Question authority and become your own
George Harris sticks carnations in gun barrels during an antiwar demonstration at the Pentagon in 1967. (By Bernie Boston — The Washington Evening Star)
You may recognize this famous photo, taken during an antiwar demonstration in 1967.
The 1960′s ushered in a revolution in ways of thinking and living, life. A tumultuous time, it was marked by both an end to innocence*, as well as a longing for more of the same. The old was explosively giving way to the new, as people all around the earth were born into a new era.
*Innocence Is defined in this example as ‘not knowing’ or ‘unaware’.
The phrase ‘Question Authority’ came into prominence during this time. Actually the full phrase is ‘Think for yourself and question authority’, made famous by Dr. Timothy Leary. Another of his quotes, “You’re only as young as the last time you changed your mind”, speaks beautifully to the energy of change, this century’s current hot topic.
Change is in the air, and it wasn’t any one person who made that one up. The main topic on our collective conscious mind these days is that there has to be a better way to live life. It was hard to see how much would have to be destroyed in order to create the new way of life, but that’s kind of how it works.
One of the biggest themes, again, has to do with questioning authority.
Once again we are losing our innocence, our lack of knowing or being aware. By becoming disillusioned, we are losing our illusions. For example, who still believes that the biggest banks on the planet didn’t know what their actions could and ultimately, did, lead to? Goodbye innocence!
When I first wrote this post in 2010, thousands of protesters were marching on Wall Street, protesting abuses by the banking industry. Currently the United States is experiencing a tremendous amount of growth and change, an entire new identity shift. The rest of the world is going through this as well. People are once again waking up and making their voices heard.
It’s time to stop being wounded, and time to start being an authority.
What this means is that it may be time to start looking for yourself to see what’s true. Instead of counting on authorities out there to tell you, including your angry unemployed racist brother in law, or any small minded hate group that takes out its frustrations on others, Look For Yourself.
‘Seek and ye shall find’ has a lot to do with finding your own answers, in the heaps of information generated daily and strewn about everywhere. A lot of it is valuable, and can help you find your own answers. But when push comes to shove, your truth isn’t something handed to you by anyone else. You have to find it for yourself, and then choose to live it, or not.
We all signed up for the turbulent and challenging times we are living in. These times are helping us to awaken to something, perhaps to stop believing blindly any authority outside of ourselves. By valuing what you know to be true for you, and allowing others to have their own truth as well, it may actually be easier to create something wonderful here, together.
Think for yourself and question authority. - Dr. Timothy Leary
©Kris Cahill
