Rebellion Against Authority

If you see the modern world as the result of a rebellion against authority, you are not mistaken. First there is the rebellion against God, then against established hierarchy. There is rebellion against nature, rebellion of woman against man, of youth against age and so on all leading to an overturning of the natural order of reality, and all based on ego.

But not only based on ego. Ego is a major driving force but there is also the legitimate search for freedom which is part of the general evolution of the human being. The problem is how do you allow for one without falling into the excesses of the other? That is a major question of the present day because at the moment it is certainly the rebellion of ego that is determining conditions, and it is doing so because there is too little understanding of what there is that is more than ego.

The parallel with adolescence is obvious and it is not too far -fetched to see contemporary humanity as in an adolescent stage. The worry is this though.  Adolescence is something that should be got through relatively quickly but we appear to have got stuck in it. We think it is natural for adolescents to throw off the shackles of their elders, and so it is to a degree, but we are probably over-influenced in this view by the recent past. Traditionally, adolescents did not completely reject the wisdom of their elders nor did they have as much freedom to go wrong as we give them now. There was more of a balance between authority and the need for self-expression. That balance is being lost and needs to be rediscovered.

But where can it come from? Where will we find wisdom in this day and age?  We cannot return to traditional religion because it belongs to an earlier age of complete submission to authority. Those that do seek so to return run the risk that they do so artificially, as a self-conscious rather than a natural act. The freedom we are developing, while it has many problems due to our spiritual immaturity, is nonetheless essential for our development. We can certainly be inspired by tradition but cannot wholeheartedly re-embrace it. We can seek inspiration from the past but must apply that to an inner awareness that seeks to know God more directly. As so often, it's a question of choosing the middle way.

Real spiritual authority must ultimately come from within, from a personal connection to God. That is what we must all strive to develop, and it is why Christianity, as it stands, is no longer enough. It can even be conceived of as restrictive. However, before you have developed this connection you do need external guidance, and if you throw that off prematurely, you lose the centre and can go very wrong. See the world today for a perfect example of that.

Here is my suggestion. We need, first and foremost, to return to Christ, the Christ of the gospels, but especially that of St John because it is in St John that we best see Christ in his dual form as both the external Light of the World and also as the inner light that lights every man that comes into the world. This is the balance we are looking for, Christ out there as the incarnate Son of God who reveals both truth and law in his person, and Christ within who shines in our hearts when we acknowledge his presence there. 

Remember, though, that we do need both. Those who restrict their spiritual approach to one or the other will fall short. If you look for Christ only beyond yourself, you will remain on the outside of spiritual reality looking in. If you seek Christ only within, as many who follow Eastern paths effectively do, you risk isolation in a spiritual vacuum which may seem peaceful but ends up by being narcissistic and potentially illusionary. We need to follow higher authority, as in the true spiritual pole star, and inner realisation to be complete. 

Contemporary humanity has rejected traditional authority which had its roots in revelation but it has replaced that, because replaced it must be, with its own authority. But this is not an authority that comes from an inner connection to truth. It is unsupported authority based on nothing substantial since you cannot understand the totality of reality by focusing only on its outermost aspect any more than you can know what an apple tastes like by examining the peel. We do have a personal connection to truth but we have cut ourselves off from that by misidentifying with the outwardly expressed parts of our being. The way back is through Christ, first by following him as the living image of truth and the touchstone to reality, and then by finding him within ourselves. But the two go together. If you think you have found spiritual truth within but don't recognise Christ as the real source of that inner reality, this can only mean that your vision is still blurred and your journey incomplete. Certainly there are other spiritual paths but they must all end, one way or another, in Christ.

For Christ is at the centre of all true spiritual paths and, if there is not something in your soul that recognises that, it is probable that your soul is not in harmonious relationship with reality. Christ is the point at which authority meets truth.