Consider this:
The Authority Test
When we are consciously endeavoring to build the higher alignment, we encounter a whole host of challenges that are completely different from those encountered in the efforts to pass the first two gates. I do not want to go into all of the challenges and tests that we encounter in this particular stage of the building. Many of us are well aware of many of them.

I wish to highlight one issue in particular. Over the past 25 years or so in working with individuals who are members of the planetary intelligentsia and who are beginning to awaken to the new group consciousness, that inner Fire we call Soul, I have encountered this thoughtform many, many times. It appears to be a serious, if not major obstacle for this rapidly unfolding group of brothers and sisters. In this light, it is good for us to understand that the expanding consciousness not only “awakens” or brings into conscious recognition Soul presence, it simultaneously calls out all of that within the field which will be in opposition to the expanding reality of the Soul.

The particular issue upon which I wish to focus is a boiler plate product of form identification. It is almost always present, and as the self focused persona integrates and gains power, the thoughtform which embodies this particular problem also integrates and gains power. Thus, this particular very subtle obstacle appears late in the developmental stage and is a formidable barrier to creating and entering into what I think of as the Higher Alignment.

This particular problem is always associated with the thoughtform, force field or ideal we call authority. In the illusionary reality of the separated persona, authority has to do with rulership and not leadership. The nuances of how rulership authority appears in a disciple’s life and clouds his or her vision are numerous and subtle. The sense of personal authority often masks a deep sense of pride and births such notions as exclusivity, privilege and entitlement. As we progress on the Path of Initiation this particular challenge takes on a more and more sophisticated appearance. All of these appearances, however, have one objective and that is to enslave the free will of the disciple in an illusion of extreme separativeness. One can become enslaved either as an authority or as a devotee of an authority.

How Authority Seems To Work
In general, the thoughtform of authority is germinated and gains definition and power through a process of separation. One gradually becomes “greater” than or “more” than others in some respect: stronger, smarter, more cunning. Or, if we are talking about “spiritual” individuals, more wise, pure, holy, sensitive, loving.

At any rate, one becomes an expert or authority in this or that. A deep objective and driving force in the development of becoming an authority is to gain a more enhanced view of one’s self and to overcome the learned and engrained sense of self worthlessness which frequently lies at one’s core.

The deliberate use of authority to impose a position or condition on others is totally alien to the Soul. As the separated persona gains status in authority we use all our power, knowledge and understanding to dominate and bend to our personal will and to the degree that we can our entire environment. Our success in this seems to us to enhance our personal value. Our effort is to gain authority over as wide a circle of our environment as possible.

As devotees of authority we frequently turn true teachers and leaders into authority figures and then shower and bask in their glow. We are flattered that we too are special and that simply by virtue of claiming association with such a wonderful being we too are authorities to those who we deem as lower or not as close to the aura of the authority figure as are we.

It is this particular nuance of authority that turns the concept of hierarchy inside out.

This particular obstacle or one might say in the technical language “glamour” is one of the last barriers the disciple faces on his or her way into the Higher Alignment. The sense of authority, either as a ruler or as subservient to a ruler only exists in the illusory world of separation. Building the Higher alignment is a group endeavor. Success inevitably leads one ever deeper into the realization that the soul is group conscious, and that separation is an illusion.

Standing in the clear light of the soul, the acquisition of knowledge or any skill or art is totally dedicated to the service of humanity. One becomes expert so that one can better give, can be a more perfect instrument of service to the Plan. In the process one discovers the meaning and significance of the ancient Way. “Through self forgetfulness, We gather what we need for the helping of our fellow man.”

Leadership and Rulership
As humanity moves from the illusion of the separated self conscious view of reality into the new holistic or group conscious realization of Life, we move from the authority of rulership into the responsibility of leadership. This evolution or movement, in a broad way, can be seen as the process of evolving through intellect into Wisdom. One gradually ceases to be an authority and becomes a teacher or way shower, a leader rather than a ruler.

The function of a leader is to reveal the Endless Way we call the Path. The leader does this by embodying and living the Path. It is not the function of a leader to lead anyone but him or herself.

The function of a ruler or an authority is to impose a program on others. The function of a devotee is to follow the ruler and impose the ruler’s programs on other lesser beings. Each of us is “condemned” to freely choose to follow the path of his or her choosing. If we choose to choose to abrogate our free will, we will reap the experience of that particular choice. It is through such experiments over kalpas of time that humanity has learned to understand the deep limitations and glamour of authority and or rulership.

The simple fact is that there is no authority except Truth. The first premise of Truth is that there is no authority because Truth is infinite, ever beyond our grasp. Whatever little understanding we hold, including this one will eventually be revealed as a tiny fraction of a greater understanding.


Small man with big fact
Smugly enters the front door.
Truth slips out the back.

There is an additional aspect to the glamour of authority that plagues many would be disciples.

Many of us have lived through many lives as both perpetrators, and victims of authoritarianism. The net result of all this experience, most of which was extremely uncomfortable, is that there abides deep within the consciousness of many of us a very strong sensitivity to the presence of any kind of authority. Most of us have probably been told at one time or another by those in authority over us that we have a problem with authority. How true.

Something “goes off” as soon as we sense any approach as a possible effort to gain power over us. Our automatic reaction to such a sensing is a strong, sometimes violent, rejection of whatever it was that we think is threatening us. In one respect this is good, In another it can be a tremendous, subtle and difficult blockage to our progress as Souls

This condition, particularly when it manifests in “spiritual” circles is sometimes called the glamour of self sovereignty. This glamour has many masks, but it often manifests as a proactive and arrogant defense mechanism called skepticism. Its most deadly form is doubt.

The genetic thoughtform of this proactive mechanism feels like and seems to be rooted in fear. We have had countless experiences in which we have been victimized by those in authority over us. Thus the fear of losing our own authority over ourselves and there by being dominated by some other person or force is deeply engrained and very powerful. The reaction is usually a thoughtless kneejerk rejection, often violent, of anything that appears to us to deviate or challenge in any way the held positions from which we derive our sense of personal authority and comfort. We see such incoming data or views as an effort to gain authority over us.

This rejection of "authority" frequently manifests as rebellion to any kind of guidance or help that would have us see things in a different perhaps more clear light. The victim of this very subtle glamour frequently blocks him/herself from any kind of guidance from the higher dimensions of Life.

Not a very efficient way to walk the Path.