There
was a short discussion about religion and other topics and because I took a
different point of view on something, I was asked by who's authority I know
this. It was an interesting question. It was sort of fun to be put on the spot
and even outnumbered. I smiled at the challenge. So, I said, "by my inner
knowing." So, I was told that this is not an acceptable authority. "On the
contrary," I said. "It is the best authority."
What
I thought was interesting is how we look to someone else as an authority figure.
It doesn't matter what it is. We claim that the doctor has the authority, the
teacher, the therapist, the mother, the father, the church, the Bible, the guru,
the Internet marketing genius, the person who has written the most books, the
movie star, and the list goes on for days. And, in no case, is it ourselves. It
is always someone outside of ourselves that is the real and viable
authority.
I'm
educated sufficiently. I am an avid reader and have read many hundreds of books,
and I love learning and I like to follow learning from certain sources deeper
than others. It isn't because I consider them an authority or the authority, but
simply because what and how they are saying a thing resonates with my inner
self, or my inner being, or inner knowing. It is as if I have only confirmed
something that I already knew.
I
like how Oscar Wilde said that, "education is an admirable thing, but it is well
to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."
The teachers that I study seem to be teaching me what I already know, and that
is how it resonates, along with the fact that it feels right, or more precise,
it feels good.
There
are many things I've tried to learn, even to the point of memorizing parts of
it, and many times that learning never felt right. It didn't really matter the
source or how high the authority was, it just didn't resonate truth to me. In
fact, most of my life I had a lot of this from a wide variety of sources and I
was instructed to trust the authority or respect the authority or believe it
because of the authority, and all the while, it just didn't feel right. I
couldn't discuss that with those people because to challenge it was to deny it
and it offended them. So, many like myself, just clam up and go with the
flow.
It's
only in the last few years that I've trusted my inner self or inner knowing. Now
I trust it more than anything. If it resonates and feels good, I go with it and
if it doesn't resonate and feels bad, I let it go. I think that we give up our
own authority all too easily when it is there to serve us if we but pay
attention to it.
One
last thing on this idea is that I have at the same time learned to allow all
others to have and use the authority of their choice, to have and choose
thoughts as they may and to have joy that whatever is chosen by them is serving
them as they would like. I do as I feel is best and allow and encourage everyone
else to do the same.
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