Little Miss Reader: Guest post - The Emperor's New Clothes

This guest post is brought to you by Penni Mannas Diefendorf!

The Emperor's New Clothes: Which one are you? The Emperor, the Rogues, the Populace or the Child?

“If you are unfamiliar with the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, here it is.
There once was an Emperor who took great pride in his garments and in the aura of power and leadership he exuded. He wanted everyone to know he was superior and that he rightly deserved the title and honours that befit his position.Two cunning and enterprising rogues saw a splendid way to capitalize on this and proceeded to weave a clever plan.They obtained an appointment to see the Emperor under the guise of famous and sought after cloth merchants who wished to garb the Emperor in their finest, most magical cloth.They segued into displaying the cloth by informing the Emperor that this cloth was very special indeed: it could only be seen by people of the highest intelligence and be invisible to everyone else.With that and with great fanfare, they produced roll upon empty roll of “fabric.”Of course, the Emperor could see nothing at all, but he was not about to admit to having anything less than the highest intelligence.Oh no! He extolled the virtue and beauty of the cloth. He picked out a variety of materials that would be just right for his ceremonial robes and the like and all in all racked up an impressive bill for this most wondrous collection of fabric.The bold entrepreneurs then set about creating the garments because, of course, no one but them could manipulate it into quite the right fit. And many a laugh they must have had while draping thin air over the Emperor and turning him this way and that to get the proper perspective.The bewildered, but keeping it well hidden, Emperor informed his council and all the people of this new set of clothes that he was having made and how it would expose the fools and the unintelligent by virtue of them being able to see the clothes or not.The clothes were to make their debut at a grand ceremony and parade through the city, prior to which our two rogues took their leave, along with their massive payment from the Emperor.As the Emperor proceeded through the streets, quite devoid of clothes, the stunned populace could only goggle and agree with their neighbours that the Emperor’s new clothes were quite magnificent and commensurate with all the pomp and splendour due His Majesty.Until, a young child, who obviously had not got the memo, piped up (and here I have to borrow liberally from Danny Kaye) “The King is in the altogether, and is altogether as naked as the day he was born.”Pandemonium broke out! Scales fell from all eyes. People were freed from the ignominy of being the only fool in the crowd to being able to say that they also could not see a scrap of clothes.The Emperor found himself at the furtherest point from dignity that he could ever have imagined. But too late, the damage was done and the crooks had fled.”

Extract from Un Conform: Only the Conscious Thrive by Penni Mannas Diefendorf

I have always loved fairy stories, stories of myth and fantasy – they make the mundane lessons of life grand and intriguing and so much more fun to learn. One of my particular favourites’ is this one and even more so because I see evidence of this story line playing out pretty much on a daily basis.

It behooves us to figure out where on the plot line do we lie?

Are we the Emperor: A leader of the pack who is insecure enough to buy into flattery and spurious indicators of his intelligence, power, influence etc. Can we be lead into grievous error by skillful manipulation of our weaknesses?

Or are we the Rogues: Insightful, but devious, using their skills and knowledge of what makes other people tick to push their buttons and have them dance to their tune, for their own gain? Do we bend truth and reality to take advantage of others?

Or are we the Populace: Afraid of what others might say if they buck the system. Afraid to appear foolish or not on trend. Are we content to be lead into illusion because we dare not do otherwise?

Or are we the Child: Seeing what is real and communicating it with innocent spontaneity, thereby causing a mass adjustment to reality. Do we have the clarity to see the truth and the fortitude to speak it?

In a world that seems increasingly ridden with strife and disorder, it becomes more and more important to identify the invisible threads, the things that don’t exist, and the things that make no sense. But it seems that the *child* in our scenarios is a rarer and rarer entity.

We could possibly be one or all of them at various points in our lives, but in this moment now, which are you and which would you rather be?

Author Bio

Penni Mannas Diefendorf is the author of the Core of Steel series and is the Founder and Director of truthredux.com, an online community and repository of ideas and strategies to live life at your highest potential. She pioneers consciousness as a practical way of being: not live your life and eventually become conscious, but become conscious and truly live your life. She shares strategies and insights on youtube/truthredux

She is a skeptical dreamer who likes to believe in magic and the impossible but wants proof.

She has done a great many things in this lifetime, but the things she likes best are fixing things, teaching, and learning. Close seconds are singing, dancing, and dreaming, all of which are otherwise known as meditation.

She currently resides in Hong Kong, which is an über splendid place to be, with her husband, who is an über splendid fellow.

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