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From Dictionary:

the power to influence others, esp. because of one’s commanding manner or one’s recognized knowledge about something

Authority takes many forms: It can be your teachers, your local priest, the president of your country, the authors of the books or blogs your read, the master guru marketing maven expert and the list goes on.

We first encounter authority in the form of, you guessed it, our parents. We look up to them as the ultimate source of authority. After all, they feed us, provide us shelter, they change our diapers and basically make sure that we survive and thrive in this world. That is fine in itself as our parents probably want the best for us and it’s certainly a good thing that we can rely on them at these early stages in our lives. This concept is not bad in itself. The problem is when you go from accepting to believing in that authority.

I Am An Expert

Personally, I do not practice expertise. I tend to approach life as a generalist;

• learn something of interest
• practice it enough so that it becomes a skill onto itself
• teach it to others
• keep improving it
• move on to the next

One may see this as a “Jack of all trades” approach to life and that would be close to the truth. I believe you don’t have to be an expert in any field to largely benefit from it and I certainly do not care to become one.

When you are the expert, people come to you for advice, they look up to you as the leader that can provide them with the answer. That in itself, is bound to lead to deceptions of all sorts.

Now, let’s clarify things a bit, I am not suggesting that we should stop gathering valuable information from trusted sources when we need it, I do that all the time. For example, we it comes to health matters, the first guy I go to is Dr.Joseph Mercola. He as provided me with insightful knowledge on various health subject and I will keep going to him a long as his material is valuable to me. Yet, I do not see him as the great authority or expert that holds the ultimate truth. The best he can do is provide me with knowledge that comes from his own personal experiences so hopefully it will make sense to me and his audience.

Let Me Take Responsibility For Your Life

One of the main functions and deceptions of authority is to shift the responsibility from the person who seeks it, to the person who claim to yield it. Too many people are deceived in that way. This is especially true with spiritual leaders. Folks go to them expecting to have an answer to questions about the meaning of life or to their little inner torments. They want to validate their beliefs, to remove the burden of their own existence from their shoulders and put it on these so called super know it all masters.

This is when deception occurs. You can’t expect someone to hold the truth about reality for you without being deceived by them. No one holds the truth to your reality. Heck, they may not even understand what their own reality is all about. To Avoid this guru type know it all BS, you have to take full responsibility for your life and stop putting it on someone else’s back. Where you stand right now, with all your circumstances, beliefs, thoughts, emotions, goals, etc, is entirely created by you.

Question Authority

In light of all this, I personally want to invite you to question authority in all its forms. Ask yourself:

• How did I end up believing that X holds any form of authority?
• Why would X’s value to the world be worth more than mine in any ways?
• Do I think of myself as authoritative?
• What does my view on authority tells me about myself?

Of course, these are just a couple of random questions that can help you to observe yourself and hopefully gain a few insights about your ways to deal with authority if you are willing to be open enough to see the answers. I challenge you to abolish this unequal view we have of the world and of the people that surround us. Whether you are a clerk in the local shoe store, a prolific freelance writer or the president of your own country, in the end, it doesn’t matter. Whatever form of authoritative power someone has, it’s most likely because it has been granted to him by others.

So question Authority, wherever it comes from:
Parents, friends, doctors, public figures, rock stars, books, newspapers, blogs, etc.
Also, question your authority, my authority, question this! Do not reject everything you encounter and rebel against it, just be wise enough to observe with your own wisdom and fair observations what is really going on without being clouded by the ever distorted opinions and judgments of others.

Words From No Authority

I will leave you will a famous quote from Siddharta Gautama, the Buddha himself, who certainly did not see himself as any kind of authority:

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.

But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

- Buddha…

Zasta

Tags: Beliefs, Zen