(20) Authority

"Who are our teachers in God? Who are the authorities, rather than
the powers, in our lives?"
[Eric Dean, SAINT BENEDICT FOR THE LAITY, the Liturgical Press,
1989, p. 18.]

Comment: At the time of this book's publication Eric Dean served
as a Presbyterian minister as well as a professor of Humanities.
He also was an ecumenical oblate at a Benedictine abbey. As for
the question he posed above, well it's one of those critical questions
which one ponders over religion or spirituality.

It's a question that has taken me years and years to work through.
"Authority" sometimes has been so tainted that it seems nearly
impossible to accept these days. It's not just all the misdoings of
power-mongers in Religion, but also amongst the same kind of
crowd in Politics/Government and in the Commercial sector. It's
all so sad, really, to see the downfall of honorable Authority.

This situation leaves lots of people in a hard place, especially
when it comes to our concept(s) of God. Just observation, but
many folk apparently need to be told about God by some recognized
authority. If nothing else, it's like starting a car that hopefully will
move you along. But lest we forget, the driver of the car is *you.*

So is it ultimately that you are the authority? Up-to-a-point, perhaps.
In the great religions, the individual is expected to mature and start
thinking more deeply so as to grow into the ideal(s) of their religion.
For some this does happen, but it surely is different for each and
every one who works to ever higher plateaux of be-ing.

I used to scratch my head, wondering why so many of us remain
at kindergarten levels when it comes to their religious study, while
at the same time so many of us study carefully the many other
disciplines we employ to become skilled, which we need to make
a living. It would seem that our Faith Systems would encourage a
more depth approach when it comes to religious thought.

Again, while studying Religion I moved into the realm of Spirituality.
That's another kettle of fish, I believe. For me Religion represents a
collective, culturally transmitted Faith System. It's usually inherited,
but it can only grow and develop if we continually inject more depth
and expanse into it. Religion's authorities, I believe, need more and
more to become wise teachers who will help all of us rise to ever
higher levels in faith development and ensuing positive, concrete
action.

On the other hand, there's personal experience when it comes to
God in our lives. For me, that's Spirituality. And here we need
reach a point where we recognize personally, within our souls, that
there *really* is Some One present that is Beyond us! And if we
finally come to recognize this special Presence, it is this that is our
Ultimate Authority.

I tend to think of this Ultimate Authority as the Holy Spirit. The
challenge, of course, is discerning the message(s) we receive
from the Spirit. Some of have become quite adept at this, hence
we have saints, mystics, spiritual masters who provide a quite
different kind of authority than those wearing the robes of Religion.

Still this is too simplistic. Sometimes a great Spiritual Authority
can be wearing those religious robes, but more than often they
have to be careful--because they are in the service of an institutional
environment. They have to walk a fine line, sometimes needed just
to survive!