Henry's Asylum

Shape Shifting

A pretty busy day at work.
Presenting a desirable image to those in upper management is always a humorous exercise. Take, for example, one of our senior quality engineers. He spends endless unpaid overtime hours drawing up various charts and reports on the finer aspects of our quality standings. Yet, he is the target of blatant derision and commands little respect from his seniors. I’m always amazed at the number of otherwise competent individuals who “miss the point” on a regular basis. It’s not how good you really are, it’s how you can manipulate your image that matters. A very similar concept was presented in the Carlos Castaneda books when the Yaqui “man of knowledge”, Don Juan, talked about the art of “Stalking”. Stalking is basically how we deal with our fellow humans. It’s not a deception, per se, but a shift in the way we touch upon the realities perceived by others. If you’ve ever noticed how one person may admire you and another may view you with contempt, even though they are in the same group and are presented with identical actions from you, then you may understand what I’m referring to. What most people don’t understand, however, is that the perceptions of others can be tailored to fit our current needs or desires. This amounts to a miniature version of a “universal image” that is projected to an entire group simultaneously. This is the goal of politicians and generals. But these are high profile people. In my opinion, the greatest accomplishment is to manipulate one’s image while remaining just out of reach and only making an appearance when it is needed or to facilitate a desired outcome.

posted by hbrennan @ 2:32 PM