Reflection 170Welcome!
Sole Authority
You are the sole and final authority on what it’s like being you, now, right where you are. Nobody else is in a position to say.
(Douglas Harding. On Having No Head. DVD)
The whole message that I have, and which makes it unpalatable to most people is: You are the authority, you the reader, the hearer, the workshopee: you are the authority, and Douglas is a mere pointer. What he writes, what he says, what he does, is simply to direct you to the source of all authority, yourSelf. I thrust you back on your own resources. Everything I say is for testing, nothing I say is for taking on trust. The only authority is Who you are, not your human nature but Who you really, really, really are. All that I am doing is to point to this. If you find anything that I say inconsistent with this authority which is built into you, which you indeed are, for God's sake say To hell with it! (Douglas Harding. 1976 Interview.)
Comments
This reflection on being the sole authority is 'one of my favourites'. Douglas , as you and his Seeing friends are doing as well, are pointing out to us all our childlike tendency to listen to anything, anybody outside ourselves, rather than looking and listening within ourselves. (0 cm distance). For me it is so much easier and comforting, to keep my attention only on what's 'outside'. It needs my constant being alert: who is the only authority right here and now? It is an awesome experience. Free to get (what a blessing, these days!) and always available if i dare to look in the right direction. Hilde.
I just spent one week meditating in a monastery in the South of France with a group of people and discovered that the scientific aspect of the headless way, that is to say discovering things for myself rather than believing an external authority, gives a personal strength and certainty in my spiritual life that I did not use to have. Nevertheless I still hesitate to share the way with others; being concerned that they might spoil the vision... which is in fact impossible. Marc.
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