Day 290: Realizing your Authority in Life

 

“The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram. They measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts conflicting with their personal conscience.” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

This experiment was redone by the Curiosity series and what they have founds is that most of the participants continued the shock administration despite not wanting to – they simply did what they were told by the authority figure.

What this showed is that most people will give in to Authority and obey despite their moral confliction. We can sit here and judge the participants and tell ourselves that if we were there we would not obey, but stand firm and say no to shocking, but that is not really true. The fact is that you would most likely have simply obeyed. We are doing this already.

From the very moment we enter this world and start participating we have accepted this world the way it is. We did not question why we needed to buy food, or why there are so many homeless – we simply accepted the system, never questioning it.

But what is authority really? Is Authority enforcement? Domination? Fear? Anger? Control? It’s not to control or to dominate or to enforce your will onto others – that is how authority is currently being abused in this world. No, that is not what Authority is. What does it mean to have Authority? What gives you Authority?

An example would be learning something from another. Let’s say you want to know how to plant a tree, and so you get someone who has the knowledge and experience on how to plant trees. Here this master tree planter shows you carefully how to do this tasks and the reason you are listening and doing what this master is showing you is because He has a greater understanding of the task at hand. And put simply that is what real Authority is. Its leadership based on supporting another and showing/teaching others what you have learned – you have the experience and within that you’re well versed with this task and thus have the Authority.

Don’t look at Authority and think about this world system or Law or police force or Government or fear. Those things are limited and abused expressions of the word authority. Real Authority is all about supporting others and yourself and sharing/teaching others things you have learned and have experience in.

Participate in the Weekly focus of Authority - find out more here: http://forum.desteni.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&p=58202#p58202

Day 209: How the hell did it get there???

 

IN a vlog I did a while back I spoke about being grateful for the food on your plate. Not to be confused with being grateful for some powerful higher being providing the food, no, but to have a look at each piece of food on your plate and see how it got there. The whole process from the earth to your plate, the labor involved, the packaging everything. You will start to see it is a massive process to get food to your plate as well as great suffering for the animal that had to die so that we may live.

Another cool experiment is to have a look at how that screen you are staring at came to be in your possession. From drilling for the oil to process it for the plastic to mining for the metals and whatever other materials goes into the thing. What about the road you drive on? Do you know what kind of work goes into building a road? It is a massive project and a lot of labor went into it – people worked hard on that particular road.

Even the building you live in – have a look at the whole structure and see what had to happen for that structure to be built. From digging the trenches for the foundations to melting metal for the nails and tools to put it  all together. Not to mention all the piping and draining systems and the electrical systems. People built that building.

I live on a farm and when we first got here it was not in ideal condition. Over the years we did a lot of fixing, building, planting and what not and it was a lot of work. I look around the farm at each fence pole and see the process that was involved in planting it in the ground, because I did the work. I look at the trees and I see what it took for that tree to be there, I planted it. I look at all the things we did over the years and truly appreciate what we have done, because I know what was involved.

So you cannot truly appreciate the building you live in or the cup that holds your coffee, because you do not understand what was involved in creating it. Once I looked at objects and saw what it took for that thing to get where it is I started to have some appreciation towards these things and the people who made it.

Give it a Go.

Day 175 - Respect your elders!

 

 

When I was a kid I was taught to respect my elders. I never asked why, but I had to respect my elders. Whenever I meet the parents of my friends I had to greet them “Tannie” and “Oom”. That’s Afrikaans. Directly translated it means Aunt and Uncle, but it is used even though you are not related. In English terms it is equivalent to Mister or Miss, Mrs.

This was considered good manners and showing respect. If I did not greet this way I would get into trouble, so the only reason I did this was to not get into trouble – out of fear.  All kids greeted this way. What it showed me is that my elders are more than me – I had to respect them, but they did not have to respect me, because I am just a kid. For me that is when I learned that people older than me has more value than me.  Superiority and Inferiority. 

Like so many things in my life back then I did not question this. I did not ask or wonder why I must respect my elders. I only accepted the answer “ It’s good manners” – Why is it good manners? “ It’s the way it is”. That is not an answer.  The better answer was that older people went through life longer than I did and thus they need to be respected for that, but that is still not a valid reason.  Calling an elder by their name was very disrespectful.

If someone actually did something – like save a puppy from a burning building – Respect. Or someone rescuing a person that was busy drowning – Respect.  A group of people finding practical solutions to end suffering – Respect. Respecting people that are older than you just because they lived longer and it’s good manners is not real respect. It is actually Inequality. It promotes the idea that elders and children are not  Equals.

I am not saying we all should be mean to our elders – no. Simply that using fear to enforce superiority is not the way forward. A change in starting point is required.

Children, parents – older people: we all come from the same ‘physical substance’ and are all equal/one in terms of physicality and so are All other beings on this earth also unified within physicality/physical substance. No one has more ‘life’ / ‘physicality’ than another.  Respect is that we respect life, the physical – this physical existence. We consider our actions and the consequences thereof and how it will influence another life. Respect that we are in fact equals and none are more than another. The only “problem” we as humanity have that is promoting inequality/separation is the Mind/Consciousness and how we “perceive” ourselves and others through it that we do not consider our “physical equality and oneness” and how there are more important things in life/living (like getting the human mind and life on earth sorted out) than placing value into how you “greet someone”.

This way there is no fear needed. No superiority and inferiority. No senseless manners that promotes inequality. I would have liked this – it’s common sense.