Living Goals Give Authority to Act and Lead Living Goals, our highest values, give us a firm basis for knowing and action. Under the heading, The Origin of Power, Fritoff Capra author of Hidden Connections gives valuable insight into the nature of genuine authority. Relationships of power are culturally defined by agreements on positions of authority that are part of the cultures rules of conduct. Indeed, the original meaning of authority is not power to command, but a firm basis for knowing and acting. From the earliest of times, human communities have chosen men and women as their leaders when they recognized their wisdom and experience as a firm basis for collective action. These leaders were then invested with power, which meant originally that they were given ritual vestments as symbols of their leadership, and their authority became associated with the power to command. The origin of power, then, lies in culturally defined positions of authority on which the community relies for the resolution of conflicts and for decisions about how to act wisely and effectively. In other words, true authority consists in empowering others to act. As it often happens, however, the vestment that gives the power to commandthe piece of cloth, crown, or other symbolis passed on to someone without true authority. This invested authority, rather than the wisdom of a genuine leader, is now the only source of power, and in this situation its nature can easily change from empowering others to the advancement of an individuals own interests. This is when power becomes linked to exploitation. We all have personal power (authority) to seek out new territory in our hearts and minds and to uncover the creative possibilities available for a life of purpose that's grounded in our highest Living Goals. Finding Meaning in Everyday Life Fritof Capra's insights have led to a novel conception of the nature of mind and consciousness, overcoming the Cartesian division of mind and matter that has haunted Western science and philosophy for more than 300 years.1 In the seventeenth century Rene Descartes based his view of nature on the fundamental division between two independent separate realms that of the mind, the thinking thing, and that of matter, the extended thing. The advance of the systems view of life has been to abandon the Cartesian view of the mind as a thing and to realize that the mind and consciousness are not things but processes (that work together.) Our inner world of wonder and creativity keeps us connected to an original source of creative power that the world needs, in our homes, offices, social clubs, religious institutions, schools and government. By keeping our brains connected to our bodies and our minds connected to your highest values we can stay in touch with meaning everyday in a life-renewing process. |
