Challenge…

Ok folks. Welcome to a new year, again. I have spent the last year reevaluating key assumptions and structures of belief in my life. It has been a work, and it is far from over, but so far, the rewards outweigh the cost. There is a popular bumper sticker that says, “Question Authority.” Yes, we all have a notion of what it is implying, however I want you for a moment to think about your authority, or better yet, what, or who, gives or has given you authority. This is a broad area effecting home and work because there are a multitude of structures we have created and adopted to maintain our perceived authority. Yes, you read that correctly, authority is a perception, and perception is a projection of a belief pattern. Herein lies a challenge I propose to you for this new year.

Since most of us think dualistically, let me offer this example. What do you believe is more vital, justice or mercy? Question what your immediate response was. If it was mercy, what makes it more important? How do you recognize it? Who first demonstrated mercy to you and how has that event defined your understanding of mercy? What is the present standard that you use to measure your mercy level? What limitations or condition have you placed upon it? Who could you never give mercy to, or what would you have to do to give it to this person or people group? Does your view of mercy align with others? If not, what makes yours more or less superior? Where are you more likely to employ mercy rather than justice? What difference would mercy have in those situations where your first response is justice?

These same questions and a whole host of others can be used if your first choice was justice. The exercise is designed to bring awareness to your belief structures. Some will respond that this example is not a valid either/or choice since situations dictate the use of one over the other. I could agree with you if all situations followed a binary conclusion, which life surely doesn’t do. An either/or world view is about as stable as a two-legged chair – it takes a lot of our own effort to keep it from falling over.

This challenge is designed to exercise your beliefs of authority, to move you from the static dogma of either/or comfort-ability to the expansive wonder of both/and possibilities. Question everything; who you listen to, what you watch, who you read (yes, even me). Nothing is sacred except that which we fear to question. Fear tranquilizes everything. No advancement in any field has ever been made when fear was the dominate emotion. It’s time to grow beyond our complacency in the authority we think we have. Give it a shot, you’ve got a whole year to see the results.