Tim Macartney - Finding Earth, Finding Soul: The Invisible Path to Authentic Leadership

This book is about journey getting lost and finding a way. It is also about waking up to life. It is about self-responsibility, inspiration, and leadership. It is, in effect, about healing.

If, in whatever capacity we exert influence, we as a people were to stand up now, and having searched in our hearts for courage, choose to make a stand and say No more.

If we were to accept our own culpability, yet not be shamed by it, rather allowing it to fuel our determination, and become involved in the shaping of our future.

If we were to put aside the saddening weariness of standing on the sidelines and understand that the earth calls us to action.

If we could understand that we are all aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, to each other that the children are all our children.

If we were to accept the fact that no-one is going to lead us away from the gathering storm but that we have to, all of us, each single one, become the leader and walk towards the storm, trusting that others will follow.

If we can bring everything that is most beautiful and most powerful in ourselves and offer this as our contribution.

If, with the exigencies of our work, we could yet assert that nothing is worth the betrayal of our dreams, our spiritual necessity to find meaning, learn and grow.

If we can do this and we can if we choose then this period of human history will be the time that humanity chooses to honour the gift of life and come of age, and it will be a time of great celebration.

There are things worth fighting for, and one of them is the knowledge that in the time that we had, we tasted life as fully as our talents, our imagination, and our circumstances allowed. To know that we played it safe, wasted it, threw it away, or compromised our deeper intention, is to invite grief. There is nothing boring about life, and there is no such thing as a boring person who is walking their life with courage and energy. Boredom is reserved for those of us who are failing ourselves by not applying whatever energy or resolve is needed to locate our path and then step onto it.

My hope is that this book will be read by business leaders and environmental activists, by mothers working at home and members of parliament, by the unemployed and the over-employed, by the elderly and the forever young. For we are one people and we have to find ourselves again in order that we might find each other.

Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

Native American proverb

I have a foot in two worlds. There have been times when these two worlds have been at war with each other. One part of me turns always to the mystery of living, pauses in mid-breath, and stares awed, shocked at the beauty of earth, water, air and fire. Another part loves the business of business, winning through, communicating, making deals, striving to deliver results, and celebrating them. Of course, intrinsically the two worlds do not have to be in conflict, but in my case they were. Looking back, I cannot see how it might have been otherwise. I am capable of being immensely stubborn, even in the face of overwhelming evidence suggesting that a change in course might serve me and others well. Because of this I have sometimes found myself penned in a cage of my own making and incurring rather more pain, discomfort, and distress than the situation called for. The notion of making a mistake once and then never repeating the error is incomprehensible to me. On most occasions I have preferred to resemble the motion of a fence post rammer. This is a large and heavy tool that is shaped like a drainpipe, closed at one end, and with two handles on either side. The fence post is set in position and the rammer placed like a sleeve over the top. You can then pound the stake by repeatedly lifting the rammer and heaving downwards. Very satisfying for the rammer, less so for the stake, especially if as a tree you dreamed of being the mast on a ship, or a nicely turned doorknob. The two worlds stand together like neighbours conversing over the garden fence, posturing, dropping names, uneasy and yet hopeful of friendship. When I look back I see how the dilemma described by these two worlds the meaning of the symbols that each represents within me has reverberated throughout my childhood and adult life. Only recently has it fully made sense, and even so it is a layered enquiry that leads me deeper as I dare to question more.