Disclaimer: Once again I am putting out a disclaimer as both a reaffirmation to myself to keep myself in check and as a reminder to you, the reader, to not buy into anything I write or say or what anybody else writes or says for that matter, hook, line and sinker. The only authority by which I write is strictly experiential in that I am expounding and putting into words, which is difficult at best, my own personal viewpoint and findings. To take anything that anybody has put forth verbatim, as wrote is nothing less than a fool's path. That being said, this initial opening statement is also the premise for this next essay. I am writing only from my own limited view. I encourage all to take all such writing with a large grain of salt and do something rare and adventurous; think for yourself. Use only your own verifiable experiences and personal platforms of observation to go by. Please be brave enough to take off the sheep's clothing and begin to take responsibility for your own thoughts and courageously explore for yourself by yourself. Thank you for taking this little bit of advice into consideration. Now we can move on into just another idle aspect of my findings and observations.
Whom in the Realm of the Paranormal, that being anything in the field of study, such as it is, dealing with the anomalous, esoteric or unexplained, can wholly establish themselves as an authority of such?
According to the online dictionary The Free Dictionary.com, the following definition of the word "authority" is as follows:
au·thor·i·ty [uh-thawr-i-tee, uh-thor-] n., pl., -ties.
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- The power to enforce laws, exact obedience, command, determine, or judge.
- One that is invested with this power, especially a government or body of government officials: land titles issued by the civil authority.
- Power assigned to another; authorization: Deputies were given authority to make arrests.
- A public agency or corporation with administrative powers in a specified field: a city transit authority.
- An accepted source of expert information or advice: a noted authority on birds; a reference book often cited as an authority.
- A quotation or citation from such a source: biblical authorities for a moral argument.
- Justification; grounds: On what authority do you make such a claim?
- A conclusive statement or decision that may be taken as a guide or precedent.
- Power to influence or persuade resulting from knowledge or experience: political observers who acquire authority with age.
- Confidence derived from experience or practice; firm self-assurance: played the sonata with authority.
Crickets
That's what I thought. There are none to satisfy this definition in any way by any means. This little exercise should help one right away as a sort of BS Meter to which they can apply it to any contextualization and conceptualization of any aspect of the Paranormal or Esoteric. Period.
So right away you may have readily applied this simple exercise to any number of situations, articles, books and lectures that may have popped into your mind and found you were left with the radical concept of absolutely nothing. Bupkis. Nada. Not a bad turn out for your investment for those who have purchased an extensive library of a sort concerning the Paranormal or any aspect of Esoterica in general.
Now before anybody gets upset and starts to bang the drum of revolt in retort, just know that I am not denigrating the experience. I am not discounting your finding. I am not cheapening the phenomena. On the contrary. I am doing you a favor. I am helping you to perhaps see the co-dependence you may have developed by seeking information about your experiences from another source other than yourself. Perhaps you have done exactly that and maybe some words and concepts were resonating quite well with you and so in some way you may now parrot this individuals finding to others as their explanation seems to trump your own to a point of personal satisfaction. But does it? Have you really applied the conceptualizations of someone else to your unexplainable situation? Let not this last question become an open discourse on Religious interpretation or Spiritual Doctrine. That is a whole other article in and of itself. All religious dogma aside, I challenge you to find anyone that knows more about your experiences than you. Tell me prithee, should you find them because that is a concept worthy again of its own discussion and discourse.
The problem with authority in any aspect is its dictates based on a singular viewpoint that tend to have a psychological impact at a societal level. In short, the squeaky wheel has made unto themselves a leader. Leaders generate followers. Followers, in my view, and please see the above disclaimer so as to not rake me over the proverbial coals, are seemingly individuals who are either afraid or are too lazy to either formulate or trust their own viewpoint. It's just easier to let someone else do all the work and have a "I will sacrifice some of my own sense of self and identify as "other than" and in turn be lead by this other than because I am OK being a non-thinking sheep" attitude.
I'm sorry. But as far as I know, meek does not mean intellectually submissive. You have a mind. Explore it. Use it. Try to find its limitations and smash them into oblivion. It's not as scary as it sounds. The idea of exploring within one's self to help alleviate the mysteries of without seems way more sound than letting an external source with a make-believe expertise crawl around in your head and tell you what you should think and feel. Unless one is suffering clearly from some sort of mental handicap, the burden of how you interpret reality in and around you is your sole responsibility and no one else's.
So just think now, and I am talking to you experiencers in particular, on all of your anomalous experiences and how you felt and what you saw and what you smelled and what you touched. How can any other person have more information about those experiences than you? This is ludicrous. They can't. All they can do is take your first hand account and now translate it with their own filtration processes based on their experiences and vomit back to you something that makes perfect sense TO THEM. Not you. This is an authority?
More and more I find all of reality to be completely subjective, maybe ultimately so and what is more, entirely of our own making, manufacture and manipulation. Manipulation being an especially operative word there. Why? Manipulation seems to be the realm leaders of followers. They have formed a clique based on more than likely, someone elses accepted idea of truth and so in effect they have become manipulated and therefore by proxy in turn manipulate. A like thing begets a like thing. Only a conscious act of actively engaging your environment and taking responsibility for it will take you out of the "The Land of the Lost".
I think some folks have manifested the idea of needing an authority figure in their life because of reasoning that may be twofold.
1) They have low self worth and don't trust themselves and oddly misplace their trust in another with no way to know what is going on in that person's head. To me, that is truly scary.
2) It is easier to point the finger of blame squarely at an external source when things go horribly wrong. You do not have to own the mistake if you are the follower. You are just a victim, right? WRONG!
I cannot strongly stress enough how important it is that you find your own answers within and when you do find them, trust them. They are you. They are for you only, and no one else. Share your kind actions and teach by example. Moving air around is just that. If it is something so important and you just can't keep it to yourself for whatever reason, whisper it. People listen more intently when the message is softly spoken.
But what do I know? I'm no authority.
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