These are the representative voices that capture the spirits of every “Me” for the past three thousand years. Keep in mind that the twenty-year Upswing into a “Me” Zenith occurs only once every eighty years. You’ll notice that some “Me” Upswings are represented by an event that embodied the times, whereas others are marked by an individual life. If that chosen person enjoyed a lifespan that touched both sides of the Pendulum, the Zenith in question will be the one at which that person made their mark on the world.
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Figure 14.1 Values and beliefs in society during a “ME” cycle.
Not all the Zenith-beats are equally loud, but the rhythm of society’s heart remains constant just the same. We’ll begin as we did in the previous list with Solomon, who experienced both sides of the Pendulum in his lifespan of eighty years.
Figure 14.2 Values of “ME” Zenith when society takes a good thing too far.
| ZENITHS OF “ME” OVER THE LAST THREE THOUSAND YEARS | ME |
977 BCE: Solomon is King. And young (about thirty-four years old). And at the Zenith of a “Me.”
I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good” . . . I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly . . . I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.
897 BCE: King Ahab of Israel and Jezebel, his wife, desired the vineyard of Naboth, their neighbor. He refused to sell, so they had him killed. This is a very famous “Me” episode in the Bible (1 Kings 21). The Encyclopedia Americana lists this event as happening in 897 BCE, but many scholars list it a few years past this Zenith of “Me.”
The ends justify the means.
817 BCE: Jehu “drives like a maniac.” Joram, son of Ahab, is King of Israel. When Jehu decided to kill Joram, he thundered off in his chariot like a hero in an action film.
ME When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching, he called out, “I see some troops coming.”
“Get a horseman,” Joram ordered. “Send him to meet them and ask, ‘Do you come in peace?’”
The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’”
“What do you have to do with peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.”
The lookout reported, “The messenger has reached them, but he isn’t coming back.”
So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’”
Jehu replied, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”
The lookout reported, “He has reached them, but he isn’t coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a maniac.”
—2 Kings 9
ME Jehu shot Joram through the heart with an arrow. As he was leaving, Joram’s mother, Jezebel, shouts something insolent at Jehu from the window of a tower.
He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. “Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
—2 Kings 9
Other men walk, but I explode onto the scene. I am Jehu.
737 BCE: Isaiah became a prophet in Israel on the Upswing of this “Me” (about 742 BCE) and served as a guiding light in that nation for more than sixty years.
ME In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. . . . Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,“ Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
—Isaiah 6
Dynamic figures often emerge during a “Me.” Some of these are infamously bad, like Ahab and Jezebel, whereas others are heroic and good, like Isaiah.
Here am I; send me!
667 BCE: King Byzas of Megara (near Athens) founded Byzantium after asking the Oracle at Delphi where he should build his city. She told him to build it “opposite the blind.” Byzas had no idea what she meant, but when he sailed the Bosporus he suddenly understood: on the eastern shore was a Greek city, Chalcedon, whose founders had overlooked a superior location only 1.9 miles away. Byzas founded his city “opposite” Chalcedon on the western shore and named it Byzantium, after himself.1 The city was later renamed Constantinople and was, for a time, the imperial residence of Emperor Constantine. Then it was the capital of the Byzantine Empire (the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of late Antiquity and the Middle Ages) for more than a thousand years. Byzantium/Constantinople became Istanbul in 1930.
My dream and my destiny are to build a royal city.
577 BCE: The Circus Maximus in Rome (575 BCE) opened late during the rule of Tarquinius Priscus. The Circus Maximus was a legendary chariot-racing track, Rome’s original spectacle. According to Ab Urbe Condita Libri, or Chapters from the Foundation of the City, by the Roman historian Titus Livius (59 BCE–CE 17), horses and boxers from Etruria were the first to participate in the annual games that began at this time. The city was then known as Rumula (named after Romulus), but was the name later shortened to Rome.
A city? You say you’re going to build a city? I’ll show you a city.
497 BCE: Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis led an infant Rome to victory over the Latin League at the Battle of Lake Regillus (496 BCE). This is the beginning of the Roman legend of Castor and Pollux, the twins of the constellation Gemini, who, according to legend, assisted the Romans in the battle. Because one twin was mortal and the other immortal, Castor and Pollux became symbols of the idea that death and immortality are not opposites but rather twinned, thus leading to the definitive “Me” statement of every conqueror, every warrior.
To die with valor is to become immortal.
417 BCE: Socrates, now fifty-two years old and in his prime, openly objected to the democratic government of Athens. Plato, his star pupil, would later say that the only good government would be the rule of a Philosopher-King.
One man is wiser than a million men.
337 BCE: Alexander the Great assumed the throne of Macedonia (336 BCE) upon the murder of his father and quickly began his conquest of the world. When Alexander died in his early thirties, he left no strong government behind, so his largely unprotected empire became easy pickings for the ambitious leaders of Rome, a young city-state on the move.
The world needs a king—me.
CC Image courtesy of Andrew Dunn on Flickr
257 BC: The tribes of Rome reached their pinnacle of thirty-five during the Upswing of this “Me,” with each Tribe having its own tribunal to represent them in all civil, religious, and military affairs. Rome originally comprised just three tribes: the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres. But during a “Me” groups tend to splinter as opposed to coming together as they do in a “We.”
To hell with working together; I’m making sure my family comes out on top.
177 BCE: The Circus Maximus was rebuilt in marble three stories high (it was previously wooden) and spectacular gates are added. This ancient Roman chariot racing stadium was now 2,037 feet in length and 387 feet in width and could accommodate about 150,000 spectators. It shouted to the world,
Behold! And be amazed at the magnificence that is Rome.
97 BCE: Hillel the Elder—one of the most important figures in Jewish history, is associated with developing both the Mishnah and the Talmud, and is renowned within Judaism as a sage and scholar—has his Bar Mitzvah and soon began to make his mark on the world. Hillel understood the healthy aspects of “Me” and has been remembered for it for more than two thousand years. Two of his most famous sayings are:
If not now, when? and If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am for myself, what am “I”?
17 BCE: Caesar Augustus, previously known as Octavius, became the first emperor of Rome in 27 BCE, when the Pendulum was halfway to this Zenith. At the age of twenty-five, Tiberius was made “pontifex maximus,” the high priest of the religion of ancient Rome, just two years prior to the Zenith. He would be the second emperor of Rome thirty-one years later. According to Tacitus, Tiberius derided the Roman Senate as “men fit to be slaves.”
I am better than the best.
63 CE: Nero, perhaps the definitive, out-of-control “Me,” was then in full swing as emperor of Rome, having begun his reign in the middle of the Upswing of the “Me” in 54 CE. His reign is associated with tyranny, debauchery, and excess. Many believe Nero started the great fire of Rome in 64 CE in order to obtain just a small part of the land that he wanted. According to the writings of Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio, Nero was also known for having Christians burned in his garden at night for a source of light. Facing certain assassination, he committed suicide on June 9, 68 CE. Sounds a little like Adolph Hitler, doesn’t he?
You want to see crazy? I’ll show you crazy.
143 CE: No Strong “Me” leader emerges at this time. The current Roman emperor, Antoninus Pius, just two years prior to this “Me” Zenith, instituted the Puellae Faustinianae, a charitable foundation for daughters of the poorer people of Rome.
What!? A “We” leader at the Zenith of a “Me”? This will lead to disastrous consequences forty years later, at the Zenith of the “We” in 183.
You haven’t forgotten about Nero, have you?
CC Image courtesy of Bibi Saint-Pol on Flickr
223 CE: Emperor Elagabalus, just three years prior to the Zenith, announced that the Syrian sun god, El-Gabal, for whom he is priest, was the only true god. Soon thereafter his own Praetorian Guard murdered Elagabalus while he was in a latrine.
I am the spokesman for God.
303 CE: Emperor Galerius miraculously turned the tide of the war against Persia and defeated the king, Narseh, just six years prior to this Zenith. He then reconquered Mesopotamia. Full of “Me” at the Zenith, on February 24, 303, Galerius insisted that edicts of persecution be issued against the Christians. Galerius maintained this policy of repression until he issued a general edict of toleration in April 311, apparently during his last bout of illness, shortly before he died from a horribly gruesome disease Eusebius later described, possibly some form of bowel cancer, gangrenem or Fournier gangrene.2
Woe to him that I do not favor, for I have the power to hurt.
383 CE: Emperor Theodosius the Great, perhaps suspicious of what happened to emperors Galerius and Elagabalus, declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire. Propelled by the momentum of the society around them, leaders at the Zenith of a “Me” tend to become very full of themselves.
You must believe as I believe.
463 CE: Attila became king of the Huns just before a “Me” and consolidated his power throughout the Upswing of that “Me” to its Zenith. Callinicus, in his Life of Saint Hypatius, wrote,
The barbarian nation of the Huns, which was in Thrace, became so great that more than a hundred cities were captured and Constantinople almost came into danger and most men fled from it. . . . And there were so many murders and blood-lettings that the dead could not be numbered. Ay, for they took captive the churches and monasteries and slew the monks and maidens in great numbers.
Make no mistake—I’m bad to the bone.
543 CE: Belisarius was the hero of Rome. During the Upswing of this “Me” this Roman general defeated the army of Xerxes, defeated the Vandals at Ad Decimum, captured the city of Carthage, and so thoroughly reconquered North Africa that the Vandals ceased to exist as a unified tribe. Then he captured the city of Ravenna. When the Bulgars were invading Constantinople in 558, who did Justinian the Great call out of retirement to repel them? Belisarius, of course. In 565 Belisarius died in a peaceful retirement at the age of sixty. Now that’s a hero.
If I had tights and a cape, I believe I could fly.
623 CE: Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was fifty-three years old and halfway finished transcribing the Quran at the Zenith of this “Me.” Muslims believe that the Quran was verbally revealed to Muhammad through the angel Jibrīl (Gabriel) over a period of twenty-three years beginning in 610 CE, when Muhammad was forty, and concluding in 632 CE, the year of his death.3 Muhammad is a classic hero, easy to admire and active as a diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, reformer, and military general. In 1718 Simon Ockley wrote in his book, The History of the Saracen Empires, “The greatest success of Mohammad’s life was effected by sheer moral force.”
To the light I have attained and in the light I live.
703 CE: Archdeacon Paschal tried to buy the Papacy, and archpriest Theodore tried to steal it during the Upswing of this “Me.” (These things just don’t happen during a “We.”) The mass of clergy, however, set Paschal and Theodore both aside and chose Sergius, who was duly consecrated. To his credit, Sergius (later to become Pope St. Sergius I) attempted to recruit the Venerable Bede as his adviser.
The wicked struggle for power, and the good protect it from them.
783 CE: Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI was in the third year of his reign. He was twelve years old and had been engaged for a year to Rotrude, a daughter of Charlemagne. When he was twenty-one, Kardam of Bulgaria defeated him in battle, and Constantine VI did not respond with enough style and glamour to satisfy his followers, so a movement developed to elevate his uncle Caesar Nikephoros to become the empire’s new emperor. Constantine responded by having his uncle’s eyes put out and cutting off the tongues of his father’s four other half-brothers. He then divorced his wife because she had failed to provide him with a male heir and married his mistress. The people needed a hero, and Constantine VI obviously wasn’t it, so at the age of twenty-six he was apprehended and cruelly blinded by his captors, dying of his wounds a few days later.
Be an elegant captain when society is in a “Me” or your people will throw you overboard.
863 CE: Al-Battani solved the riddles of the sun and the stars in 877 AD. His calculations would be instrumental in helping Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Copernicus solve their own riddles six hundred years later and two thousand miles away. He wrote,
After having lengthily applied myself in the study of this science, I have noticed that the works on the movements of the planets differed consistently with each other, and that many authors made errors in the manner of undertaking their observation, and establishing their rules. I also noticed that with time, the position of the planets changed according to recent and older observations; changes caused by the obliquity of the ecliptic, affecting the calculation of the years and that of eclipses. Continuous focus on these things drove me to perfect and confirm such a science.4
I did it because it was my passion.
943 CE: Otto the Great took the throne of Germany (then known as East Francia) in 936 and arranged for his coronation to be held in Charlemagne’s former capital of Aachen. He is duke of Saxony, king of Germany, and king of Italy, ruling all of what will later be called the Holy Roman Empire. Otto dominated the Church and used its unifying power in the German lands to strengthen his grasp on the people. In addition, Otto arranged for close family members to hold all the important duchies.
Might makes right. God is obviously on the side of whoever is winning.
1023 CE: The Golden Age of Islam culminated in Persia at this time with the writings of Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), a polymath and a leader in the development of modern medicine. As a boy, Avicenna is said to have read the Metaphysics of Aristotle until the words were imprinted on his memory. He turned to medicine at sixteen and soon discovered new treatments. At eighteen Avicenna wrote, “Medicine is no hard and thorny science, like mathematics and metaphysics, so I soon made great progress; I became an excellent doctor and began to treat patients, using approved remedies.” His book, The Canon of Medicine, documents his use of experimental medicine, evidence-based medicine, randomized controlled trials, and efficacy tests. It laid out the rules and principles for testing the effectiveness of new drugs and formed the basis of clinical pharmacology and modern clinical trials. Avicenna’s principles include:
1. The drug must be free from any extraneous accidental quality.
2. It must be used on a simple, not a composite, disease.
3. The drug must be tested with two contrary types of diseases, because sometimes a drug cures one disease by its essential qualities and another by its accidental ones.
4. The time of action must be observed, so that essence and accident are not confused.
5. The effect of the drug must be seen to occur constantly or in many cases. If this did not happen, it was an accidental effect.
6. The experiment must be done with a human, because testing a drug on a lion or a horse might not prove anything about its effect on man.
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When his friends suggested he slow down for the sake of his health, Avicenna said,
I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length.
1103 CE: Pope Urban II set up the modern-day Roman Curia in the manner of a royal court to help run the Catholic Church. Then he launched the Crusades in 1096, more than halfway up this “Me,” thereby triggering a thousand years of conflict between East and West.
I will reconquer Jerusalem.
King Henry I, during the Upswing of this “Me,” threw a challenger named Conan Pilatus from the window of a tower of Rouen, which then became known as “Conan’s Leap.” The men on the ground below tied Conan’s lifeless body to a horse’s tail and had him dragged through the streets of the city as a warning to other traitors. Henry is famed for holding the record for more than twenty acknowledged illegitimate children, the largest number born to any English king.5
If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.
1183 CE: Richard the Lionheart would take the throne of England in six short years, but he was already known as “The Lionheart” due to his reputation as a great military leader and warrior. He is one of very few kings of England remembered by his nickname rather than his regnal number (Richard I). Like most “Me” leaders, Richard was less of an administrator than a conqueror. He spent very little time in England, preferring adventure instead. Returning from the Crusades in 1192, his ship was wrecked near Aquileia, forcing Richard and his four companions to take the dangerous land route through central Europe. Although disguised as a Knight Templar, Richard was recognized, and Duke Leopold imprisoned him and then turned him over to Henry VI, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor. Richard famously refused to give deference to Henry, saying instead,
I am born of a rank that recognizes no superior but God.
1263 CE: Shajarat-al-Dur, a heroic woman, began the Mamluk Dynasty of Egypt in 1250 during the Upswing of this “Me.” Further, according to Historian John Fines, at its Zenith in 1263, Thomas Aquinas, a thirty-eight-year-old instructor, rocked the world with “teaching that was brilliant and novel, and formed the foundation for his writing. His aim was to introduce his pupils to the ‘wonderfulness’ of each topic; he held at least three disputations a week, often of the new kind of his own invention, where students flung in questions.”6
One of the things that made him “Saint” Thomas Aquinas was that he always allowed the other individual to make a full statement of their position.
ME It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.
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1343 CE: King Edward III of England claimed the throne of France. The naval fleets of England and France met in the Battle of Sluys, ending with the almost total destruction of the French fleet.
Uh-oh.
1423 CE: Robin Hood, that great hero of individualism and rebellion against authority, was made famous in the Orygynale Chronicle, written by Andrew of Wyntoun in about 1420.
ME Lytil Jhon and Robyne HudeWayth-men ware commendyd gude In Yngil-wode and Barnysdale Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale.
Andrew of Wyntoun claimed the events of his tale happened in 1283, but in truth he probably fictionalized the whole thing, much like Geoffrey of Monmouth crafted King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table from the fabric of fertile imagination.
I rob from the rich and give to the poor. I’m a criminal, but you love me anyway.
1503 CE: Pope Julius II took the seat of Rome. Nicknamed “The Fearsome Pope” (Il Papa Terribile) and “The Warrior Pope” (Il Papa Guerriero), he set out with a courage and determination rarely equaled to rid himself of the various powers under which his temporal authority was challenged.7 In 1506 he founded the Swiss Guard to provide a constant corps of soldiers to protect him. Meanwhile, in England the silver shilling of 1504 was the first English coin to be minted bearing a recognizable portrait of the king (Henry VII).8 Then, another quintessential “Me” king takes the throne just six years after this Zenith:
Henry VIII. Need we say more?
NOTE: About a decade after this Zenith of this “Me,” during that time when Alpha Voices of literature and technology emerged and heralded the coming fulcrum, Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle. His announcement that the people had direct access to God and did not require the facilitation of a priest may be the most pivotal and far-reaching Alpha Voice to date. From this “We” announcement, the Protestant movement emerged, and this would ultimately launch the Pilgrims and the Puritans to America. Wow.
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An angry pope, a wanton king, and a fierce writer with a chip on his shoulder—I wonder how this is going to turn out.
1583 CE: Queen Elizabeth was at the peak of her power, having supported the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she made herself the supreme governor. Her Navy will defeat the Spanish Armada just five years after this Zenith. This Zenith was the golden heart of England’s Golden Age. William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe were rocking the nation with wit and humor while adventurers like Sir Francis Drake were dazzling it with their heroic exploits.
I’m as great a sovereign as any man.
1663 CE: Charles II, King of England, just two years prior to the Zenith of the “Me,” shoved the Corporation Act through Parliament to strengthen his power. This act allowed Charles to remove anyone from office who was even suspected of being disloyal to him. In the years preceding the English Civil War many Royalists (“Me”) had been removed from office and replaced by men loyal to Parliament (“We”). The Corporation Act reversed all this and gave unprecedented power to “Me” King Charles II.
If I even think you might disagree with me, you’re outta here.
1743 CE: Young Benjamin Franklin made himself an entrepreneurial success and a celebrity in America through his publication of Poor Richard’s Almanac from December 28, 1732 (eleven years prior to the Zenith), to 1758 (fifteen years past the Zenith, but still in the “Me”). Franklin then published the essay “The Way to Wealth.” He was famous for walking around naked inside his home and is the author of the famous essays, “Fart Proudly,” “Advice to a Young Man on the Choice of a Mistress,” and “Rules on Making Oneself Disagreeable.” Had he been born in the middle of the twentieth century, Franklin would no doubt have been a pot-smoking, live-and-let-live hippie. He said,
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, and most fools do.
1823 CE: The Monroe Doctrine announced that America had risen to its full height and would not tolerate interference in the Western hemisphere. President James Monroe proclaimed, “The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.” In addition, the United States accepted the responsibility of being the protector of independent Western nations. Is that the ultimate “Me” announcement or what? Monroe was effectively saying,
The United States just wants to drink milk and kick ass, and we’re all out of milk.
1903 CE: Teddy “Speak softly and carry a big stick” Roosevelt was president. A classic “Me” hero, Teddy had already led the Rough Riders on a heroic charge up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War of 1898. He was the force behind the completion of the Panama Canal. His Great White Fleet was the first display of American military power, and when Roosevelt stepped in to negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese War, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. America had not yet invented action figures of comic book heroes, so we invented the “teddy” bear in his honor and carved his grinning face on Mount Rushmore.
In November 1899, when Teddy was returning from San Juan Hill to take his place in the Oval Office, Sigmund Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams. Freud favored free association as a tool for helping the mentally ill and believed repression to be the source of all mental illness. In what is perhaps the most sweeping “Me” statement of the century, Freud effectively claimed that duty, obligation, and conformity are the cause of every mental illness.”
The colorful Oscar Wilde also made his name during the Upswing of this “Me,” saying, “A man who does not think for himself does not think at all,” and “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.
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1983 CE: Very near this Zenith, President Ronald Reagan stood at the Berlin Wall, pointed to it, looked into the TV cameras, and boldly spoke a private message to the leader of the Soviet Union while the whole world was listening: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Wow. That’s a true “Me” hero. In 1980, just a few years prior to this “Me” Zenith, the US Army unleashed its most powerful and enduring slogan: “Be All You Can Be.” Army recruiters rode that slogan like a show pony while Reagan waved the Red, White, and Blue higher than it had ever been waved.
Twenty-one years later, just two years before the tipping point that would mark the end of this “Me,” the Army realized “Be All You Can Be” was no longer performing like it once did, but they misunderstood the reason for this decline. Not understanding the motivations of a “We,” the Army dropped “Be All You Can Be” in favor of the even more “Me” focused “Army of One.” The results were disastrous. Just two years after the tipping point into “We,” the now-frantic market researchers informed the Army that the slogan “Army of One” was contrary to the idea of team-work and that potential recruits were now inexplicably drawn to the idea of being a productive member of a team. Accompanied by images of people working together, “Army Strong” became the new slogan, and recruitment began to improve.
iStockphoto / Tony Baggett
2063: We can only imagine. (And we do, in a later chapter).
