Friday, January 22, 2016

Agents who play both sides

From childhood I've been an avid fan of fiction. And even more so of Science Fiction and Fantasy. From the easy and cosily read Famous Five and Hardy Boys to the refined approach of Sherlock Holmes to the bizarre yet majestic Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan, the intrigue and political play + the adventure took me to another world. And in these other worlds, there were dark men, no not Africans but psychologically dark with crooked desires and wants.

And no wonder for fiction sprung from ideas, most based on real life. I've been bumping into these dark agents now more often that I move about in a few circles. Personal agendas are a huge no no for me, I always take the stance of the common good. What is the common good? It is one that benefits the majority and more nature centric too (because nature is a part of the greater good for all things in life). A little less known fact, I am a founding member of Reforest Sri Lanka. Yes I am very biased for nature :) But in human matters, I am for the common and greater good.

The dark agents have I believe in general less common sense, a lot less empathy and emotional intelligence, are power hungry and/or money centric. They scheme playing both sides, that's the more intelligent ones and believe their actions right and inteprit survival of the fittest godly. They also sabotage work, try to politicize larger movements and put in place puppets and people to sway opinion. You wouldn't believe, most of the great actions in history are carried forward by a few brave, idealogical men and women. The circle around them should be up right and good. Most citizens do not go beyond a certain point to see justice done. Isn't it time you all woke up. Hell I need to wake up more. Just be wary of these dark agents who play both sides and make decisions with people whom you can trust.

05 stages of distrust

1. Doubt: A slight feeling that someone is not what they tell they are to be. Some pieces in the puzzle that don't fit. In a movement, it is usually strangers who meet first with a purported common goal so you still cant ask around or confirm/ remove

2. Suspicion: Some doubts are confirmed. You see a pattern of actions that are leading to suspicion and your mind accedes there is serious cause for concern. You begin to look for ways of alleviating the situation. In a movement, it could be how to compartmentalize damage etc.

3. Anxiety: Your suspicions confirmed, you feel disgusted. You are physically feeling the build up of anxiety as it makes you angry, worried. In a movement, if you don't have a faithful group to relate these issues, serious damage is at hand.

4. Fear: After continued suspicions and continued anxiety build up, finally you give into fear. Fear for your own safety and others too. Sleeplessness, despair settle in. In a movement at this stage you might start to look for ways out, to stay silent and be more self concerned than about the goals.

5. Self-Protection: Finally you try to protect your self emotionally and even physically. You start to build up emotional walls against the persons and try to stop thinking about them. In a movement, at this point you might try to remove your self from it and or distance from the person/ movement.

You can easily see, Sri Lankan politicians are usually agents. They would tell you one thing, go to parliament and do something completely different.

These stages are common in many environments. Even a small company project team can go through this. But in a movement that counts on individuals with no budgets to speak of and sheer determination, it can be deadly to it. I hope I never have to go though all the above stages in our forthcoming work.

Understanding psychology is important to find out how best to survive the human condition, about how to make projects successful and attain goals. So I thought of coining this piece in the morning, and I hope to write about how to protect oneself and a movement against these agents in an upcoming post.

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