Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00875)

Art:

> I am not at all oriented toward
> hierarchy but believe in a sort of participatory democracy of the spiritual
> life in which there are those who are advanced but they are not in any
> sense authoritarian or intrinsically superior to others.

Lewis:

>It seems to me sometimes we complain to much about heirarchy and
authority, as if it were some shackle forced upon us. Might it be us
and not them who create these heiarchies and give Them their
authority. As we become more centered, stronger, knowledgeable
doesn't the need/desire for outside authority atrophy? Maybe we are
railing against a natural law which has its place in the scheme of
things, but falls away or diminishes because (to paraphrase another
of J.J. van der Leeuw's works) we are all gods in the becoming.<

Thom:

I think also that the idea of hierarchy has way too many emotional
constructs attached to it in our society. Instead of thinking of a hierarchy
as a bureaucracy, as it has become in the modern world, think of it in
energetic terms. A hierarchy is merely a system of energy exchange,
which generally takes the form of a pyramid. And a pyramid must have a
"keystone". This keystone isn't a dictator, s/he is the one who holds
everything together, who provides the coherent vision and will of the
group. "Authority" doesn't even enter into things when one becomes an
adept; there is simply energy.