Be The Pope: Being vs Achieving

It sounds like the Cardinal Prevost has arrived finally at his ultimate vision, the holy grail, if you will, of goals. Becoming Pope. It is a heady thing.

The Pope leads 1.4 billion people spiritually, which is 4 times the population of the US. He leads for his lifetime, which could be another 20-30 years. He leads with impunity, complete authority, and a mystical level of reverence. He makes the 4 year, spend-a-billion-dollar mud wrestling presidential election look like a cartoon in comparison. 

His religion is so wealthy and powerful that it is its own sovereign nation, if only inside the historical vault of the Vatican.  

This missive is not an endorsement of Catholicism as religion, religion at all, or even Pope Leo’s “political” orientations.

Instead, I have been watching and thinking about his journey to this heady place, the story of his quite normal Illinois childhood, and how even now, as the Pope, he enjoys normal Illinois things like The White Sox, local pizza, and his high school pals. It might be a lifetime before he gets to enjoy any of those again.

I find it fascinating that the reports that “Prevost” as his local friends called him, felt a powerful, unquestioning calling to the clergy even as a young child. It has been reported that a neighbor told him as a young boy that he was destined to be Pope. His entire childhood and school years were aligned with preparation to be a model spiritual leader. We don’t know if he was always “a choir boy,” but as a grown man in the church, he chose the path of celibacy which in itself has to require immense motivation contrary to nature.

And then after watching “The Two Popes,” “Angels and Demons,” and “Conclave,” the politicking, infighting, and extortion that probably go on in order to be elected to such a powerful position will curl your hair. You have to wonder how Prevost navigated such a treacherous path. 

Which brings me to my point of this missive. I suspect he did not. I suspect he did not politick, fight, lobby, negotiate, or do anything to manifest becoming Pope other than “Being” and “Doing the Daily Do.” In what little I have learned so far, it sounds like he has spent his life just learning and serving unselfishly. I am not suggesting the thought, or even the vision, of one day becoming Pope was not lost on him. I am sure he thought about it, and even in an honorable way, coveted it. Yet there is no evidence that such a vision overruled his honor and identity as a working clergyman.

It feels like he did not hustle with a white hot burning desire to become Pope, but rather hustled with a white hot burning desire to be the best clergyman he could be and serve his faith at the highest level every day. This is what we call in the motivation and manifestation world, “Being” the thing, making one’s life about becoming who one needs to become to achieve any, and all goals. The distinction being, achieving the goal is not the thing, “Being” the thing is the thing.  Identity is the Way.

Achieving specific goals is amateur work, a setup for getting checked up by the universe. You want to be Pope? Great. You just pitted yourself against 133 of your closest allies, 133 of the best candidates in the universe to become Pope, and who becomes Pope may have as much to do with geopolitics, age, and just plain ole politicking as who is most qualified. You and I cannot always Be number one. But we can Be who number one needs to be, every day in every way. We can do the do.  Do the work. Be the person. Bake in the habits. Learn to Fall in Love with the Processes that lead to Eventuality. We may not become Pope or win every contest or achieve every goal, but we will have peace in our heart, integrity in our body, gratitude in our soul, and inspiration for others in our journey.

“Being” over “Achieving.” Join us in that movement.