Announote
I am not a professional psychologist nor a trained counselor.
I created the program with a lot of help from countless resources. Most of all, the program was borne of was my own drive to answer existential questions that taxed me since I was a toddler. Questions like these: who am I; where am I; why am I here; what’s the meaning of it all; how do I become a better person?
I didn’t stumble upon an ancient tablet, I wasn’t visited by a ghost, nor do I hold exclusive knowledge. What I do have is happiness, satisfying answers to my questions, and a willingness to share with others. All I did was write down how I found it, and I am sharing it with you.
Who I Am
Hello, I go by Mr. Whitehorn. I am the facilitator of the program.
I am a nearly fifty-year-old man, an introvert, a keen observer, a pattern recognizer, a deep listener, an English teacher, a graphic designer, and a fellow navigator of this noisy and sometimes lonesome world. I am from the USA and have lived in Asia since 2012.
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Link to originalDocendo discimus. By teaching, we learn.
— Proverb
Why Am I Doing This
For a long time, I have watched the institutions around us fail to prepare people for the actual weight of living in a society. I even participated in the education system as a teacher, and, as a starry-eyed idealist, I suggested changes to administrations that weren’t interested. I watched intelligent, capable people exhaust themselves against relentless stress. They follow people who seem fake, deeply flawed, or out for clout and money. Yet despite their efforts, they end up more exhausted than when they started.
I built this program because I had found a way that helped me find my own strength. I learned how to let go, to follow through, and to learn how to stop fighting for control. In doing that, I realized that personal power isn’t something you find outside of yourself.
In my view, you can’t buy personal power, no one can give it to you, you can’t expect something or someone to save you, and it won’t show itself if you don’t look for it. It’s your responsibility. Your power is an inherent set of traits you already possess, but you forgot how to access them.
What I Do
My role in the program is simple: I man the lighthouse. I don’t chase correspondents, and I don’t force you to search for your power. I offer what I learned and put together, I stay in one place, and wait for those who have an interest in sharing my journey.
My strengths lie in creating an environment of absolute acceptance and acknowledging the present space. I picture my relationships with anyone who interacts with this program as co-navigators. I bring the tools, the structural frameworks, and the light; you bring the willingness to face the darkness you’ve been avoiding.
We figure things out together.
Who I Am Not
I’m not a person who is clamoring for attention or followers. I have never been a fan of the traditional “expert” model because I tend to leave room for doubt, even for the experts. I believe in science because it’s the best way we can understand our world. I also believe in the spirituality of humanity.
I am not a guru, a clinician, or someone who claims to have solved the entire world’s problems. People have different backgrounds and circumstances. I don’t see myself as your therapist, teacher, or superior, and you are not my student, client, or follower. I do not preach, lecture, or judge you. One of the things that I’ve learned is to see myself in people. When I do that, they become me, and I become them.
About the Logo
The Mr. Whitehorn logo has a story behind its symbolism, and it is an adaptation from my old, hand-drawn logo I created circa 1999. Both the old and the new logos represent my personal journey, and they serve as reminders of how I accepted my dark side so that I may grow. The significance illustrates the combination of good and evil, a fusion between Carl Jung’s Abraxas and Plato’s Ultimate Good. It’s a trophy not for bragging rights, but in reverent memorial to accepting fear, darkness, and negativity as sourced from the self, not an outsourced, controlling evil. It represents the marriage of light and dark in the ultimate environment of love such that one appreciates the struggles of life because of the resulting triumphs. It frames a lovely refrain where the pain was the rueful catalyst of personal ascension, not a surrogate transcendence where I was saved by a saint, deity, or superior.
The Description
The light form of good is represented by the dark silhouette of a unicorn, while the dark form of evil is represented by the light silhouette of a devil. This is where the logo reflects the characteristic of the yin and yang symbol, the perfect combination of opposites. The devil has two horns in light, and the unicorn has two horns in dark. This reflects the story behind the two characters.
The Story
The story starts with an evil, nameless devil that had no horns of his own. In his community of devils, horns were earned through deeds. He deeply coveted them because they represented status, respect, and power. He was a devil of no significance, just an impish prankster. He held no power, or so he believed, but he was desperate to change.
Thus, he crept and skulked in the shadows of magical forests of Earth to steal two horns from unicorns at rest. He had done those two unicorns an evil, for their own horns separated from them, stolen in the night. He wore both horns from the unicorns, and when they fused with his skull, he became the union of light and dark. His evil theft was balanced by the love contained within the unicorn horns. He felt a rising grace within him as the emotional forgiveness from the unicorns overwhelmed him, a curse to devils but a blessing in disguise. In the stillness of personal reflection, he realized his misguided thoughts and actions. He became Whitehorn: the shade, the space between, and a harmony of the light of good and the dark of evil. Light and dark merged into a love that bloomed to encompass all. His effort shifted from the concepts of evil and good to a love for everything and everyone. The unicorns also learned something: true forgiveness in the loss of power.
Now, Whitehorn sets about the world to spread his story of harmonic peace. Where he treads, his figure casts a shadow of dread. Yet a silent trial begins when one beholds him: to flee the monster or to stand and listen to its message. Those who flee are not ready, but those who stay watch the mask of fear dissolve into a tangible lesson of true love.
Disclaimer
The figures used in the logo are legendary creatures that carry their own meaning. Unicorns are often seen as good, while devils are seen as evil. The point of using these figures taps those reputations purposely. My personal beliefs allow for both of them to exist without disturbing my peace, but I prefer to focus on the idea of atonement and action toward everyone’s shared good.