The Taxi Driver

Now I can’t pretend to be overly familiar with Vladimir Putin’s psychology, but it has been interesting to observe how much of a chip he’s been sporting since he attained the Presidency (I’m sure most of us were blissfully unaware of him until then). How much of it was he born with, carried in his family epigenome due to the servility of his forebears, like his grandfather’s position as Stalin’s cook? How much came from things he experienced in early childhood? How much came from seeing the Soviet Union crumble just as he was making his way in the world? How much from his need to moonlight as a taxi driver in the post Soviet era, as many did, ironically earning the title of ‘Bombers’ for Bombing around their cities picking up fares?

Now many of us have a chip on our shoulder about something, whether its towards those with wealth, or power, or those who belong to a different class, to a different sex, race or other sub-grouping. Maybe for example, its people with a particular personality trait. Or maybe it’s directed towards foreigners of some description. Whatever it is, as uncomfortable as it might be to admit it to ourselves – let alone others – they more-often-than-not exist. This uncomfortable phenomena stems from our inability to process something emotionally, and our subconscious need to project it onto an external grouping to avoid us having to look in the mirror. Sadly, it then breeds bitterness, resentment, loathing, hatred, abuse and violence, even if its actually quite subtle in the majority of cases. However, it will always find expression through some sneaky subconscious means.

Often, these behaviours go hand in hand with the romanticisation of some ideal. Whether, its the romanticised notion of past glories, as in Vlad’s case, or its the romanticised notion of what the world would be like if only it fit with your view of how the wold should operate, instead of this messy plurality we find ourselves a part of.

It’s also interesting to observe the levels of cognitive dissonance the Russian Premiere has indulged in. Back in 2007, a senior analyst from MI6 told me that Putin was the richest man in the world, and at the time it felt revelatory. I had no idea! As the years have rolled on though, this has become an increasingly well acknowledged secret. So on the one hand, you have a man glorifying the virtues of the Soviet past, and effectively, wanting to ‘Make Russia Great Again’, but on the other, he is happily raping his country of it’s wealth to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, propping up the oligarchy who are also vamping their share, and indeed the criminal gangs who have carved up so much of the rest. It is the epitome of a state backed mafia. How, one wonders, is that making your country great again? How is that going to support the resurrection of your prized ‘Historical Russia’? It is not. So either, he’s lying to the world, as cover for his Grand Larceny, or he is genuinely lying to himself that he can line his pockets so obscenely, and simultaneously return Russia to some form of greatness. My view is, he genuinely believes that Russia deserves to be a global superpower, and that they can achieve this by being ‘strong’. But I also get the sense he knows the game is up. Even since 2010 it’s been observed that Russia’s fossil fuels were more depleted than any other major producer, and predictions back then were that the economically viable resources would start declining precipitously by 2020. So whilst Shale techniques have added a few more years to Producers’ profiles, the simple reality is, unless Russia finds new resources, its going to implode, because fossil fuels represent 40% of its economy, and 63% of its exports. And guess where there are a lot of resources? Eastern Ukraine. So perhaps, in his deluded worldview, he can reinstate Russia’s greatness at the expense of their eastern neighbours, and he can aggrandise himself in the process. He can be the man to help realise Mother Russia’s destiny and feel the joy he felt as a by when Russia was at its most dominant.

It’s very easy to look back nostalgically at all of the advantages that the past held. For someone who’s power chakra is so ragingly overactive, the former might of the USSR would have probably given him more sustenance than the relative poverty of the local supermarket. And perhaps, as a result of his formative years being when the Soviets were at their fossil fuel induced peak, he has captured the memory of their glory years, when they felt emboldened enough to brag that Russia would bury the west with its economic might, and then ended up blaming the West for their downfall, when in actual fact it was due to a combination of the declining yield on their fossil fuel production (nerds can review a critical concept called EROI), the inefficiencies of a centralised economy, and the unsustainable levels of military expenditure they engaged in to try and compete militarily with the world’s largest fossil fuels producer, America.

But they couldn’t keep up with their Yankee adversaries, production wise or militarily (let alone because the dollar standard meant the monetary dice were loaded for the US), and instead of humbly accepting their reality, they bankrupted themselves trying to maintain the intoxicating peak of their so called glory years (gulags and The Great Terror conveniently ignored of course).

In doing so, they hurt themselves more than anyone else. The desire to stay outwardly powerful, created inward destruction that so devastated them, that poor old Vladimir needed to become a Bomber (Taxi driver) to supplement his income.

Now of course, he’s become a Bomber of a much more toxic variety, and once again they are going to hurt themselves more than anyone else, because as with all ego and shadow, eventually the actions and behaviours come back and bite you on the arse. In this instance, at a personal level, the guy has become a friendless, lonely, paranoid, megalomaniac with major health issues, and it seems, a broad spectrum of psychological issues to boot. His is not a happy life, despite all the trappings of wealth and power he has access to. He’s quite literally the World’s Wealthiest Loser.

However, it’s not his particular condition I’m concerned with. It’s the fact that his need to try and compensate for all of the wounds, and humiliations of the past, the diminished attachments, and the fact that even now, as the Strong Man of the Federation, he isn’t really accepted by the Russian Elite, he is merely tolerated, is ultimately leading him to lash out at anyone who opposes him, whether it be journalists, politicians, intellectuals, or indeed neighbouring democracies and their leaders. For that raging ego of his, the only thing that matters is a relative sense of greatness. The death and pain of others, are of little concern, because from his ego’s perspective, they are ‘other’. They are inconsequential in his need to somehow feel more elevated, more worthy. Because deep down he knows he will always be the KGB agent with the humble origins who had to stoop so low as be a taxi driver, and who’s country came second best to the sworn enemy of America. No matter how rich he has become, no matter how totalitarian his reign, nothing is salving the hole deep down inside that he feels. And the only way he knows how to respond to that, is by lashing out. By trying ever harder to find peace via the submission of others.

Not only has he poisoned himself, and his life experience by taking this approach, at a macro level, he has undone all of his Macchiavellian work in sewing seeds of division in the West. He has emboldened democracy throughout the eastern bloc, strengthened NATO, weakened his country, both economically and reputationally, and may well be on his way to triggering the collapse of the very Federation he was trying to make great again.

This is the problem with following those convincing voices of the unhealed self. They will whisper sweet nothings to you. They will shout ever more loudly to bulldoze your way to ‘so called’ success. But they will always lead you on a merry dance to self-destruction, and they will often take the people and things you care for most with you. Whether its little voices of fear, avarice, envy or pride, take care, because whilst they justify your ego, they suffocate your soul.

So the next time your little egoic Vladimir comes calling, promising glorious outcomes at the expense of others, see if you can find the deeper, more gentle voice of knowing, wisdom and light that murmurs with the understanding that you don’t need to do that to feel great, you can be great just the way you are. All you need do is be the best version of you that you can possibly be, each and every day, choosing the higher path any time you can, and humbly and vulnerably accepting your mistakes when you didn’t quite make it, because its all part of the learning curve.

With Love, Unity and Massive Respect for Ukraine.

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Will & The Beeja Meditation Team xxx