Rise
by
Juanita Price and Carolyn Cutler
Part I: Toward the Basic Good
The Positive and the Negative
Here are some ideas...let's think about 'em.
Ac-cent-u-ate the positive--so speaks the hidden wisdom of a popular song in the 1940's. The wisdom is "hidden" because a song is only that--a song. It lacks the scope necessary to inform our understanding, to let us know about the multitude of finer points embodied in any bit of wisdom.
For most of us, these finer points begin with our attempt to apply wisdom to a given situation. But then, situations vary, and that is what stumps us.
We can get past it.
Human wisdom is mostly simple common sense, which some of us use while others don't. Still, used or not, common sense is not a miracle worker in the solving of even some of our most petty everyday problems with one another.
Why not?
Because human wisdom is limited by human nature and is therefore vulnerable to emotional assault.
Not so for spiritual nature. It has no such fault. Spiritual nature as a nature is not within our human boundaries. It is higher. We access it by rising above self. Spiritual nature is the home of higher wisdom. And higher wisdom works miracles for the common Good in uncommon ways, perhaps because understanding is present.
For instance, human wisdom recognizes that "it takes two to argue." High wisdom, with understanding epitomizes "it takes two children to argue."
Oftentimes, the profound appears as an understatement. It's something to watch out for, else we might not "get" it. As this book progresses, it is my hope that all readers get it, not only that but keep it also and most importantly--USE it.
So. We can return now to accentuate the positive and unstump ourselves at the point of its application. What is it?
Think.
Think big...think...overall!...
We think therefore we know. We know that we hold in our hearts the identity of this positive that we are instructed to accentuate.
Love.
See how easy that was? But there is more to know and, yes, we shall know that also. Since love is the embodiment of all that is positive, we need only to perform love to accentuate it.
Loving.
This is no joke. The question is not begged. A lot of us love but are not loving. And it makes all the difference in the world. It makes all the difference needed in the world. It makes the world different--
We can have a better world.
The song goes on to tell us that we need also to e-lim-i-nate the negative. The negative force combines a hodgepodge of uglies to weigh us down, hoping to crush us underfoot. Well. In light of that, we can see how its elimination is to our Good. The question remains, though--
How?
Just so we understand what we're about here, we are talking about behavior. Positive behavior and negative behavior. Behavior is the primary ingredient of human situations, conditions, and circumstances. Put the other stuff on hold. The authority and power of the adult individual is harnessed and used productively by that person's positive behavior, whereas with negative behavior the elements of authority and power go unchecked, creating ever-widening pools of disturbance. Which brings us back to the question of "how."
By now we know.
Discipline!
Plain and simple. Oh, really? How plain? How simple?
Not nearly enough! Today's use of the word "discipline" has stretched to include any number of meanings, some of them too complex or otherwise unsuitable for laying a foundation upon which to build.
Now. In the simplest terms of all, discipline means allow/forbid. And what we all are busy allowing and forbidding relative to ourselves and in dealing with others, is the stuff that lifts us up or tears us down.
At this point we recognize what the world knows now (human wisdom). Accentuate the positive translates into love, and eliminate the negative is a requirement for discipline. Love and discipline are mandatory in successfully rearing children to adulthood--so say the experts. There is no quarrel here for we know it to be true. It's only common sense. Children need both love and discipline. Either one without the other wreaks havoc upon the child and beyond.
A point further and we recognize what the world needs now (higher wisdom). And now we no longer have two words (love/discipline). We have but one: Lovingdiscipline. This word is an expression of spiritual depth, a principle of higher wisdom, and a technique housed in profound understanding. And more. Lovingdiscipline is explained fully in a later section of the book--after we explain some things that are its foundation.
Let the mantle of lovingdiscipline commence to fall upon us, for the world is crowded with children--of all ages. Many of these children sit in authority as heads of families, corporate bosses, government officials--on up to heads of countries!
On Teaching and Learning--Wisdom
Now is the time for us to begin to cultivate an understanding or at least an awareness of a phenomenon so naturally woven into the fabric of our everyday lives that we fail to see its pattern. And pattern is the thing here because it is directly linked to our capacity to learn. But then, there are three types of learners: those who learn quick, those who learn slow, and those who learn not.
The natural phenomenon, so patterned in our lives, is simply a trio of teachers. Their natural order is: Instruction, Example, and Experience. They are everywhere, surrounding us daily. Even so, many of us fail to pay attention to the lessons being taught--which is very very sad and utterly wasteful.
The first two teachers use any one of us as their agent. The third teacher deals with us on a more intimate level. Yet all three of them have their own particular gift to bestow.
Instruction:
This is the first teacher. When we think back to the time of our infancy or childhood, we realize that she had a whole host of agents--beginning with our parents. These agents were constantly informing us of do's and don'ts. As schoolchildren, another dimension was added; we became able to read the do's and don'ts.
So then, we discover that Instruction appropriates language as her tool of choice. Makes sense now, that the pattern places her in the forefront of our learning. From the time that we can discern adn speak our first words we come under the tutelage of this gentlest of all the teachers. Words, whether spoken or written, propel us forward into the waiting arms of Her Honor--priceless Instruction.
And her gift to us?
KNOWLEDGE.
Example:
Example speaks louder than words...practice what you preach...
Most of us grew up being fed large doses of these and other old adages, some of which we will discuss later, but these two have to do with our second teacher.
There is no way I can bring myself to chance boring us all with the numerous recitations of the better-known attributes of this teacher--we've heard it all before. Instead, let's just cut to the chase--a brief but illuminating look at the stanch underpinings of Her Majesty.
First, courage is her requirement, while action is her tool. She teaches from both sides of the coin and her lesson is plain whether an example of what to do or what not. Secondly, appreciation is her DUE because someone else pays for our lesson. A thing taught under this teacher costs. That price is not deducted from our own hide but from the hide of s/he who became the agent. So. We render this owed appreciation through the simple act of taking the lesson to heart, for the gift of this teacher is WISDOM.
Experience:
We've reached the hard part. I do mean hard. Experience has been acknowledged as a teacher for as long as I can remember. Most of us have heard these words over and over: "Experience is the best teacher!" Well. I don't know about that--being the best I mean--but she's surely a hard teacher and sometimes a fatal one to boot. Anyhow, perhaps we can just chalk it up for the best teacher being the one we learn from. That way, they all get to be "best" at some time or other.
Wouldn't it be something fantastic if we all could grasp the simple, finely orchestrated POINT of it all--the pattern? That the first two teachers are given to spare us the agonies associated with too much teaching from the third!
Yes!--and were we to use our heads at all, we could freely make the following bold statement: If everything to be learned was taught by only the one teacher--Experience--the human inhabitants of the earth would shortly have perished.
We are not made wiht the ability to withstand the total unleashing of the tool so fondly used by this teacher. Yet, some of us seem bent on challenge. Earlier we mused that there exist three "types" of learners. Here now we can see that the third type are those who heedlessly return again and again to the same lessons taught by this final teacher. Having turned a deaf ear to Instruction and an unseeing eye upon Example, they have no other recourse. They make their lives unnecessarily hard by shoveling through it being hardheaded.
Now. Experience is a "hands-on" teacher. What she has her hands on is a big whipping stick. And the Old Lady is so fond of it, she even gave it a name--Suffering. The above-mentioned people suffer needlessly for surely it is apparent to us all that many many of life's lessons can be learned at the hands of the first two teachers; we do ourselves service in learning these from them. But, by the same token, there are other things that ONLY experience can teach. And those lessons are not punitive, since they are most valid.
A case in point--childbirth. A woman cannot "learn" the miracle of her body's power to reproduce and its attendant feelings by either Instruction or Example. She bows to the teacher called Experience.
We do not need to worry all the meat off the bone to get the message. We each can recall an instance, or many instances in our lives when, after enduring something--probably uncomfortable to us--but when finished with, we muttered in awe to ourselves, "now I...understand!"
So. Suffering may be the tool. But the precious crowning gift left with us is UNDERSTANDING.
Right now we could go on and on searching out the riches of the nooks and crannies secreted within the Teachers' domains. Or--we can choose to not push--allowing these treasures to reveal themselves to us without effort, throughout the natural course of this book. I opt for the latter. Yet, before tip-toeing softly away, we may need to wrap ourselves in the loving embrace of this essential awareness:
Knowledge speaks, and taps upon the door of the mind.
Wisdom acts and begs entrance to the heart.
Understanding answers, and seeks her residence within the soul.
To help us digest the essence of this discussion, here is a poem:
Life Story
INSTRUCTION spoke gently
I heeded her not
Young, and foolish
I soon forgot.
EXAMPLE uncovered
Her courageous face
I failed to fill
That emptied place.
EXPERIENCE hard, cruel, and mean
Thrashed me soundly, left me lean
I wept, for lessons previously taught
So sorry now they went for naught.
Introducing Children, Adults--and Self-Discipline
I do not know just what we all might be expecting here...some hard-nosed sermon, no doubt--a stern lecture of some sort, reminiscent of a few biting remarks snatched from childhood.
But no, here we are attuned to needs. Two. The first need is for us to become consciously aware of the PREREQUISITE for gaining self-discipline, more precisely, the opportunity for gaining. The second need is to realize tha self-discipline has a pronounced beginning but no end--it is an ongoing increasing obligation of that species that would call itself human.
Now. The mentioning of childhood was not done of frivolous purpose, for childhood is where we must visit to build a framework through which we can study need number one: the prerequisite for gaining self-discipline is none other than the gift left behind by our first teacher. The teacher being Instruction, and the gift being knowledge. Knowledge precedes self-discipline.
The Age of Prevention:
People generally refer to this time span as "the age of innocence." True, when speaking from the perspective of the child. But there is another perspective: that of the person whose responsibility it is to PREVENT--harm and damage coming to or from the child.
During my workshops I will often ask the participants to identify various differences between adults and children. Of course, there are many and these groups come up with quite a few of them, but the one I press toward is the issue of self-discipline: Adults can discipline themselves while children--especially young children--must be disciplined by someone else.
For instance, a ten month old creeper attempts to grab at a hot oven door to pull himself up on but the watchful parent traps his baby hands in hers, drawing him away from the danger while saying to him, "hot hot hot." She has the knowledge that he yet lacks. "Ot," he mimics, looking into her face from his two eyes innocent and smiling.
So then, we see that for everybody's life, before knowledge comes prevention. Young children have to be prevented from harming themselves, and others as well. The younger the child the more prevention necessary. There are all kinds of devices that aid parents in all of this preventing business, i.e., safety gates, high chairs, playpens, whatever.
Society acknowledges this age of prevention concept by holding the parent totally responsible for whatever harm the child might do to itself or others. That is to say, no blame whatever is laid upon the child; it all goes to the parent. If a two year old manages to get hold of a bottle of bleach or other dangerous chemical and injures or kills himself, the parent is totally responsible and at fault. No blame is laid upon the child. It is the parent's job to prevent. Why? Because the child does not know.
Should a two year old come upon a lighter left lying on a table, play with it, set fire to the house and lives are lost--
Failure to prevent.
Very young children are naturally destructive: I say naturally because they don't know any better. Leave a group of little children in a room full of perishable valuables and they will destroy them in their play; really, it's only natural. Supervision is necessary to prevent such destruction.
Very young children are natural thieves: their eye lights upon a small trinket--costly or not as the case may be--and they like it. Next thing we know, it's in their reaching baby hands. Their premise is: I see. I want. I take!
This line of reasoning makes perfect sense to a child living in the age of prevention--totally uncomprehending of the rights of others. Again, the parent must intervene lest the bandit make off with the booty.
This time span lasts a bit longer for some children than for others, but still, society requires that it be brought to an end at some point in time. And as we know, this responsibility belongs to the parent.
So. What must happen then is that the child must become less dependent upon the parent, in the issue of prevention and other life issues as well. Society aids in this procedure through decreeing that which may be used as evidence of an individual's maturity--simply age.
Excuse me?
Age is the most widely used--but in my estimation--the least worthy criteria for determining maturity (adultness). There are many many MANY of us whose chronological age is in no way indicative of our emotional maturity. Some of us think that age and maturity go hand in hand. Well. It ain't necessarily so. Age marches steadily on without so much as a backward glance at maturity left stuck in a pothole far behind.
Age and maturity operate from different origins. The origin of age is Life; a thing given to us. We don't have to do one thing to earn age, it is ours as long as we live. The origin of maturity, on the other hand, is work--no automatic gear shift here--it's manual labor all the way! Those who don't "work" simply get older and bigger, which is to be differentiated from the process of actually growing up.
The Age of Knowing
Let us see now how best to pull our ideas together to enable us to continue to reason out our chosen topic of self-discipline.
We might begin our clarification by equating age with knowledge and maturity with wisdom. We remember that knowledge is the gift of the first teacher and wisdom the gift of the second. We understand that the "age of prevention" precedes knowledge. However, once knowledge makes her debut, expectations (by society) of good behavior follow.
"RATS!" (scream the kiddies). Ah, well. It is human nature even for adults to sometimes not want knowledge concerning a particular thing for the simple reason that knowledge is usually accompanied by responsibility (oh, darn!). Through knowing, we come face to face with choice--choosing between responsible behavior or irresponsible behavior with its very attendant consequences.
Earlier it was said that a simple definition for the word "discipline" is "allow/forbid." The definition holds for self-discipline also since it is the tool with which an individual governs her own behavior. An adult is totally responsible for her own actions. A parent is totally responsible for the actions of the child during the age of prevention. Yet there is a time of "rest" between these two totalities. Betwixt the span our parent is toally responsible and we become--as adults--totally responsible, there happens an exploratory sort of "shared" responsibility.
Look to the doings of society yet again for the evidence of such a happening. We can use the setting of a fire again to illustrate our point: A twelve year old wishes to impress some friends. He knowingly risks fire by choosing to impress these friends by doing tricks with a lighter...
Society's reaction to this is not the same as for the two year old. No way. Responsibility, and the subsequent blame, are laid upon both the parent and the child. the parent by virtue of being, and the child by virtue of presumed knowledge (knowing better). No such presumption was held in the case of the two year old.
Clearly, the twelve year old's exemption is past.
To equate knowledge with age is to utilize their similarities into a passion for deep thought. Say now, how shall we come up empty? Begin. Firsts! Knowledge and age are both firsts. Knowledge is the gift of the first teacher while age is our first attributive glory. They both are also, in a sense, free. Primarily knowledge of basic intent attaches to us without any attempt on our part to learn it. It's just there--everywhere in our lives. We cannot live and expect to escape this attachment. As babes we gain knowledge that our crying brings others to us, for good or for bad. We begin to know there is a difference between feeling good and feeling bad (hungry bellies and wet bottoms). We start to know a familiar face from that of a stranger...
Later on, there is knowledge that must be strived for, and answered to; yet the "free" aspect of knowledge continues throughout life.
The rascal, Age, is comfortable with this same profile, but its mainstay is its unalterable attachment to Life. We cannot live and escape age, yet we do nothing to earn it--it's just there--within us--as life is within us. From the moment we are born (and before) we preside over its ongoing, unstoppable accumulation.
Having made a case for knowledge and age, we may now be wondering how we might accomplish the equating of wisdom with maturity. I think we know, but we'd like to discuss it some anyway. Just to be sure. Okay, briefly, then. Both wisdom and maturity operate from a deeper source than knowledge and age. That is, we ourselves must put something in the pot to gain these elements; they are NOT free--in any sense.
They require work. They are customized to the individual. Two people born at the exact same time acquire identical ages, but not necessarily identical maturity. During the age of prevention the "free" aspect of knowledge can be expected to be about the same also. Yet, later on, the two parties may be worlds apart in the attainment of wisdom.
Suffice it to say, then, that wisdom and maturity are attributes acquired personally by an individual, while age and basic knowledge are "givens"--given indiscriminately--given impersonally--to all.
A Matter of Choice
When all is said and done, the fact remains that society expects adults to exercise discipline over their words and actions. Having had eighteen to twenty-one years to learn right from wrong, we should be able to comply. Many are not, because of failure to develop their potential overall. Self-discipline is not a quality achieved overnight; the building of it begins early. Knowledge of right and wrong presents us with the opportunity to develop self-discipline--we stand faced wiht choice. Without this knowledge, choice is nonexistent.
Whether right or wrong, the choices we make are our own responsibility. However, the more right choices we make, the more maturity we attain, and wisdom combines with knowledge; a good thing, too, since knowledge without wisdom destroys...
The Issue is Power, The Issue is Authority
One of the most prevailing words in use today is the word "power." From the spread pages of magazines and newspapers it leaps toward our eyes; it strikes at our ears through the blaring of our radios and t.v.'s. But what does this word actually mean?
To my mind, the insidious and rapidly escalation of the use of "power" during the past few years has resulted in a most elaborate and intriguing...misconception! The error belongs to us all--piped to the masses by the voices of the learned--who should know better. What needs to be understood, and quickly, is that the power word is gainfully employed in the usurping of the properties and functions belonging to another word. The word is authority.
Now, people everywhere are confusing the meanings of words all the time--nothing new, we say. What's the harm? Probably not much, generally. In the case of power and authority, though, there is a great harm in the usurping of one by the other. We will see in this section and across the whole of this book exactly what that harm is--it is deep in the structures of our communities; unmitigated, it penetrates our souls.
For now, to begin the unfolding of this understanding, suffice it to say that the harm of confusing power with authority removes an adult's primary equipment specifically useful in the defense against--and the prevention of--abuse of their person. And, as we all know, or are beginning to realize, abuse now prevails in every conceivable form, within and without, across the barren face of the planet Earth.
If we are ready, now, let us initiate an investigation into the meaning and function of the ill-used word "power."
Power Personified
As indicated by the heading, we begin our investigation at the precise point that power can be brought into clearest focus--the personal power that each of us has. In order to even see the jeopardy that confusion between the two terms powe and authority engenders for us all, we must break power down to its original source--the individual. Everyone has power; we are all born with it.
At this point, we can clarify the kind of power that we are discussing. We do realize that there are different kinds of power. For instance, there is the power generated by Nature--storms and such. There is also mechanical power produced through the ingenuity of people throughout the ages.
And while we're at it, let's clear up something else. A number of things in life are construed to be power; money, for instance, and titles. But money is simply a symbol--a method of exchange. Titles are symbols, too--they are symbols of identification. But for each, a person must appear--to carry the title, to handle the money. Without people, neither of these things count. They are as nothing.
So. The definitive power here is human power. This power is animate and it is the power which fuels human relationships. Human relationships dictate world order!
Are we comfortable?
Strolling through any good dictionary or thesaurus, we find a variety of words synonymous with power, where in the clarification of its meaning begins to emerge. Look.
Pinpoint the error; there is one.
[Click on the picture to make it larger and then click on the back arrow of your browser to get back to the text]
Here we are running smack-dab into that confusion between power and authority. It's everywhere...everywhere. But it's very telling here. If we take note, we will see that authority equates with power, but only as a synonym for power. It does not hold up! We do not find the word "authority" mentioned with any of the other synonyms for power. Yet the other synonyms show up to support each other again and again!
Let me state plainly that power and authority are not synonyms; they are two very different elements. Not only do they differ in meaning; most importantly, they differ in function.
Were we to choose but one word from our several lists to equate with power, that word would be energy. By thinking of power as energy we access a clearer understanding of the use of power. Power is an abstract concept, and when we translate it into energy to get at its meaning we still have not done enough...Our next step is to present power to ourselves in a physical, visible form. And since we are discussing human power, why not further translate power into an easily recongizable human term that works to bring our comprehension to the fore. The formula is easy.
We comprehend it...now!:
1. Energy = Power
2. Power = Body
3. We all have one.
Blood. Tissue. Bone. Wrapped in skin--animate--the human body is human power. Whether speaking of a single individual or a conglomeration of billions, the same holds true. Consider it. Question it. What "power" does a baby have? Why--that baby has whine, kick, cry--throw a fit--power! All that energy wrapped up in its tiny little body, why, enough power to turn the whole household upside down; we know that now, don't we? Babies use their power as a need procurer because it's all they have to use. And even though many many adults also use their power as a need/want procurer, the tactic remains basically infantile. The more we understand power, the more we can see that this is so. We speak here of negative procurement on the part of the adult. That is, using poewr to trample upon others in a headlong rush for self-satisfaction. Babiels and little children can be viewed as "trampling" upon others by virtue of their actions which do not recognize the needs of others besides themselves. {maybe an example here?} But all of us, being born dependent, we have no choice in the matter; we--all human beings--begin life like that. This is negative only when we continue in that mode past the allotted time.
Throughout our lives, then, we are constantly using our power (body), whether to good or to bad.
When we perceive power in the physical erm as body, we realize that something is amiss wiht the now favored power/powerless model in use today to presumably explain the dynamics of abusive human relationships. The first half of this model leads us to believe that power is everything; it is not. The second half of this model gives the impression that nothing is in it--that a person or group of people have nothing. Equally untrue.
What is true, though, is that the person(s) being represented as the powerless (nothing) half of this model does indeed lack something. But it is not power they lack--which brings us to the second portion of our whole topic.
Authority
Having bitten off and savored half of the loaf, we'd best go on and chew up the rest of it.
Authority is a little-used word in today's world. That's because the highly touted power word has opened up its wide mouth and swallowed it. Think about it. All we hear mostly is power this and power that. Really. How often are conflicts and situations being described as a "power struggle" or, in the case of more intimate relationships, "power imbalance." All the time. Day in and day out. Oh, we might find authority thrown in here and there sometimes, as an afterthought, usually. But if we want to command respect and be taken seriously we will wear a "power" suit!
Enough. Time for more strolling.
What we have here is a repeat performance. The synonyms for authority fail to support its equation with power. In fact, the lists of synonyms for each element bear no resemblance to one another whatsoever. So what is this disparity between them saying to us? Very very plainly they say to us that there is indeed a vast difference in the meaning and function of the two forces. Power is one thing--authority is another.
What, what? Say again! The discovery here is tremendous.
Our investigation into the workings of authority compels us to select a word from the lists of synonyms that "says it all." But I confess right here and right now that I find this to be a hard thing to accomplish, simply because several of the words are so descriptive of what authority actually is and does.
Wait a minute...what need of panic? Fearlessly now I leap into the width, breadth, and depth of that conglomeration of synonyms and emerge triumphantly, with the taste of one sweeping statement upon my tong: Authority is a governing force. Its inherent right is that of rulership (be the boss). The accompanying responsibility is to oversee and keep control of (manage) those affairs under its jurisdiction. By this we understand that authority walks not alone but with rights and responsibilities astride its back!
Woof. That was tough. Yet there is still that "word" thing needing to be settled. I opt for "control" as the operative word. In it I see all the other words coming together, to sit in just one chair at the table.
Still, let's not forget that authority, like power, is essentially an abstract concept, and describing the term by use of the word "control" does not quite place our feet under that table. We seat ourselves by translating authority, as we did power, into an easily recognizable human component that clarifies just what is at stake here.
Ready. Set. Go!
1. Control = Authority
2. Authority = Head
3. Children are "Headless"
Wow! Time is past for dallying; how quickly can we do this? This quick: the human head houses the seat of the faculty of human intelligence and reason. The head, with its gray matter intact, commands the processes of thought and decision-making, since the body does not think, but simply...acts. Knowing this, it is not hard to perceive the head as the symbol for personal authority.
It was noted earlier that all human beings have personal power since it is a birth attribute. But herein lies a difference between power and authority. We are not born with authority even though it too is a birthright. The birthright is realized through our entrance into adulthood. Til then, the parent "heads" the child, which is to say, has authority over that child. The child then, so to speak, is headless.
It is not a new thing to regard the word "hear" as denoting authority; we do it all the time, only here, I am requiring that we pay some attention to the dynamics of it. We've all heard--and probably used--a number of head/authority terms ourselves. How about "head of household," which clearly signals to mean, "the person in authority." The phrases are all over the place; the head of the corporation, the head of the party (political), the head man, and so on.
And--hey--remember way back--when the "Martians" landed? Copping their line, we all went around saying, "Take me to your leader." The line was spoken by the Martians' head man and he was demanding to be brought in contact with ours. He was the one in authority over his group. Then too, I've heard people inquiring simply, "Hey--who's the head here?"
Another aspect of Head worthy of looking into is that business about "losing one's head." We all know what it means. It means behaving crazily or irresponsibly. But in light of what we have been discussing here it really means that one has allowed oneself to take up residency in the "headless" sphere related to childhood. And often enough this results in someone else having to exercise authority over us to control this situation--the same as a parent must do to control children running amok. And we really do not want that, now, do we?
So then. Every adult person, by connection of the head to the body, is an individual package of authority and power at work. The head, as personal authority, rules over and controls the actions of the body, which is personal power. when we view authority and power in this light, it is easy to understand that each is forged as complementary to the other. They operate as a team. Authority commands and power obeys.
We return now to what we call the power/powerless model--the current popular notion that some people have "power" and other people don't. We have suggested that allowing the word "power" to usurp the properties and functions of "authority" is harmful. How so?
Well, to begin with, you can see that this model says nothing about personal power and personal authority that we have been discussing. In fact, when we think of a person as being "powerless" because someone else has all the "power," then we deny that person's ability to act and to control his/her actions--the elements which we have called "personal power" and "personal authority."
We all have something to offer in our own behalf--our energy and the control we develop over our own energy in the process of becoming adults. Yet the power/powerless model fails to acknowledge this. In so doing, the power/powerless model sets people up as having nothing and it precludes their ever changing the status quo. Under that model, "powerless" people must wait until the people in "power," through their largesse or whatever, "give up" some "power." Now when is that going to happen voluntarily--and consistently? And how are the people in "power" to learn of the necessity of doing this?
We need a model that speaks Truth to us. The model now in place allows oppressors to hide behind a seemingly impenetrable position, by reason of the oppressed, again, seemingly having nothing with which to unseat the oppressors.
We need a model that allows for the possibility of change not based on "power" tactics--violence, mayhem, murder, all tactics which involve uncontrolled energy (does this sound familiar?)--but change based on adult tactics which are bloodless, free from violence--and effective.
Authority and power have always been an integral part of us as individuals and as participants in the whole of human kind. We just have not been seeing these elements clearly enough to understand their use in bringing about better life conditions for our personal selves and selves the world over.
Let me say now that we have not "made" a case here; we have merely presented that which already is.
With the introduction of the authority/power model comes the need for exploration of authority/power relationships. A whole new bag. We will not delve into it just yet. Set it aside for now. We shall return to distribute these goods later--and allow no one to go lacking.
But. Do not leave this place empty-handed. As we prepare to venture further up the path, let us carry with us this one potent seed of understanding: Authority and Power are interconnected, interrelated, interdependent, interactive, and intercommunicative...
What they are NOT, however, is...interchangeable!
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