Authority

"You realize your strength by exercising your authority."

"God gives you the source of your strength, but you must exercise its guidance, and you must develop the personal skills that allow you to become a vehicle for Knowledge—a person of power and integrity, a person who can inspire others and can bring confidence, comfort and direction to others."

Inner authority

"Your authority is Knowledge--the Greater Mind which you have brought with you into the world from your Ancient Home to guide you, to protect you and to prepare you for your greater service and mission here."

"You have not become free of the mind yet. You must break from its authority so that you can exercise your authority. The mind exercises authority because you do not. It is not because the mind is a tyrant."

"You cannot control your greater destiny, but you can experience it, and you can find a way to express it. In this, you will have to make many decisions; in this you will have to assume greater responsibilities; in this, you will find your power; and in this, you will assume authority in your life. You are the captain of your ship, but it is not up to you to determine where it is sailing and for what purpose. Even what your ship contains is beyond your authority."

"This is what it means to overcome the world—to have a new foundation in life and a greater authority, which is your true authority in life, and to become an authority for your own mind and your own body. Then, everything is set in the correct proportion—your body, your mind, your spirit, your Creator. Do not think for a moment that you will be weak, helpless or passive in this relationship. Indeed, you will be asked to assume greater responsibilities and a greater authority in your life than you had ever considered possible."

"You cannot come to God as a beggar or as a thief because God does not know you as either of these. You must come as part of Creation, recognizing your own authority and your own place in life and recognizing the greater context into which you fit and of which you are a part. It takes a new kind of education to teach this to you and to help you to reclaim this awareness."

Authority in the World

"The fact that freedom is so rare in the Greater Community indicates and illustrates in innumerable ways the fundamental dilemmas of living in physical existence and the problems of power and authority in manifest life. Those powers and authorities that are not aware of Knowledge or who do not honor the existence of Knowledge will tend to oppose it and regard it as a threat to their authority and to the stability of the nations that they govern."

"Many people want to be divinely guided and appointed, to give over the reins of their own lives and to have a greater spiritual power direct them, counsel them and preserve them. This is a genuine desire, but within a Greater Community context, considerable wisdom must be cultivated in order for this desire to be fulfilled. It is very sad for us to see how people will give their authority away so easily—something they have never even fully had, they will give away willingly to those who are unknown to them."

Reclamation of True Self

"This is where you become strong. This is where you become united within yourself. This is where you follow one voice instead of many voices in your mind. This is where your true allegiance emerges amongst your other commitments and obligations. This is where you reclaim your strength and your self-confidence. This is where you stop behaving foolishly, giving your life away to silly and meaningless things. This is where you know who to choose to be with and how to resist the temptations that lead you elsewhere in life. You become strong because Knowledge is within you. You endure difficulty because Knowledge is within you. You can face pain and loss, illness and even rejection from others you care about because the power of Knowledge is within you. And when you meet another who has developed this power, your relationship will be on a whole other level—extraordinary in the world, able to create far greater things than you alone could ever produce. God gives you the source of your strength, but you must exercise its guidance, and you must develop the personal skills that allow you to become a vehicle for Knowledge—a person of power and integrity, a person who can inspire others and can bring confidence, comfort and direction to others."

"God seeks to reclaim you unto yourself and to bring you back into your true relationship with life as it exists here and now in order to enable you to find your place in the world and to fulfill your specific role here. God amplifies Knowledge within you and calls you to return to Knowledge and to develop a relationship with Knowledge and a reverence for Knowledge. This restores your self-esteem. This also validates your authority, which you must exercise in order to approach a greater authority.

You cannot simply give up your authority

and try to yield to a Greater Power.

This can never be effective."

"Giving up all of your authority—

thinking you cannot make a decision about anything or anyone,

denying your own perception and experience and

giving everything over to God—

looks like a wonderful freedom

and a wonderful escape,

but it is not the way that will restore

to you your true ability and your true value."

“Here you go beyond your preferences, your wishes and your feelings in the moment and exercise a greater authority over your time and your circumstances. You do this for yourself and for others. And though you proceed with humility, you have this recognition. It is a responsibility. It is a responsibility that the Wise everywhere must assume, sooner or later. It is what gives them their commitment and their power.”

"It is a return to shared authority with your Source. For in this you do not give over your authority to your Source. You render your authority in service to your source, because your Source needs your authority here in the world. God is not going to run your life and tell you what to think or make the critical decisions or take responsibility for the outcome, be it favorable or unfavorable. Do not say, 'God is leading me to do this,' or 'I am doing this because God told me' because how would you know?

Further Study

• Exercising Your Authority (September 26, 1995)

• The Gift of a New Life (May 14, 2011)

• Steps to Knowledge Continuation Training, Step 30: To realize my strength, I must exercise my authority.

See Also

The Mind

Steps to Knowledge

Integrity