Video Summary:

I want to talk about authority in the sense of where we look for direction in our life. Where do we look for decisions and how to live our lives? My observation is that we tend to look for authority outside of ourselves. In our culture, authority is often a relational thing that gets established between people.

So relationships have degrees of authority. We learned this at a young age ultimately from our parents and other adults, such as teachers and coaches. Later it becomes bosses or supervisors. We may make our significant other an authority, or a friend or family member.

The suggestion is to consider making yourself the authority. Then it becomes less relational. You may say, "Well, my boss does have authority over me." And that may be true, but perhaps this could be a role that you're fulfilling, and you could still have authority over the way you live your life.

I want to talk about three different dimensions of these tendencies of authority. And the first is power. An authority figure is often a place we give our power. We may consider them to be more important than we are. They may have a higher status in our culture’s caste system of power and importance.

Our tendency may be to show deference to them, which places power outside of ourselves, which is always problematic. Our alternative is to bring the power back to ourselves. My invitation is to inquire into who or to what you give your power. And how you can stand in your power and act from there.

The second dimension of authority is truth. Where do we look for truth? To our boss, coach, internet, science, or spiritual teaching? Are we giving the authority of our truth to these things, or do we allow them to awaken truth in us? Whose truth is it- theirs or ours? How can you find your own truth and live according to it?

The third dimension is responsibility. If authority is outside of us, then often responsibility is outside of us. And not having to be responsible may be the payoff for giving away our authority or power. If I give my boss the power and truth, then it's her responsibility if something goes wrong.

If I move from my truth and power, and I make a decision that does not work, then I have myself to look at. I could say, “Okay, that wasn't the best decision I made, but now I can learn from that.” This way, we get to be in our integrity. Our integrity is living according to our own truth and standing in our authority.