Truth vs. Authority

If you’ve spent your entire life treating authority as truth, it will be very hard to begin treating truth as authority — even in the light of overwhelming evidence. Breaking free of this conditioning is our great challenge as human beings.

How often have you been told by an “authority” — your teachers, parents, or even your own brain — that something was true, but then had an experience directly contradict that belief?

I’ve had this happen thousands of times in my life, and often, I told myself that I was seeing something wrong, or that I was “mis-remembering,” or that I obviously didn’t understand what was going on because I’m not smart enough to “get it.”

One common area this occurs is with school and careers.

We are told that things “must” be one way. That we must follow the plan. That we must get a degree, work our way up the ladder and do things that make us unhappy to “get by.” But as you can see from my writing and that of many other accomplished individuals, entrepreneurs have experienced for themselves the reality that life doesn’t have to be such a struggle. This is contrary to the common logic, but it’s true.

And still, many of us see the evidence all around us and we cannot change.

Even in the face of evidence we can touch, taste and feel, we often doubt ourselves — or worse — lie to ourselves. We are conditioned to place Authority over Truth.

We think that people in power are correct because they are in power. Or, we think that they have become authorities because they are always right, fair, knowledgable, etc (politicians?!).

But this is wrong. We’ve got it all twisted.

Authority is not Truth. Truth is Authority.

It’s very hard to get this at first. Just take a second to think about it.

It’s our job as humans looking to evolve — to come from a place of absolute power rooted in what’s true, and honest, and real in our experiences — not doubting ourselves, or constantly shrinking and deferring to the “authority” of others because we are afraid to know what’s really going on or we are scared to change.

Break the conditioning. That’s the goal. That’s the journey.

Daniel DiPiazza is the bestselling author of Rich20Something: Ditch Your Average Job, Start an Epic Business and Score the Life You Want.