…a new type of philosopher and commander
will be needed for this someday,
and whatever hidden, dreadful, or benevolent spirits
have existed on earth will pale into insignificance
beside the image of this type.

The image of such leaders hovers before our eyes:
– may I say this out loud,
you free spirits?

The conditions that would have to be
partly created and partly exploited
for them to come into being;
the probable paths and trials
that would enable a soul to grow tall and strong enough
to feel the compulsion for these tasks;
a revaluation of values
whose new pressure and hammer
will steel a conscience and transform
a heart into bronze
to bear the weight of a responsibility like this;

and, on the other hand,
the necessity of such leaders,
the terrible danger that they could fail to appear
or simply fail and degenerate

– these are our real worries and dark clouds,
do you know this, you free spirits?
These are the heavy, distant thoughts and storms
that traverse the sky
of our lives.

Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by Judith Butler, aphorism 203

The Republican nomination convention has kicked off in Milwaukee. I will not watch any of the spectacle which is streaming on television. The fawning rhetoric causes me to involuntarily cringe. A friend mentioned in an email that she felt a mood of fear emanating from the circle of our acquaintances. Fear is a reasonable response. The rise of White Nationalism has been the signature of a sick society before. This is a pattern in history that we recognize.

For the second successive night, the tornado warning alarm sounded within the towns along the Fox River. Climate change is a present reality. One’s position on climate warming is irrelevant when encountered by a wild fire, or a drought, or a tornado. By dint of loyalty to the party, to group-think, to a desire for more profit, deny, refuse to awaken as long as you will, – unprecedented heat and humidity powering a tornado cannot be resisted. Believe what you will, there is a rough “justice” in nature.

To consider our situation, the leadership which we sorely need has yet to be manifested. Perhaps the rise of Trumpism, the consequent economic dysfunction which will follow, will be preparation for another,  a new form of society, and a new type of administration of America?  Perhaps a new type of leader will be, is being formed by these conditions…

Time will surely tell.

A final postscript thought. This is timely advice from Rob Brezsny’s Freewill Astrology Newsletter.