In the media and in everyday conversations, the 2016 Presidential election has been routinely called “unprecedented.” For some, it is unthinkable that a man like Donald Trump could wind up in the most powerful office in the world. For others, it is equally unthinkable that a woman like Hillary Clinton could.

The election has also been characterized by enormous polarization. I’ve heard people say they won’t put a Trump or a Clinton bumper sticker on their car for fear of their car getting keyed. There are threats of revolt if the “other side” succeeds.

If we step back, remembering that all people on the earth go through the same, multi-stage evolutionary process to become more fully conscious and fulfill our human potential, the polarization gets transcended. We start to see that there’s actually a lot of similarity on both sides.

For perspective, first consider what makes for a great leader. Great leaders are mature spiritually. Due to that maturity, they have the capacity to go through all six evolutionary stages within their lifetime, enabling them to come out of the refiner’s fire and assume a position of leadership where they lead wisely and selflessly, in true service. Selfless, service-oriented leadership is only possible when there has been self-declaration (“I Am”) and then purification, so that the ego is ground down and the individual no longer identifies with personal needs.

Nelson Mandela is a great leader in whom that developmental process is very obvious. He emerged as a leader against apartheid (“I Am”), but then was imprisoned for many years. When he was released, through the process of purification he underwent while in prison, he was ready and able to lead wisely, selflessly and powerfully. Of course, not every great leader has to be imprisoned to be purified—purification can happen in any number of subtle ways—but in Mandela’s case, imprisonment was the vehicle.

In both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we have leaders who have clearly passed the milestone of self-assertion, but they are behaving as if that stage (Stage 3) is eternal, and it is not. (To their credit, this is a basic misunderstanding in current western society and throughout much of the world, dominated as it is by western thinking.) But the life stages inevitably prevail. Each in their own way, through this election, both Clinton and Trump are finding their efforts thwarted; they are undergoing the surrender phases following self-declaration.

What used to work, just isn’t working any more

In Trump’s case, he has been stunned to discover that his mandate is not as self-evident as he assumed it would be. A man who, for the past twenty years, has rarely had his thoughts, words and actions challenged, suddenly in the sphere of the election, he’s found his words examined at every turn and often used against him, damaging his prospects and—just as bad—his hard-earned, hard-bought brand.  These are all hallmarks of the surrender phase. In the surrender phase, the Type A’s “achiever” modus operandi just doesn’t work anymore, and there’s nothing to do but stew in the astonishingly fact of being thwarted. Most leaders in this phase simply trudge on, as is he.

Hillary Clinton is undergoing a similar process. While on paper, she has many Type A achievements to her credit and is perhaps the best qualified candidate who’s ever sought the Oval Office, people just don’t like her. They don’t trust her. The email issue has not gone away because it’s based on a fundamental, unresolved suspicion that the Clintons have been too accustomed to power for too long and (people worry) can’t tell the difference any more between what’s appropriate and fair or not.

Notice how similar the positions of both candidates are! Both have been hugely successful. Both are at a point in their lives where they have started to assume that success is part of their identity. Yet suddenly the dynamics of election are grinding down those assumptions—their entitlements, if you will. This is all classic surrender phase stuff.

From the American populace, strong, exasperated, disbelieving voices continue to cry out to both candidates, “You are not fit to lead!” Actually, all those voices are correct. With their purification phases unfinished, neither Trump nor Clinton are ready. No matter who wins on November 8, America will elect a candidate whose ego-identification will be the biggest challenge to their effective leadership going forward.