I was walking through the West Sacramento Gurdwara when I saw the image of Guru Gobind Singh sitting astride a white rearing horse. I knew it looked familiar, I had seen that horse, that body position before. Then it clicked. Thank goodness for the internet. I was able to confirm that this painting was based on a similar painting of Napoleon sitting astride a rearing horse. I don’t know if the painter of Guru Gobind Singh’s painting was consciously mimicking the Napoleon painting, although on closer inspection it looks like a complete transposition.
At first I snickered thinking about the differences in Guru Gobind Singh and Napoleon’s character. But then I understood the importance and brilliance of the symbolic instinct to connect these through visual transposition. Guru Gobind Singh and Napoleon created and participated in two of the most symbolically explosive acts over the course of the last 350 years or so. These are the other two images I included on the first slide. The Establishment of the Khalsa in 1699 and Napoleon’s Coronation in 1804. These two acts are the symbolic opposites of one another and show the truth inside of Sikhi and the danger inherent in European Individualism/Secular Enlightenment. I stress the European point because I think it is a feature of the continent that may not be true of the American ethos in the same way. If Europe had Napoleon, America had George Washington. But before I get ahead of myself let me explain what is going on in each of these scenarios.
In 1699 on Vaisakhi Guru Gobind Singh carried out what I believe to be the most important event in the history of the world. More important than the Awakening of the Buddha, the Crucifixion of Christ, or the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, Guru Gobind Singh established the Khalsa. He stood outside of his tent at Anandpur and asked who was ready to give their heads, to empty themselves of themselves so that they could attain the form of the Guru Himself. He asked who was ready to die to self in order to fully participate in being the Divine’s own body here on Earth? Five answered the call Bhai Daya, Dharam, Himmat, Mokham, and Sahib, Guru Gobind took their ego-heads and these five became Singhs, through the Khande-di-Pahul they were invested with authority and sovereignty. Then perhaps the most miraculous thing happened, Guru Gobind Singh Ji then turned to them and kneeled, asking them to initiate him into the Khalsa. The King of England to this day does not bow to others, Guru Gobind Singh not only elevated his Sikhs to his own status, he then knelt before them asking them to bless him with what they had just received. It is an act of such divinity and rarity we still don’t know how to talk about it.
Napoleon on the other hand seized power after the French Revolution. The Revolution which sought to destroy or liberate, depending on your reading, the power held within the aristocracy and Church and bestow it to the people of France. Napoleon filled this power vacuum and then set off to conquer Europe. In 1804 the French Republic altered their constitution to make Napoleon into an Emperor, the same people who had beheaded their King now voted for an Emperor over themselves. Now, for the symbolic act shown in the painting. Traditionally it had been the role of the Pope to crown the King of France, but that would not do for Napoleon, instead of kneeling to the Pope, the representative of Christ, Napoleon took the crown from Pope Pius VII. He placed the crown upon his own head; no one, not God, Christ, Church or tradition had power over Napoleon, he had declared that he had made himself.
The meaning, significance, and consequences of these two sets of actions could not be further apart; they speak to the deeper ethos of both Guru Gobind Singh and his Khalsa, as well as the European Enlightenment and its emphasis on individual self-will. It is important to keep in mind other pillars of the European Enlightenment like Hegel, and Goethe intellectual architects of the Enlightenment saw Napoleon as an exemplar of the Geist and the progression of history, the later even going so far as to call Napoleon “a Demigod” and “continually enlightened.”
George Washington and America offer a curious case of non-alignment with Napoleonic individualism. After the American Revolution, and the ratification of the Constitution in 1788 General George Washington became President. He did not want the job but he was so popular some encouraged him to become King of America, not only did he refuse to become King he also voluntarily abdicated power and did not seek a third term, leaving office in 1797. If Napoleon crowned himself, Washington un-crowned himself.
There is a lot more to unpack with all three of these events. I offer this as simply a starting point. Events such as these require centuries of contemplation. I offer these comparisons as realities to meditate upon. These three events are mirrors that offer glimmers of the deepest choices before individuals and civilization itself.
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