The Conflict of Authority

The question has been posed, how is it possible that all authority is corrupt? Don't we need authority to function as a civilized society? This is a very important question, one that should be considered carefully. One should examine it with as much attention to the inner process as well as to the obvious external realities. If a person is at all serious about an inquiry that is unbiased and without preconception, then there needs to be a realization about the self. That realization should be that which enables one to look without distortion at the fact of the moment.If the absolute truth is in the moment then one must be capable of being in that moment without the interference of the past as the memory of what was. We cannot realize the truth without negating the past which is our conditioned thought our prejudiced opinions and conclusions.

If one looks at the politics of organization and its accompanying rhetoric, it becomes apparent that there is but one goal, power and influence. To be able to exert ones agenda on others and draw them into a conformity that promotes a sense of belonging. Essentially an organization creates laws or rules of conduct that are favorable to the the continued efforts of the authority within that organization. Authority does not become corrupt. It is corrupt because "it is" authority. When ever you set yourself up as an authority, singularly or as a collective, you have been corrupted and are corrupting. Why is this so? Because one is attached to an ideal, that ideal becomes the justification for power over another which creates violence. That violence maybe physical or psychological, but it is all the same, to confine ones thoughts and actions to the tenants of an organization. In life one is continually being corrupted by authority, so one in turn is corrupt and is also corrupting. It is ones own authority as the self that is seeking power and influence. That influence can be political, spiritual or of the corporate variety. The intermingling of this power and influence peddling is the creation of a morass of self serving power brokers that seek only to cage the individual and give one the narcotic of conformity. This conformity results in the narrow mindedness of a collective that seeks its continued agenda at whatever cost. Can one see the division and conflict that positional ideals create. Such a mind is closed to the freedom and understanding of the moment. To be free of authority is to find the truth of the moment. It is to see into the nature of the self that is the one who chooses and who is chosen. When there is no choice there is no conformity. In choiceless awareness there is the possibility of understanding that transcends the ideological limitations of thought. One sees into the origin of thoughts fear. Then there is the possibility of the timeless, that which is the illumination of the unconditioned.

Authority is the antithesis of freedom. The two cannot exist in the same room together. To realize the truth one needs to continually be overthrowing the authority of the moment. The authority of the self which is the authority of the other. If one sees the corruption of the self as the authority of the moment, then that authority will dissipate. The realization of the true self is the overthrow of all authority, both the internal and the external. One who is totally free cannot be corrupted. There is a lack of conformity to any system or organization, therefore one is not seeking power and influence in the demeaning of another. It is the end of conflict and the beginning of intelligence.

How can a society be totally free? It has to start with the individual. If one has realized total freedom then that freedom is the reality of the moment. People seek security in conformity, but that conformity is their prison. Your freedom becomes their freedom because they see that you are unattached and that you have understanding. You accept what is and in that acceptance is the essence of freedom that is not a result. Real change is not a result it is the outcome of freedom that is without a purpose. The fact is you are already free, you just have not had full realization of it. It is blocked by your own inner authority which is the authority you give to the other. You do not have to be controlled and made to conform, but in order to be truly free one has to start with the inner self. The self is the origin of all authority and until one has fully realized the duality of thought as the one who concludes and judges true freedom will not be realized. One will only exchange one type of conformity for another.