My Half Of...

Well, rules. Rules about the "Way Things Are" is what comes up for me when I think about authority.

In the realm of self-control, authority is usually my own internalized resistance to the status quo. Whatever the routine is, authority is involved in the “let’s just keep it that way” sort of attitude.

This problem is also expressed in the authority of bureaucracy – which has it’s own sense of self-preservation. So, authority, for me, is synonymous with habit that freaks out, OCD style, if anything is about to change. My sense of authenticity - Real Authority is dominion – over oneself.

A common problem with happiness that we hone our sense of discrimination too far gone. There are many reasons why the culture encourages us to do this. Advertising seems to be a big culprit. We have been given so many choices, that our standards rise as our ability to discern a difference between choices rises. When we do not get exactly what we have determined we now want, we become dissatisfied with everything.

Conditioning is establishing a program or routine to solve an anticipated routine situation. A question or problem is repeating that seems to require a solution. Using conditioning, the solution is automating a series of actions chained together in sequence. This is termed a “behavior chain.” As the situational routine itself, (the trigger) is recognized, the conditioned routine jumps into play by firing off a previously prepared routine for action.