From The New Pluralism by management guru Peter F. Drucker:
- ”There is need for the acceptance of leaders in every single institution and in every single sector that they, as leaders, have two responsibilities. They are responsible and accountable for the performance of their institutions, and that requires them and their institutions to be concentrated, focused, limited. They are responsible also, however, for the community as a whole. This requires commitment. It requires willingness to accept that other institutions have different values, respect for these values, and willingness to learn what these values are. It requires hard work. But above all it requires commitment, conviction, dedication to the common good. Yes, each institution is autonomous and has to do its own work the way each instrument in an orchestra plays only its own part. But there is also the score, the community. And only if each individual instrument contributes to the score is there music. Otherwise there is only noise.”
This almost perfectly sums up my position on community within OTO. Yes, every individual has their own Will and is responsible for his or her own behavior and goals. However, we are not islands, and have specifically joined a fraternity—a joining together of men and women. As such, we all have two responsibilities: to the self and to the community. One must learn to play her own instrument. Yet, she has chosen to join a group of musicians, and as such she has a duty to employ her music to enhance the overall score. “Otherwise there is only noise.”
Continuing with the music metaphor, OTO also provides for conductors: the OHO at the top, with National Grand Masters in the kingdoms, and body masters at the local level. One of my recent criticisms has been a belief that we in OTO tend to over-concentrate on the technicalities of music (i.e. knowledge and skills, esp. regarding magick) at the cost of attending to how the instruments play together. Yes, both are important, but the end goal for the organization is the concert.
If you want to learn how to play solo, join the A∴A∴. If you want to join the orchestra, the OTO is for you. We are a fabulous organization in that we provide quality music lessons for the individual players. However, at the end of the day, our leaders are responsible for the quality of the entire symphony, because within OTO that is the end result of our Great Work together.
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