour.
Once the Christians took over, from the pagans, the statue was removed and replaced by one of the Virgin Mary, an Icon, veiled in blue, looking docile and long-suffering. This sent the message that women need to be subservient, compliant, and chaste if they want to have a minor role in the hierarchy of male Gods (father, son, and holy spirit represented by a male dove).
Whether it’s Elon, unhinged with Zeus-like power, or the Virgin, full of compassion yet powerless, Icons have lost their significance and meaning.
It’s time to end the gender war and start a conversation about merging energy. This would allow us to think wisely (solve complex problems); feel creatively (bring more beauty, joy, and humour into the world) and act in Flow (tap into the magic that arises when both sides harmonise within us).
When we animate things with this kind of creativity, our projects come alive. We no longer have to ask what to do, how to climb, or what the world needs because as Howard Thurman said “What the world needs are people who have come alive”.
If you’re ready to feel alive again, join me in Greece this May 21st-28th.