MY LIFE 4
SESSION FOUR — MAPPING MY LEGACY
This is a link to the ‘Principles’ tutorial video - ‘My Life - Session 4 - Principles.’
Alongside the Principes video, I have included the ‘Activation Narrative’ that is part of this session in the self-guided workbooks. The stories I tell aren’t comfortable, nor are they trauma porn. They are designed to elicit a specific response from the reader, tied to the topic our clients are working on in this session.
The Fourth Blue Rule:
“The capacity for compassion and empathy is what differentiates us from the other animals. Everyone needs a helping hand. From prisoners to corporate princes, we all have a shared humanity.”
― Robert (Sherpa) Millar
The prison school is in the heart of Landsberg am Lach’s historic prison. This was the prison where Adolf Hitler wrote Mein Kampf. Twenty years ago, I’d take a train from my home in Munich every two weeks on a Tuesday morning to the prison to lead a Bible Study for English-speaking inmates. I have had many rewarding, transformational, and even frightening experiences in my life, but the role of prison chaplain is one I still look back on and know is part of my legacy.
In that tiny classroom, I met Lucky, an African man in his early twenties. (I am well aware Africa is a continent, but Lucky deserves as much anonymity as I can give him.) So, an African man in his early twenties. Lucky had the scariest eyes I have ever seen. Now take a minute to remember the activation narratives from previous sessions and recall just how competitive a title like ‘scariest eyes' must be for someone with my lived experiences. Lucky had been forced to join a rebel force as a child soldier. If you don’t know what it means to become a child soldier in the late nineties, save yourself the nightmares, and trust me, it’s something you don’t want to know about. He survives the following years and then, finally, escapes to Europe, where he ends up in prison for a minor offense. Once he served his sentence, he would be deported back to his home country. He sat quietly and listened to the discussions, rarely adding his own thoughts. The best I could do for him was to make room for his silence and respect his need to process internally. I have no idea where Lucky is now, or what happened to him after his release.
Beside Lucky was a pedophile with the saddest eyes I have ever seen. That is all of the information I am willing to offer, for if Lucky deserves as much anonymity as I can afford him, then the man beside him deserves even more. The world is willing to make a little room for Lucky, not much, but a little, but the guy beside him was beyond the pale. He was a pariah in a room full of criminals. His story is more horrific than being a boy soldier, so I won’t repeat it here. It is strange how my willingness to make room for this man repels people who calmly listen to me talk about making room for terrorists and drug dealers. It wasn’t about converting them to my particular brand of mythology. My time at the prison was about realizing that we were the same. Broken people being broken together. This is the meaningful thing I expect to leave behind when I die. The thing my friends and family will speak about during my funeral. I am a humanitarian and have devoted my life to helping humanity climb a little further out of the evolutionary soup we call the human condition. When that part activates, my Adam persona shows up. Oddly, I have never had a crisis in this priority. Perhaps because so few people want to sit there?
In the next post, we'll explore the introduction to the paradox of Extrinsic/Intrinsic conflict in My Culture.
THIS IS NOT TRAINING. IT'S CALIBRATION.
Self-guided workbooks: $297 | Live coaching: $10,000 per series
They call me 'Sherpa' because I help people get to where they want to go. I can't promise you will have all your fingers and toes when you reach your summit. But you'll achieve it. If you're looking for easy, this isn't it. If you want transformation, start here: Sherpa Intro Tree — Bespoke Compass
— Robert (Sherpa) Millar | Bespoke Compass