Who's in Charge Here, Anyway?

For a long time, we in America, and in the western world, lived with some universal authorities (actually, all cultures live with universal authorities...it is simply the human way)...Yes, Martin Luther decried the corruption of the Catholic (meaning universal) Church and started the Protestant movement...but that just makes the point, protesting against the universal authority...Our founding fathers (maybe a mother or two) established that we had certain inalienable authorities (rights if you must) and the march that began with the Magna Carta reached fruition in America....

In America, we believed in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the three branches of government and the two party system...We believed in our goodness, ultimately, and we believed we meant well for all the world...We were the good guys and our leaders were Washington, Lincoln, Teddy, Franklin, Ike and any of a number of Kennedy's...nobody, EVER, stood up in congress and called them a liar...and nobody, EVER, told their child they would need permission to listen to their President...we had authorities...Doctors, Lawyers, Statesmen and Clerics...Our scientists were pure and focused on truth...life for the rest of us had order and perhaps a chance at justice...then someone noticed that the Emperor had no clothes....

Today, the gen Xer's and Yer's have many authorities and none at all...and in the process it has affected us all...We are the most data inundated, communication available, information polluted generation ever...and there's not an authority in sight...Oh, I'm sorry...there are eight hundred, forty seven million, nine hundred and sixty three authorities in sight every eight minutes...it amounts to the same thing...we have no universal authorities...everyone believes anything and backs it up with everything or nothing...having a million authorities means having no authorities at all...and as fun as that may...there is a problem....

No matter what, in a social group of Human Beings when there is an absence of authority a vacuum is created...the universe hates a vacuum...and begins to fill it, but not always with the highest quality of 'stuff'...we as individuals, need authority in our lives...(even you two, who are certain[on good authority] that you don't need any %#$&*! authority...need authority)...When, as now, no ONE authority exists (by ONE I mean approximately one...majority one or consenses one) then twenty pop up then eighty and so on...WE CAN'T AGREE ON A THING!!! (and, of course, probably not even that)....

Is there global warming...or not...is religion helpful or hurtful...is free trade good or bad...is America on the side of right or just the "might side"...do we fight for oil or justice...is capitalism the root of all evil or the savior of mankind...Are they REALLY too big to fail or is it a scam???whatever the issue there aren't only two sides there are twenty, or twenty thousand, or twenty million, or twenty one more than people talking about it....

What do you believe? Who do you quote as authority to back that belief...How sure are you that your position is right! Just! The best! and how likely would it be to find ten more people in a room of twelve to agree with you? (I'd say that would be unlikely, but, of course, I couldn't get ten people in a room of twelve to agree with me....)

So, what...so we don't have any authorities anymore...who cares...the chaos it creates, the paralysis it empowers may be a good or bad thing depending on who you ask, or what search engine you prefer...but like it or not we need authorities and our society will flounder around until one emerges...maybe we should take notice and make sure it is the one we want...or not...who knows...how can anyone know anything anyway...do we really need to have authority in our life? Again, I'd say yes, but....

It already happened...Obama, was a nobody, someone outside of the political machine and he captured not only a nation, but the world, we are hungry for fresh authority, honest authority, just authority and it will not come from the bankrupt institutions that have failed us to date...we will need to search our souls and find our truths from within...we will need to learn how to trust, and what to trust, by learning the process of trusting...we will need to learn how to have faith in ourselves and the truth of our wisdom and the certainty of our uncertainty...we will need to compare our souls for common ground that over arches the failed authority of churches, governments, corporations and military urgency's...we will need to wake up...learn to live in the NOW of authentic self expression...find universal truths in living with respect, compassion, peace, kindness and service to our world and our neighbors...we must eschew the divisive, enjoy our individual practices and respect those of others...we must learn how to live with dignity and learn to support the dignity of others...we need to walk away from hostility and support others to walk away as well...we need to believe in the possible and strive for the impossible...we must take solace and give solace when we fail...we need to empower those of us who seek to lead with these values and once again show our respect for our leaders when our leaders have gained that right of respect through honesty and diligence...most of all, we need to find real authority in our lives...the kind that can be shared with confidence by our neighbors...a daunting task...may be a while before we achieve it...many of us will check out and just try to get by...not a bad thing, but, in time we will discover some new universal truths and in the mean time, remember...love the one's you're with, until next time, I remain, Respectfully Yours, Larry






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