Destiny has indicated that leaders can become deranged when they realize the limits of their power over existence. There is another term that applies before the advent of deranged thinking, and that is anomie. Basically, realized anomie is a state of being bored and jaded. The jading comes about by not being able to experience anything new now to provide a higher high. The boredom is the result of realizing that nothing is likely to change in the future to provide the higher high. The result is distorted values, or, anomie.

Both of these conditions can happen to those who have sought and gained comparatively great power in their period of history. It is the condition of anomie that underpins the eventual expressions of insanity from those who may start with good intentions, all from the pursuit of greater power over existence. Thus, one would rightly question the wisdom of power addiction on the part of any person. It is also true that this illness is found primarily in the ranks of the very capable and powerful, who have great influence over the quality of our lives.

The fall of the Roman Empire is the classic example. Closer to home is a form of anomie that common people experience in the pursuit of "pleasure." For example, consider the card game known as bridge. It is the most challenging of all card games and people of relatively high intelligence often encounter it while young and learn it for fun. Some go on to become "life masters" in a relatively short time, while others of lesser abilities spend many years accumulating small fractions of masters points in the pursuit of proof that they also are intelligent. Yet others reach a certain level of competence and no longer play the game, for it becomes boring when they realize that they have reached the limits of their ability to learn and/or their willingness to devote the time to learn more. This condition is realized gradually when the bridge games take on a character of sameness and thus provide too little positive input to support continuance of that activity. All of us can experience some form of anomie, no matter what specific activity we choose to express our inner selves.

It is also true that many people do not experience anomie. They find a comfortable rut and repeat their behaviors throughout their lives. We tend to think of those individuals as sane, or, mature or well adjusted in accepting their limitations and finding peace in a smaller domain of life. The reality is that they have simply found a quiet means to become permanently limited and have given up the fight to pursue power. Thus, they are neither sane nor insane, but merely acclimated to their perceived limits. The overall learning experiences of these individuals that determines their overall, limited view of life, begins when they are children. They learn the nature of their limits while very young and flexible, and learn to follow blindly rather than continue to question "reality."

The discussion of anomie presented in this article is primarily in reference to the limitations of the wealthy and powerful people in businesses, governments and religions. To point, if or when powerful people lose perspective about their role in advancing Humanity as a whole, we are at great risk. History proves this point time after time. The value of individual human lives is either understood and valued by current leaders or it is not. When it is not, you find oppression of one sort or another, varying from rigid but well intended control, slavery of one form or another, or, wholesale destruction of many lives in war or "ethnic cleansing." Yet, we also know that some leaders have not been affected by anomie and that we have had great leaders, past and present, who do advance the human race. What can we do to promote helpful leaders and disempower bad ones?

It becomes evident that leaders, above all others, must be routinely examined via drug assisted lie detector tests for the fundamental health of their humanitarian values. Psychological evaluation of all leaders is mandatory to assure the continuance of our wellbeing. This requirement is obvious and essential, but equally obvious is the difficulty of making it happen, unless we force that through our legislatures and parliaments. Powerful people as a class do not want to be challenged based on the condition of anomie or human values. Yet, this need to identify and remove ill leaders is not optional if we are to advance in a straightforward path instead of continuously repeating the errors of our ancestors.

The ultimate justification for taking the steps identified above is that our world and our lives belong to all of us, not to the leaders. As a Hindu friend said to me much earlier in my life, as I prepared to step on a spider, "Everybody has to make a living, so think carefully about this fact before you decide to kill anything." He was, of course, talking about the real issue of "right to life," not the perversion of the latter day anti-abortion fanatics. At the deepest level, each of us recognizes that we must have a live and let live attitude towards our fellow humans if we expect to receive decent behavior from them in return. It is the violation of that consideration that is the problem with humans who achieve power. No elected leader or CEO or Pope, etc., has any right to diminish the quality of our lives or the lives of generations of children yet to be born. If we fail in our endeavors to have intelligent and well-intentioned leaders who are free of anomie, we will certainly not achieve Destiny.

Consider finally that political leaders who are not wealthy will need long term income protection. All of us can "burn out." I recommend that leaders be given a generous retirement package if they are required to resign their position. That assumes, of course, that they have provided very good leadership for at least eight years before the retirement. You might think of our leaders as we commonly think of professional sports figures. We recognize that age will make sports figures less competitive and that they are forced to retire young relative to most of us. We respond by providing high value income packages for sports figures and helpful tax laws, so that we can expect them to give of their best during their limited careers and not suffer later. We should accommodate our better governmental leaders in a similar way. Recognize that a great leader will place the public interest uppermost in his/her thoughts, and they deserve our long term financial support for giving of themselves selflessly to that role. We might also allow for their subsequent employment in some areas of higher education.