Got my revenge against the police!!!

[Diana]

Man, this thread pushes all of my buttons.  I find myself of two very different minds.

On the one hand, I know deep within that oppressive, domineering authority is an issue I've had to work on all my life, whether with parents, bullies, bosses, cops, etc.  It's not what the authority is doing so much as the deep dread their power instills in me for some reason, this reaction I have to this particular danger separate from all the other deadly dangers I encounter every day.  So I know that the thing I need to work on is me.  I need a more balanced approach to these aspects of the Creator.

I know a lot of members dismiss the Castaneda books, but I have found them to be extraordinarily interesting and helpful.

There is a concept in The Power of Silence (and other of his books) called "petty tyrants." The shamans of ancient Mexico developed a way to shift their reality into expanding beyond the norm (I'm so paraphrasing since to explain properly would be very lengthy). That is, to utilize a "petty tyrant"—one who is in a position of authority and at the least pushes buttons and at the worst is deadly. According to the story, they used petty tyrants during the Spanish invasion to their great benefit, since it was a worst-case scenario in that the petty tyrants were deadly. 

The idea is to maintain balance and composure, through knowledge of a goal or purpose, during interactions with petty tyrants and not react (no matter how justified). This is accomplished by knowing what one is aiming for; in their case it was an expanded perception of reality. What this behavior apparently did for them was knock their point of perception off of its habitual location and move it elsewhere—anywhere—which enables this expanded view of existence. By acting in ways counter to a "natural" response, and also acting with purpose rather than with reaction, the "warrior" takes the reigns rather than succumbing as a victim to a petty tyrant.

This is not to say it has anything to do with revenge or justice. It only has to do with directing one's journey effectively and consciously.

That said, I want to add that I also struggle with the human system of authority (though I do endeavor to utilize the petty tyrant concept). Many cops (I refer to the US) are in their twenties and don't even have fully developed frontal lobes—and they carry guns. This is idiocy to me. And also, though this may seem like a judgment, it is actually an observation—that some people are drawn to jobs that wield power over others. So this is a recipe for chaos and imbalance right from the start, and we haven't even added in the corruption of the judicial system and the government in general, or the general unconscious state of humanity.