I can’t think of a single instance where OBEDIENCE to “authority” or CONFORMITY with the herd has produced anything useful or admirable…
All our material and moral progress has been won by those who refused to “behave themselves”… who refused to be indoctrinated… and who refused to allow others to define good and evil, right and wrong, true and false, success and failure for them.
Socrates, Jesus, Galileo, Gandhi, and Doctor King come immediately to mind.
Alas, the world wasn’t ready for any of them then, and the world is still not ready for any of them now.
Their audacity, freedom, and courage were quite naturally met with all manner of resistance… not just from the preachers, politicians, and other charlatans who profited from the status quo, but also from the cowering masses content with the lifeless comforts of their ignorance, superstitions, and prejudices.
And here we are. Still.
Oh, the insanity of it all.
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It’s a balance, yes?
Without a significant degree of obedience none of us would stop at stoplights, and your neighbors would feel free to shit on your lawn.
To receive my unconditional agreement to your words, however, you would just add the word “unquestionin” ~ We stop at the light, while checking inwardly that we’re actually on board for this particular social agreement (= authority).
If our inner evaluation causes us to feel it advisable, we then work to change that part of the agreement ~ far from all of it (or get out the human-size Pooper Scooper!)
I agree, Frank. I do think, however, that people like Dr. King were present in the right moment, because he was wildly opposed, but made his mark. One might say the same thing about LBJ, who opposed King until he didn’t, and then championed new law, even as a man of the South. They moved the ball forward, even if it has yet to cross the goal line.