Authority - An Exploration

Did you get instant shivers down your spine when you saw this card? Images of condescending judges or strict teachers, or policemen? Ugh. It's a loaded word. We've been beaten into submission from day 1 of our lives. The entire beginning of our lives is about achieving conformity from the strong, independent will of a child to the will of the parents, other adult figures, school teachers, babysitters. The older you get, the more authority figures there are to acquiesce to. And it kills our spirits. We lie down and we take it. Because to question takes a lot of energy. "Problem with authority" is seen as an immature quality. Any time you've heard it said, there was probably an air of disgust and shame and condescension behind it.

When I drew this card yesterday, my immediate reaction was to run. It's a disgusting word. Amongst words like Contribution, Partnership, Openness, Play, Enjoyment, Perserverence, there are a few words in this deck that throw me off. Order used to be one of them. I'm still working with that one. The word Authority sends chills down my spine and makes me stop in my tracks and stop breathing. I've had a problem with authority my whole life. As a little girl, I didn't want adults telling me what to do, and if they did I would tell on them to my mom and for whatever reason (for which I'm really appreciative), she would take my side and stand up for me even though she has always accepted and acquiesced to authority as a moral virtue.

How could Authority be a good, positive thing? I had nothin'. I looked up the definition.

Then I took to facebook to see how others reacted to the word. I asked if there was anyone who had a positive relationship with the word or knew of a positive connotation. I got answers about having Authority over your self or your own life and how Authority can be gained without force but with trust.

And this opened up a new way of thinking. Yesterday I was struck by a spiritual teacher I watched on YouTube who had a pronounced self confidence, and now that I'm thinking about it.... Authority. Her voice was full of absolute conviction that she was speaking Truth and she could be trusted. It came from deep down in her root and out. She spoke from the core of her being. She used to work in the very top ranks of the military and now she delivers messages from spirit.

One thing that I've come to know in my life is that Love, Appreciation, Wellness are always the dominant vibration in any given situation because Love is what we ARE. It's what we're made of and it's what makes the earth spin and our hearts beat, and it's the fabric of the universe that everything sprouts from. Yet since just the notion of authority makes me squirm and want to shrivel up and die, I've never explored my own innate and natural Authority in the context of anything but my Authority over my self and my very own life. Yet I am an Authority on what I know. People come to me to help them with their lives, and I'm an Authority on many subjects when it comes to.... Authority over your self and your own life I guess.

To operate out of connection to source Energy which means to be operating from Love, we have natural Authority where someone who is imposing authority by force does not. Authority by way of Love and therefore connection to source energy is intrinscic, unshakable, and overpowering. It takes precedence over all because again, it's the Source of all. When we're connected with that, we're in our power. Authority by force or because of position on a hierarchical power ladder is based off of fear and resistance to Love and Wellness. Yet in our human minds, that kind of authority is all powerful. We shrink at the mere thought of it. We lose our will and our connection to our Innate Power because when we were children everyone was bigger than us and we learned that when authority was imposed to just freeze.

A black man was killed while jogging this week by two white men. Our system has been constructed so that black people, native people have been beaten into even further submission. Centuries have been spent systematically and vigorously pounding into them that they have no power. Poor people are stepped over and are powerless through the eyes of the authorities. But all of us have the ability to do something so far beyond brute force which is connect with Love which is all powerful. Love is connective. It's intelligent. It's peaceful. It knows. And when we're connected to it, we can speak with an air of Authority because we're coming from the truth of all that is. In that connection, we can feel our invincibility. That voice of authroity comes, and if you're like me, you often freeze and spiral into powerlessness in a snap. Authority must be held to diligently in the face of what we've been trained to immediately freeze and acquiesce to. During times of being presented by forceful authority, we must be careful to stay cognizant and connected. We must be careful not to react and think thoughts of separation or fear but to willfully and diligently connect to ultimate truth which is Love and act and speak from that place. Because we all have the ability to connect with infinite intelligence and our source energy by choosing feelings of Love, we can connect to an intelligence that knows how to guide all. This energy doesn't separate you and the other and punish the other. It unites. It fixes. It creates happy, whole solutions for all involved. That is the Authority that we can tap into by choosing consciousness and awareness.

Love is understanding and compassion and union, and when we connect with that, while the other is in fear or reaction, we're in a natural position of Authority. This Authority is inclusive and loving and connective. That is Ultimate Truth.

Alignment with our true nature puts us in a position of Authority in any given situation. Imagine the good that can come to this world if more of us step into that position of Authority and act from that place. Imagine the changes that can be made for the good of all.

Authority is never power OVER and is sometimes listening with compassion and not speaking. It's openness. It's vast and wide. It's wise and intelligent. When we're in a state of Love, we're in an open place where we're connected to the One Mind that knows all that is known. And we have access to that. Instant connection with and access to all that is known. Clarity. I have done this many times in my life but have never associated it with the word Authority. Even now I hesitate to make that connection. I'm still not sure of this word. But I do know that if there ever is to be any Authority, it can be only that.

Words are interesting because the majority of our relationship with them is emotional. I love my Daily Blessing Cards because they push me to explore my relationship to concepts. Words are interesting things. They're labels for notions and ideas, and we're the ones who give them life. Exploring our reactions to them and the way we feel about them helps us clean up our beliefs about them and our relationship to them. Love and clarity Is. It's The Tao, Source Energy. All that is not that is pinched off from The Tao or Source and therefore from its very lifegiving power. We can explore and bring our awareness and our understanding into harmony with the Truth of all that is which as I've said is Love. All that is not Love is pinched off from its nature.

As a white female who grew up in a middle class family I've lived with a certain privelege in comparison to other groups of people in America. But at the same time, none of us on this planet are exempt from the brute power of others. As I've matured and I've thought and I've explored, it seems that even those at the very top echelons of authority and power by force are there because of their fear of others which puts the others in a place of authority, doesn't it?

Living with little money over my adult life has shown me a lot about authority.

I've also observed the positions of my black neighbors in our society up close, and it brings me great sadness to see that even I have more privilege than them in the face of authority. It's hard for me to believe that what I've lived with is privilege because in my eyes people in power have been everywhere pushing me and telling me what to do. It's overwhelming for me to think about how people who grew up with less money and people who aren't white feel about their own power and Authority over their own lives within this society.

For us to get into alignment with our Source and our innate Authority and personal power would be the most beautiful thing I could imagine. The thing is, it's not just people of color and people without a lot of money and women who need to align with our power and personal Authority but the white men who feel so vulnerable that they feel the need to enforce authority over others by way of brute force that perhaps need that connection most. When I think about it, I wonder if we all don't feel like victims of one another. Humans are so afraid of one another. Everyone's trying to get theirs from a place of such lack and disconnection. It makes me cry. How did we end up like this, and can we find Harmony?

Once again, my conclusion is Compassion. I imagine the levels of fear and vulnerability that people feel about their jobs and their lives and their places in this world. People feel that they need their jobs because they feel so insecure in their place in our society, so they can't connect with their innate Authority from that place so they do the only thing they think they can do to survive which is to exercise any authority that they can find. If a person has been disconnected from their innate personal Authority for decades and they've been victims of authority their whole lives, then the only way out of that precarious and vulnerable situation would be to get into a place of authority yourself which is somewhere on a hierarchical ladder of positions of power over.

Is humanity caught in one giant power struggle?

We all belong on this planet. And we don't have to compete. There's enough wellness and intelligence in the universe for us all to thrive. Other humans aren't something we need to be afraid of. Even the most daunting and imposing of humans perhaps just need to be listened to and reminded that they come from something good.

Human relationships are so complicated and especially so in the complex web of societal systems and structures of lack and domination. But each of us can find our own connection. And from that place we can inspire others to their own place of connection. I have an Instagram account called Harmony and Interdependence on which I'm exploring how we can find Harmony in all of our own personal relationships ultimately leading to Harmony and Interdependence for all. Follow if you want to join in on the experiment.