All problems are problems of external authority

This is a very all-encompassing statement, so bear with me and see if you agree.

When think about it, you’ll realize that a majority of your life has been lived because of what authority figures have said about who you are, who you should be or what you should be doing.

These authorities may have been well-meaning parents, family or friends.  It may have been a teacher, preacher, book, philosophy, religion, or advertiser.

Once you buy into the authority’s view of you, you become less of yourself and more of them.

They become the authors of your life.  

Having an external authority gives you a sense of security and control. It offers you something you desperately crave – security, acceptance and value. It’s all an illusion, but you seek out authorities because of these deep-seated needs. Plus, it absolves you of some responsibility if things go south.

Once enslaved to an external authority it’s very difficult to extricate yourself. It takes an immense amount of honesty and self-examination. Most people don’t have enough courage to go through that process.

Questioning the authorities in your life can be disorienting and discombobulating. You have an established and entrenched belief system that involves your very identity. Much of that identity is based on what external authors have told you to believe. Dismantling these beliefs is brutal.

Ultimately you are the only authority in your life. No one else has the right to tell you what to believe, think, or how to live. If you want to be free you must question all external authority.

If you don’t, you will live a life enslaved to the ideas and desires of others.