Follow the Leader

Todd Hayen

Yet another quirk of human behaviour is this propensity to follow leaders without much scrutiny as to who that leader is. This is not only to be observed in following political leaders, but in infatuations with any sort of authority (doctors) or even celebrity.

This could be attributed to the loss of the true God figure in our current contemporary culture. When God was king He really was king, even over the earthly kings who had been appointed by genealogy. There was no way, at the time, to really understand what God could possibly BE so they made up stuff, starting with God being imagined as an old white-bearded man sitting on a throne. Positioned on a cloud no less.

Now, I am certain there were many that at the time saw this as a metaphor, but there were probably many more who saw it quite literally. The uneducated and less informed had to see things in material forms, it was just too much to assimilate (and I am not being fair to those “uneducated and uninformed” that actually COULD assimilate the true ineffable God).

So then there was God in heaven, the pope and The Universal Church on the ground, and then the kings and queens who were divinely appointed beneath the church (referring only to the Euro-Christian culture).

Certainly everyone who believed in this divine hierarchy knew it to be spiritual in nature and not solely in the material realm. Of course God could do supernatural things that did not follow the “rules” of the natural world. And it stands to reason during these earlier times, before the enlightenment at least, people didn’t really separate the material “cause and effect” world from the metaphysical, spiritual, world. They were one and the same (which it turns out, in my opinion, to be true).

So when materialist science came along, the mystery of God was abandoned. The cause and effect world was explainable without God, and voila, there you have it. God was thrown out with the bathwater. Little did they know. Well, “they” are still doing it to this day. When God, or God’s representative on earth, seems to disappear for a little bit of time, the mice come out to play, and among other things, build golden calves to dance around and party with.

In my view all of these false demiurges, Fauci, Big Pharma, Biden, Walensky, Schwab (and the other extra-terrestrial elites), amongst many others are golden calves.

One of my favourite Carl Jung quotes I have used before in my articles is:

The idea of an all-powerful divine Being is present everywhere, unconsciously if not consciously, because it is an archetype. There is in the psyche some superior power, and if it is not consciously a god, it is the “belly” at least, in St. Paul’s words. I therefore consider it wiser to acknowledge the idea of God consciously, for, if we do not, something else is made God, usually something quite inappropriate and stupid such as only an “enlightened” intellect could hatch forth.

I do think that Jung believed in God, but he believed in the power of all archetypes. God, in my view, is more than merely a human construct, but that is not the point of the article. We can stick with Jung’s quote and make this point that is apropos: Humans must fulfill the demand of the “all-powerful divine Being” archetype to be conscious as well as manifest.

This is why when Moses went up the mountain to hang out with God and bring down the Ten Commandments to the Children of Israel, those children became just that, children. They created the Golden Calf and projected their “God archetype” onto that form. God was no longer “visible” to them when God’s representative Moses wandered away for a few days.

Humans. What can I say?

Now, this is all a religious description of the reason for the human propensity to “follow the leader.” And it isn’t wholly accurate. There is a lot more to God and worshipping God than what I have presented here…of course…but this may shed a bit of light on this “human propensity” to be “led” and why we are seeing what we are seeing today.

Although even when God was very popular, people still had a tendency to fall on their knees to their human leaders, who were often their oppressors. Suffice it to say; when God is not present, it is a lot easier if you are a human to get other humans to worship you. Just as Jung says, “consider it wiser to acknowledge the idea of God consciously, for, if we do not, something else is made God, usually something quite inappropriate and stupid such as only an “enlightened” intellect could hatch forth.”

“Stupid” is the operative word here.

Now, of course needless to say, just because you believe in God doesn’t mean you are not immune from going gaga over some idiot human who thinks they can rule over you—or tell you what to do. Either a politician, or a movie star, you may still be susceptible to their charms. I just think it is less likely. Still, if psychology (and not theology) alone is considered here in analyzing this “follow the leader” inclination, we will not run out of explanations. People have always done this, in some way or another.

Going as far back as imaginable, there have always been chiefs, kings, rulers, Grand Poobahs or whatever form of leader and head honcho you want to describe. People have also always seemed to be enamoured with celebrity for whatever reason. Look at the Beatles sensation back in the 60’s for one irrational example, and of course many similar whacko obsessions with “stars” since then.

Sure, in these cases it could be just considered fun or at least interesting. But when that sort of blind obsession is not adolescently based, and projected at a person, or institution that has a bit more serious bent to it, you might have trouble (ya think?)

Whether you want to admit it or not, the blind obsession of pubescent girls with the likes of four young long-haired man/boys is psychologically made of the same stuff as a blind faith of the masses in a Fauci, or a Biden, or even a Trump. Sure, there is more “rational” stuff to hang your hat on in the latter examples, but it is the same stuff that makes people blind, arrogant, ignorant, and incapable of “thinking” through it.

For whatever reason, and I promise you I am not virtue signalling when I say this, but I have never been guilty of holding any other human being so far above ground that I can’t see their dirty feet. Even in my profession as a film composer in Hollywood, I never seemed to be insanely in awe of John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith, or the like. I knew they had talent far greater than mine, I knew they were exceptionally skilled, but I never felt they had something that other people less successful couldn’t have.

I was in awe of what they DID, but not necessarily in THEM.

Maybe I am just an arrogant ass. I don’t know. But this way of “being” for me is also applied to politics. I have admired certain people in the past who have obtained high office, but if something negative came along I had not realized about them, I was quick to turn. Now, I do not think I am special because of this, but I do wonder if I am in a minority. Please let me know how you feel reading this, and if this is similar to your own experience.

I do wonder what the world would be like if we were not so “celebrity” focused.

I don’t think it always was like this, particularly in politics. I do think there was a time when people really listened to politicians before passing a judgement on their ability to hold office. But this isn’t just about assessing a person’s abilities or talents, this is about people sitting on a pedestal where the people who put them there believe they are very unlikely to fall.

I am currently reading William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and it is quite fascinating to me how Hitler was so worshipped, not only by his personal entourage but also by the people of Germany at large. Even though most of those people were quite religious, they worshipped Hitler as if he was a God, or THE God. Why is that? And why do we see something close to this now with certain people?

Be aware, be clear, be insightful, be critical, be questioning, Be aware we all sit on the toilet from time to time—all of us. Let that picture sink in.

Todd Hayen is a registered psychotherapist practicing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He holds a PhD in depth psychotherapy and an MA in Consciousness Studies. He specializes in Jungian, archetypal, psychology. Todd also writes for his own substack, which you can read here