The Charismatic Leader

[Trance Research]

Charisma is also a form of trance. It is the kind of trance which
sweeps YOU into a trance.

You might have met a charismatic person sometime in your life. What
was it that made them charismatic?

[weaver]

I find charisma plays a big part in trance, and other invitations to
engage with the sacred. I wasn't understanding the impact I had on
others, why they were seeing me and the work I did as they did, until
I accepted charisma was often a part of what was going on. I don't
believe everyone is comfortable encountering the sacred or their own
higher self without having a human face to put with it, or to connect
with, initially (and sometimes, endlessly). I think that's where
religious and spiritual leaders go astray - they begin to believe
their face IS the face of the sacred, instead of an intermediate step
in people reaching for the sacred. I think charisma is a two-edged
sword - first, in involves a lot of projection, and the mystery around
it can't be sustained if you interact authentically with others. So
the choice is: keep the charisma, and keep my distance. Or be
authentic, and let that mask fall when it's ready to fall.

So I've chosen to let charisma be a part of the process that draws
people into the sacred, and maybe lets them feel safe, feel the sacred
is more human, for the time that they need that. And I'm willing to be
what disappoints them when that mask falls - even though it was never
really a mask I put on - I'm fully aware the most charismatic
individual in the world isn't as charismatic, ultimately, as the
sacred is, and that's just the way I think it should be. So I'm happy
when the mask falls away and people begin to have a more authentic
personal relationship with their own divine self, without me being so
much a part of the formula.

But even for those who don't need that human face for the sacred, I do
use charisma a great deal, in trance. Ultimately, for me, trance is
seductive. I seduce them into stepping into growth and risk, and
charisma always plays a part in that (that isn't true of all the
trance facilitators I've worked with, but it's true for me).

[Trance Research]

A big part of charisma is trance. Actually, according to the model,
charisma is a powerful combination of hypnotic and addictive types of
trances.
There can be multiple versions of hypnotic and addictive types of
trances which
makes the charismatic trance extremely powerful and compelling. When
there is
a spiritual basis or at least altuistic and non-abusive basic for the
charismatic
trance, people can find themselves getting quite involved with the
charismatic
leader, and doing things or believing things that they never would
consider
earlier.

Much of charisma does involve projection and there is also not a
little self-delusion involved
in most charismatic encounters because in a charismatic trance the
same rules
we might use for knowing what 'reality' is, changes. We become open
to new
possibilities, the potential of new realities, the possibility of
radical changes to
our 'reality'. This can be intensely inspiring to many people and
fires up
'hope' and 'dream' to an extreme extent.

One delusion which is dangerous is the idea that a person or a face or
even
a religious entity is uniquely bound up in this form of trance. It's
not. It comes
with the nature of charismatic trance. So, for example, Obama -- as
charismatic
as he is -- is not uniquely bound up with the ideas which are
producing feelings
of 'hope' in this political climate. One hopes that Obama does not
start to
believe that he is somehow a 'savior'. This mistake, this delusion,
has been
made many times before and has resulted in human tragedy.

The goal of the Trance Institute is to expose how trance works so that
we do
not get misled into making these common errors.