Precepts: Authority

     
Submit to authority

"Now wait a minute!" many will say.  Submission to authority is a negative and not a positive.

Submit is "to yield one's self" and is from Latin words meaning under and let go, send. 

Submission is letting go and allowing.

Authority is from Latin word auctor meaning master, leader, author and which should not be confused with actor indicating "to do, perform."

There are many who are actors when it comes to authority.  The "Hollywood elite" is a good example.  Many in our culture look to such celebrities as their "authority" without asking themselves if their preferred actor is a suitable auctor or master-leader in the subject matter.

In budo there is a saying that "when the student is ready the teacher will appear."  In order to learn, it is good to submit your authority to an authority with more knowledge and experience than you.  

Just make sure that your authority is a master-leader in the subject matter--an auctor; and not just a performer that is doing stuff to make others believe that they are an authority--an actor.

Submitting to an authority wiser and more knowledgeable than yourself is a good precept for living.