The Circle Manifesto

Once, on the Isle of Crete, there lived a king named Minos. He was one of Zeus’ grand sons. Minos was so reckless that Zeus cursed him, which lasted several years. Any woman who slept with him was bound to die.

Eventually, he settled down and got married. He was greedy for power. Minos prayed to Poseidon, god of the oceans, for a bull which he would sacrifice. This would prove to the people that he had the god’s ear and therefore was a powerful man fit to be king.

After praying, a beautiful white bull rose up from the ocean. But Minos became so attached to this gift that he sacrificed another bull instead.

Now, the ocean’s tides and currents flow around the world in great movements that connect to each other. Poseidon certainly is a patriarchic figure, part of the Zeus hierarchy. Yet he works with nature and the circle.

I’m vastly abbreviating this great myth by taking some poetic license and leaving out many important details to focus on one main question. What happens when you make an agreement with the circle and greed gets the best of you because you want to use its power to strengthen your pyramid? The result of this is illustrated in the myth of King Minos.

Minos’ Queen finds the bull quite attractive. Bull and Queen go out to dinner. He likes cheap house red, like a two buck Chuck. She prefers a white Boudreaux, twenty-five dollars a glass. They eat some crab together and she invites him into her place. Anticipating a juicy evening, she had employed her trusty craftsman, Daedalus, to build her a cow outfit with a trap door in a strategic place. Bull and woman go to the bedroom. Woman is dressed in leather, like a cow. They some pretty exciting, kinky sex which is actually slotted for an HBO episode coming out next fall .

Because every sperm was sacred even in ancient times, and abortions was prohibited by the Roman senate, a baby came out screaming. However, this baby had a bull’s head.

This is not the sort of child Minos is proud of. He wants to send him to school, but the special education teachers are flabbergasted. Minos has Daedalus build a great mansion with an ocean view in Newport, RI. It has so many passageways that no one could easily find their way in or out. In the center of the labyrinth he placed his son who grew into a monster.

The Minotaur had significant dietary restrictions. He fed on young men. Minos had to devote his fleet of yacht to bring these unfortunate lads back from Athens, which as we know, is a long ocean journey from New Port.

It takes a lot of resources to feed this monster. The country has to go to war for it. The war is costly. Athens is a member of NATO, after all.

What do the young men symbolize? Perhaps future possibilities, the life giving, spirit carrying element that breaks down rigid structures. The young men bring vision, idealism and new possibilities. Without this energy, an old man can become a rigid, crusty shell.

When Minos refused to sacrifice the bull, his actions created a monster that ate up all his youthful energy. In real life, this means he is an embittered old man who is wealthy but has no real meaningful connection to life. He is bound by time. His element is lead. His access to spirit dies.

Tragically, he represents to others from the outside, the successful, self made man who has everything. In reality, he drinks his first scotch before 11am and has no hobbies other than a crappy golf game.

What our soul is attracted to determines our destiny. In the case of Minos, it was power. The pyramid over thousand of years has become so internalized that we have enslaved ourselves by adopting its objective. Yet we kept our power by giving it away.

Every time a person interacts with you, to some degree or another, they are a gift coming from the sea. Are you going to treat them like a commodity or like a divine energy? The sacrifice is to give them fully what they have asked for on the alter of integrity, which is based on the principal of fair and equitable exchange. If you accumulate the energy without passing it along, it can easily become a disease.

In our business, for example, Helen does not do custom work, but a friend approached and asked her to make a necklace out of a bear claw for her boyfriend. Helen made this beautiful piece setting it with silver and putting a turquoise cabochon on it as well. As is the case, she charged about a quarter of what she would charge because she considered this type of work to be a talisman.

However, the woman, like Minos, kept it for herself. Helen would never do work for this person again. She lost our respect and some of her power which is based on integrity. This type of disconnect is pervasive.

I mentioned that conference on alternative business practices. I knew several people who worked for that company. They believed strongly in the companies’ mission, but they were ill treated. Many attendees in the conference expressed dismay that the founder of the conference didn’t walk his talk. This type of disconnect happens all the time in life, business and politics. It is symptomatic of how deeply our cultural values are fragmented from our personal beliefs.

Working with the circle demands a completely different level of responsibility. You make an agreement between you and the circle. This may seem like a joke, but it is not. The circle is like the bull which is gifted by the gods. The sacrifice is another way of understanding that you have to give up this divine energy in order to get it back. It is a vortex based on giving and receiving. Our success to a large degree depends upon how much support we get from “out there.” Hard work brings its own luck, but support comes in mysterious ways.

Now, at this point it is easy to pass judgment and say, Bad Zeus! Or, Bad Minos. But remember, even Zeus is part of the circle. The task of the Circle Manifesto is to propose structural models that are successful in the market place. The best way to teach the circle is to demonstrate through concrete actions. You have to integrate it. You have to walk your talk.

Excerpted from The Circle Manifesto™, © 2007 - a work in progress. Sign up here if you would like to get advanced notice of its publication and receive a signed copy of the book.