The Authority Trap
I have been involved with many masters and teachers in a variety of spiritual traditions over the past 25 years, and have also been responsible for assisting hundreds of students during this time. Through this process I have learned much about the concept of authority. For most people the idea of authority implies an unbalanced power dynamic wherein one person has capabilities or knowledge that the other does not. The one with greater knowledge in any specialized field typically holds a superior position in the relationship.
The dynamic of authority depends upon childhood dramas of powerlessness, during which most people have become conditioned to submit to all authorities. In most cultures, this conditioning is extreme enough to cause people to fear their own power. Being conditioned into the idea that one is powerless and must seek knowledge from a true authority inflicts a great deal of harm upon individuals, and keeps humanity as a whole operating at a lower level of consciousness. (more…)
