Dear Gail:
The subject is “The Authority,” which is a most interesting subject to me.
In the beginning I want to point out the workings of the human mind which have brought about the creation of the Authority. If I go on the deep end for the idea of enslavement, it means that I am pointing at those postulates which are made for other minds, including my own, for the purpose of holding me to a thought pattern, or the entanglement within the laws of the state, nation, religious, economical, political and other facets of life.
I want to point out here that the first factor of the mind lies in that direction of what everyone who knows the first principle of psychology: Every man is seeking to extract meaning from our environment, plus the fact that the pressures of his emotions are constantly being self-analyzed.
To find a plausible reason for any confused state of mind or environment is mainly his goal. We want to know the why, how, and wherefore of the world that surrounds us. Our mind protests against chaos. From childhood we are asking WHY.
So you see, this effort after meaning is broader than our impulsive tendency to rationalize and justify our immediate emotional state. Curiosity rumors result. Any odd-looking excavation in a city which has no explanation immediately will result in inspiring explanations of its purpose to curious minds.
This is where the authority was created. Someone will appear when the mind needs satisfaction to act as an authority to give answers, or the proper reading matter will fall in line. This is known as “The Authority,” or the “Other
Authority,” or putting your dependence in another authority.
He can actually be an authority upon the subject, a phony or a semi-ignorant person. It doesn’t make any difference, but the point I am making is that: nobody should, under any circumstances, accept the word of a so-called authority provided he can work out his decisions or his own knowledge on whatever he is seeking. You see, what I am saying is simply this — everybody is telling us something these days;
telling us how to vote, what to eat, what to wear, what to do without leisure time, how to raise the children, what religion is best for you, what house you should purchase, et cetera.
The authorities are numerous. For example, we have the physician who is an authority on health, disease and medicine; we have the priest who is the authority on salvation, spiritual happiness to name a few; we have the dietitian who is the expert on foods; the engineer who is able to construct buildings, and roads; the philosopher, teacher, politician, and a hundred others, besides the newspaper columnist who gives you the lowdown on the nation’s ills, and a like number of things. It doesn’t matter in which department of your life you may be lacking, there is someone who is the authority to tell you how to cure it.
Don’t get me wrong! All I’m telling you is that everybody is ready, willing and able to advise you. If you seek advice from someone or want to get help from another be certain that you are satisfied to accept that advice. A real authority is reluctant to render his knowledge to others. The reason is that he wants the seeker to work out his answers. And this reminds me that a long time ago I went to Sudar Singh seeking advice, and he asked me this question: “Are you certain that you don’t know the answer yourself?” He wouldn’t tell me. My question was: “Are you my Master?” I had given him the story of seeing him out of the body several
times and then repeated my question. His answer was the second time: “Go back to the Soul who appeared to you and ask him.” My reply was: “I cannot see this Soul at my own desire, so how can I ask him?” He laughed at this question and the interview was ended.
The authority becomes the “They” like in the movie the other night. Once you challenge anyone on their source of authority, the answer will likely be “They told me,” and this is to impress you that the informer is on the inside for getting special information which is to put you under a certain control, be it ever so slightly. This assignment to another authority is certainly one of the tendencies of the middle and lower classes in this country. Smarter people will assign their authority from a source book, an author, a celebrity, an article in the newspapers, a news writer, TV source or a religious leader, etc. There are people who can quote by the hour some sources from which they can impress others.
If you notice, many lecturers will use a set of other sources as their authority to back up their own authority. The listeners seem to demand this as a part of their prerogative for accepting the word of the speaker. Many politicians use this as their club to make their audience accept their word as authority; religious leaders do the same. For example, when JFK was in Nashville not long ago, he quoted from Socrates, Goethe, and other famed persons. Jesus used the Torah to quote as his authority — and Mohammed used the Old and New Testament; Buddha used the old Indian sacred scriptures. All use the other authority. Sudar Singh used the readings from the Sikh Bible and a few from the Indian scriptures in his nightly meetings. This is a pattern of all leaders and generally accepted for the use of making the listener take notice. The basic element in the technique goes something like this: “What I’ve just said is what Socrates
said, and because I know it to be true and Socrates’ words are backing me, then how can you doubt my word?”
This is the oldest gimmick in the world to get people into believing the individual who quoted it. However, I can point out that most people who use this technique are not thinkers in their own right. This is exactly what I’m trying to say to you. Do your own thinking. Let nobody tell you what and how to think — you can listen and if what they are saying has an element of truth within it then you can accept it. But how are you going to know that truth is being spoken to you?
First, one must be detached from feeling and let his intuition take over, and secondly, one must be able to pick out the truth
— in other words be discriminatory about what he wants to hear, and third, he must know the individual by reputation or personal friendship and that he speaks the truth at its best.
This is perhaps a crude yardstick, but it is the best I can give you at this time and will serve until something better is ready for your next step.
“The Authority” is a strange but nebulous creature. He can be everywhere at once or looming so largely over a person that he literally swamps them. I have been so impressed by some people at times that it seems as though they gave me a gold coin, only to learn later it would more likely be a lead or wooden nickel. Forgive me if I repeat myself by a Catholic priest once said to an audience in which I was sitting, that the westerners seem to lean so much upon another authority — true, for all answers lie within the individual. It needs patience and searching to get them out.
More later.
Paul
74. Ridicule