Essence: doubt and hesitation about their fantastic plans.
Doubting their qualities as a leader
They have a desire to manifest themselves but they don’t really know if they can. They may have all sorts of grandiose schemes but they don’t know how to carry them out. Their life is one of many starts and stops. As soon as they have started a project they begin to wonder whether they can really manage it properly. So they are always hesitating where to take on the responsibility or not.
Founding a kingdom is an impossible taskMany times they feel that it would be better to stop, but that means they have failed. Things do go wrong of course, because they haven’t got much experience yet. But they have an intense desire to reach for the top. This alternation of moods often cause them to wonder what on earth they have let themselves in for. It is a tantalising problem. They feel that their plans or the organisation are a bit too far fetched, that they don’t have the capacity to lead their business on the road to success.
Unrealistic expectations about their leadership qualitiesOne day they see themselves as a brilliant leader, the next day they feel they haven’t got any power at all. Their lack of experience makes it even more difficult to have a realistic view of their own capacities. Outside influences are likely to affect them a lot. A small mishap or a negative remark can throw them off balance and make them think they are totally useless. But an encouraging word and a minor success is likely to make them feel they have made it and that from now on the world will lie at their feet.
Indecisive from fear of arroganceThe other side of the coin is a tendency to become very haughty. This side doesn’t often come to the foreground because it is usually hidden behind their uncertainty and their fear of failure. But they can become quite indecisive and hesitant, purely because they are too afraid that the successes will go to their head and that they become too arrogant or dictatorial. In the story of Tantalus the emphasis is placed more on his arrogance and this is the cause of the torture he has to undergo. Tantalus was the king of Lydia and he was very rich and powerful. He used to sell the secrets of the gods to his people, he stole the heavenly ambrosia and nectar and gave it to his people. He became so presumptuous that he even attempted to put the all knowing wisdom of the gods to he test (Schwabb, 1993). He does this by presenting his son on a dish as food for the gods. This proves to be his undoing. It is decided that doesn’t deserve the riches and the happiness he has been enjoying.
Postponing the real leadership tasksIn the story of Tantalus the torture is a punishment for his arrogance. But we can also see this torture as something that is directly connected to arrogance. The endless and fruitless striving to reach something can be a compensation for arrogance. As long as you haven’t reached your goal yet there is less danger to become too arrogant. But deep inside they will always think of what could have been. The lack of perseverance can also be a way of avoiding possible failures. As soon as they really go full steam ahead they may discover that they can’t get to where they wanted. So in hat respect it is better not to try too hard, the disappointment would be too great if their dreams were no more than castles in the air. The theme of power and arrogance is a general theme of the whole
Gold series, coupled to the realisation of their plans. The different stages show us how the realisation of their great plans is coming along and how they handle it. In the story about Tantalus the torture is the solution to the problem of having to make their professed greatness come true. They get stuck in their own doubts, in a constant yearning for something that is just out of reach. They keep trying to grasp it, but their attempts are too feeble to have any effect. This is the tantalising torture: he had to stand in the middle of a lake, where the water was reaching up to his chin, but he just couldn't reach it to quench his unbearable thirst. As soon as he bent over to drink the water would recede and the lake became dry. The water suddenly disappeared, absorbed into the bottom of the lake as if swallowed up by a bad spirit. But not only did he suffer from an unquenchable thirst, he also had to suffer unspeakable hunger pains, that nearly drove him insane. And just above his head there was the most gorgeous fruit hanging down from the trees in great abundance. Apples, pears, figs, olives, all equally tempting and luscious, but as soon as the desperate man reached out his hand to grab them, a sudden gust of wind would sweep the branches away high up into to air, far out of his reach. And as if a burning thirst and a raging hunger weren’t enough torture, there was also the constant threat to his life in the form of a huge boulder hanging suspended in the air just above him, threatening to fall down and pulverise him at any moment (Schwab 1993).
These people never feel able to lead a large company, they consider themselves too much of an amateur to take on such a task.
Setting up a businessThey are very good at setting up a business. They know a large project like that requires a thorough preparation and proper planning. They go into all the details of such an enterprise and try to foresee any possible problems. But they have to be careful not to get stuck in the preparations and never get any further than this preliminary stage. Sometimes they can’t see the wood for the trees and get totally lost in all the details.
Evading their responsibilityGetting lost in details may be a subconscious way of trying to avoid full responsibility and the risk of failure.
Alternately taking on or avoiding their religious task
Some of them might feel they have a religious task to fulfill. Their project is more than a worldly venture, it also has some religious aspects. They feel responsible for adding a spiritual element to their project. But here we also see their changeable nature. Sometimes they really try to push this through and at other times they are happy to leave it out.
Tortured by their sexualityThey may also feel tortured by their strong sexual drives. They want to be respected sexually, but they don’t know how to put it across. This may cause them to doubt whether sexual experiences are meant to be there in their lives. They may approach other people with a view of a sexual relationship and then suddenly stop short of the actual event. As if they get stuck in the leading up phase, without ever getting to where they want to.
Mind
Fears: heights, falling, murder, being murdered, death, suicide, heart disease, stroke, insanity, people, crowds, religion, devil, God.
Dreams: heights, fallen, failure, money, a stronger power, preparations, forgetting, steep walls, high mountains.
Delusions: superior, alone; mania, not able to manage, not strong enough, back against the wall, powerless, heaviness.
Irritability: < offended.
Mood: haughty.
Mental: absent minded, confused, rigid, insane.
Professions: king, leader, director, manager, president, chairman, captain, mayor, bishop, top sportsman or woman.
GeneralsType: male, dark hair, overweight.
Locality: right.
Weather: cold; > open air; < gloomy; < dry.
Time: < night.
Desires: alcohol, drugs, bread, sweet, meat, cold water.
Aversion: meat, eating.
Food: < drugs, > eating, < fasting.
Menses: < menses, < pregnancy, < giving birth.
Sleep: sleeplessness !!.
Physical: < rest, < sitting, < lying, > walking, > motion, < dark, > pressure, > rubbing, < touch.
BodyWeakness, nervousness and restlessness.
Pains: boring, contracting.
Sensations: swollen, blown up, heavy, full.
Glands: swollen, inflamed, indurated. Abscesses, necrosis.
Paralysis, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis. Epilepsy, tonic, clonic, tetanic.
Lack of feeling.
Cancer.
Headache. Face swollen. Trembling < anger.
Eye complaints: inflammations, visual disturbances. Nystagmus !.
Heart complaints: high blood pressure, infarction, failure.
Pulse: too fast, too slow, fill, weak, irregular.
Congestion of blood. Cerebral haemorrhage. Anaemia.
Problems with testes and ovaries: inflammations, cancer, cryptorchism, sterility, amenorrhoea, metrorragia.
Affections of bones: necrosis, inflammation.
Eczema.
DD:
Gold series,
Stage 5.
DD Hafnium: is just beginning his managerial task and doesn't’ know what he has let himself in for. Tantalus does know what is involved, but it isn’t until now that he realises how many problems there are to be solved, which he doesn’t want to tackle in case he makes a mistake.