To explain this point, I will break this down in the most human of terms.
There seems to be two types of people in this world... one type being the leaders, and one being the followers.
Many of us as humans believe ourselves to be leaders, simply because our culture has told us that it is better to lead than to follow. This is the mark of a true follower, as leaders don’t have to believe, or question or doubt... they simply are.
The follower is someone who has great difficulty choosing a course without some sort of reference to what it’s moving towards. Most followers, only think of their individual needs, and not noticing that reason evades them.
The follower is limited in capacity to only being able to think about oneself, or at most, one other person, which is a defining point in most people. The exception is family, which is where the follower begins to lead a whole new line of followers, and is forced to have leadership traits whether it is their desire or not. family is also one of the things that drive followers into a fervor due to the emotional proximity of the selected few in question. When followers unite, they are what is called a mob, and when mobs form, there is what is called the 'mob mentality'. People will not listen, they invoke violence, they draft their loved ones, all to a cause that is gravitating people with the same emotional wavelength... and has almost always ended up in blood.
We, as 'civilized' society, all believe that we are good to each other, and in reality, most people are actually quite horrible to each other on a day to day basis. Most of the human race lands in the follower category, due to selfish desire, and the inability to think about more than the people inside their own reality. We choose not to realize our selfishness, because our own reality is the most right for each individual, and technically, no one knows whats the most or right or the most wrong for you... but you. Free will is a trip eh?
In essence this defines the follower quite properly. The true follower doesn’t think… they are polarized, and drawn in, by instinct, towards something or someone. They are constantly pursued by their primal instincts, and are quite often driven by them. True thought evades them, for their mind wraps around the center of their reality. When thought itself finds them… it is used only to amplify their gravity towards their prescribed center. Followers can be quite dangerous… when they coalesce on one subject, either real or fictitious, and come together as a full bodied unit. They can be the most powerful of forces, due to the sheer volume of them, and their lack of self control. It is much like a giant wave, which cannot stop, until it strikes the beach, rushes as far up on land as it can, and then begins a slow retreat back into the sea, as the energy itself has diminished.
The follower is the best of students, bar none. Once they find the teacher of similar polarization, they will absorb all things that are said by that person, true or false, and learn the teachers’ exact way of utilizing a specific kind of knowledge. They can be amazingly fast at the learning process, and very territorial of it as well. They will own the knowledge, and keep the practice of it very close to them, as well as protect it, lethally, if necessary. Followers are quite primal in their thoughts, as well as limited in their capacity of problem resolution. We as a species, are over populated with followers.. though that is one man's opinion.
Some people are quite happy being followers, and can stay consistent like this their entire lives. They enjoy that other people make their decisions for them, and that they themselves require little to no will in life in order to achieve their happiness. They are quite successfully in denial of their responsibility, and are quite accustomed to others doing it for them. They only need someone to show them a direction in which they can go, for indecision is a new, burgeoning lifestyle. Change, falls to the wayside, and a new direction is only poised, and unattended while they sit, and wait, for someone else to stand up and grasp it. Once grasped though, they will move behind this new idea, and gather their strength to become a number in a seemingly endless mass of power and movement. The follower is the might behind the idea, and the change that we speak about when we say ‘we need change’. It doesn’t matter if the leader changes the idea of the status quo, because if the follower is not inspired to follow that change, and because the follower IS the status quo due to the sheer volume of us, then the idea of change will wither and die. The follower is in dire need of the leader, as the leader is in dire need of the follower.
It is said that in order to be a great leader, one must first be a great follower. There are reasons for this, and I personally believe them to be true, I challenge you to find out why on your own… because no one can explain the concept better for you… than yourself.
If you have questions… I will be here.
