"From the moment you entered school, you were taught to sit still, raise your hand for permission to speak, accept what authorities tell you without question."
Becoming conscious of the fact that we were trained in "a system designed to produce obedient workers, not critical thinkers," we can reclaim our power from systems that have betrayed humanity.
Year after year after year, impressionable young minds are trained to be obedient to authorities
From the moment you entered school, you were taught to sit still, raise your hand for permission to speak, accept what authorities tell you without question. The bell rings, you move. The teacher speaks, you memorize. The test says this is truth, you repeat it. Twelve years of this programming, followed by media that tells you what to think, not how to think. A system designed to produce obedient workers, not critical thinkers.
Contents
What is Authority, Who Has It, and Why?
The Nature of Hierarchical Systems
Misplaced Trust; Hijacked Systems Have Betrayed Humanity
Seeking Inspiration
For Wellness Providers & Educators: Boost Your Impact — Premium Resources Just a Click Away from $19
Got More?
What is Authority, Who Has It, and Why?
We’ve been trained to presume people with particular titles have authority. And we’ve been trained to be obedient to authority figures. I invite you to consider examples of the experts, authorities and systems to which we entrust with our money, our explicit approval, or our tacit acceptance or acquiescence.
National government
Local government
Medical doctors
University personnel, teachers
Scientists, researchers
Corporations
Finance professionals
Media
Attorneys
“Experts” with stamps of approval from any number of organizations
Entertainers
People with a great deal of money or possessions
In reality, these individuals are either public servants hired to perform an agreed-upon role, or simply people expressing their opinions. They were not divinely appointed; any power they hold exists only because it has been granted to them by others. Yet the society we are born into conditions us to treat them as inherent authorities, often granting deference based solely on their titles rather than on merit or consent.
Seeking the opinion of a doctor or business owner can certainly be valuable. Expertise has its place. The issue arises when respect for knowledge shifts into granting “power over.”
When we outsource authority—giving someone else the right to decide and act on our behalf—we are, by definition, giving our power away. We entrust a system or an authority to do what is right. At times, we rely on them to act for us; at other times, we treat them as representatives of specialized knowledge. The crucial distinction is between seeking expertise and surrendering agency.
The Nature of Hierarchical Systems
But here’s the rub: most people we grant authority status to are employed within hierarchical control systems which drastically minimize the power of the individual to act with humanity or integrity.
The only people who can keep jobs in these systems are those who bow to the system itself, thus making the group’s priority the continuance of the system, not the honoring of human values.
Corporations Shield Individuals from Liability, Leading to an Organization that Rewards Those Who Engage in Unethical Actions
A frequent criticism of corporations (which I believe also applies to governmental bureaucracies) is that their organizational structure encourages sociopathic behavior. This is because members of these entities are shielded from legal or personal accountability for their actions, with any wrongdoings being attributed to the corporation as a whole. In contrast, the main form of accountability most members face is the pressure to advance the institution’s mission (e.g., make more money), leading to the proliferation of increasingly unethical methods to achieve that goal.
Hierarchy is so prolific that it may seem to be the only or the most desirable solution to organizing people. But that isn’t so. In The Circle Way: A Leader in Every Chair, Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea provide an eloquent and scholarly presentation of a more natural and just structure than a hierarchy: a circle.
Circle process is not a technique; it’s a heritage. It is a way to be together that is familiar to people everywhere on the planet. It’s easy to notice the presence of circle in indigenous communities and as people sit in fields resting from their work, in homes and public places, even in airports as they travel. But generally, circle has been suppressed and forgotten. Cultures of hierarchy and control long ago abolished circle, because circle serves democracy. Those seeking to dominate and rule over others know instinctively that circle is dangerous to their desire for power. By its simple shape, circle includes everyone without distinction, welcomes and invites all to participate, and creates equality among those gathered. So it is that this most ancient of forms becomes revolutionary in today’s world… It opens up the creativity and contribution of all who sat silent for far too many years. Circle ends our collective and individual silence… Nobody is superior… We sit together in our differences in one nice, round shape.
Misplaced Trust; Hijacked Systems Have Betrayed Humanity
Many good people have done many good things. But systems (especially those under hierarchical control) have proven to be vulnerable to corruption and are now manipulated by a few massive corporations. Mainstream media is a perfect example in its movement from journalism to narrative control.
When we peer beneath the surface of “approved” narratives, there is endless proof that the largest and most mainstream systems today are in fact, not trustworthy:
For example, in the series on Regulatory Agencies, you’ll see this evidence regarding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
Neglect to protect waterways from municipal wastewater discharges, from multiple industrial chemicals… from microplastics, “a monumental environmental and health issue with serious consequences”… from pharmaceuticals containing toxic PFAS, and from “plumes of forever chemicals from US military bases” that poison drinking water supplies.
Stand by while researchers and everyday people report harms from drinking poisoned water contaminated with forever chemicals and weedkiller poisons.
Leave whole cities without support even when there are egregious, public violations of water safety regulations, and neglecting to address and prevent the entirety of the U.S. experiencing “unsafe levels of a cancer-causing chemical contaminating the tap water of more than 200 million Americans in all 50 states.”
Repeatedly betray people, after supposedly having taken care of removing poisons from the water.
Fail to protect clean air, neglecting at least 83 million people known to be breathing “unhealthy air”… displaying such contempt for communities exposed to ‘toxic mountains’ of waste that the EPA must be threatened with legal action, and equally as dismissive of contaminated air quality in children’s schools, despite known health risks posed by PCBs used in the building materials. Refuse to perform the duties required by its mission, failing even to fulfill promised clean up of places on the EPA “National Priorities List” after 14 years and in some cases, actively fighting against its responsibilities while defending harmful policies that promote cancer, brain issues in children, and endocrine issues among other harms.
Claim to be evidence-based (“one of the world’s leading environmental and human health research organizations”) when, in fact, it’s business as usual to deny acknowledging and acting on research with evidence of harm… again and again and again and again and again while allowing shoddy, corrupt “research” designed to protect industry interests again and again. The “regulatory” agencies have a history of relying on industry to inform them of research while the companies they are charged with regulating withhold information for decades and simply suppress evidence of harm until enough whistleblowers and reports of harm from citizens break through the suppression.
Approve and promote the use of toxic chemical compounds such as chlorine, aluminum sulfate and fluoride in water as “solutions” to health concerns, despite extensive research gathered over decades showing significant harm, with the research continuing to build and build and build and build and build and build, without taking any substantive action — even after being called out publicly by scientists, and 12 years later being petitioned yet again and then, finally, sued to do so. Use the public’s money to defend their loyalty to industry over people and the planet. Please ponder the lunacy of the only recourse you have for the government’s routine betrayal of duty is to sue the organization you’ve already paid and entrusted in order to get them to do their job. Rather than just firing them and organizing to actually accomplish the task of stopping the harm, your only option in the existing system is to relegate years of time and untold sums of money in an effort to get them to do what they were hired to do — all the while people and the planet are being severely harmed. And then consider that to sue the EPA or industry requires resources almost no one who is being harmed by their betrayal has available to them. But it does happen.
The pesticide “paraquat is currently banned in 32 countries, including member states of the European Union… and China. In 2021 the EPA reapproved the pesticide’s registration for another 15 years.” This is a pesticide so poisonous that it scars people’s lungs. Paraquat poisoning has no antidote. It causes severe harms to workers and people living nearby (including Parkinson’s disease, cancer, kidney failure, and liver failure). To fight this immensely egregious betrayal of humanity, a consumer group sued the EPA in 2021, but as of early 2025, the EPA had taken no action.
In another example demonstrating the nonexistence of functioning safety protocols, a U.S. county has filed a lawsuit alleging that “for decades, the corporate makers and users of ‘forever chemicals’ used on carpet produced in Northwest Georgia have hidden the associated dangers, leading to a public health crisis.”
Protect corporate profiteering and malfeasance over the interests of people and independent farmers again and again and again and again and again, going so far as to pay witnesses (with the people’s money) to defend themselves against the people they’re charged with serving. Despite decades of harm from unleashing thousands of industrial chemicals on people and the planet, the EPA doubles down on its endless betrayal by “quietly fast-tracking” industry approval of known harms.
Keep the truth about harms from the public… until, finally, sued in court (protecting their dereliction of duty with taxpayer money) ... and, still, only conceding the truth when absolutely forced to do so. Allow and deliver propaganda that hides truth… no matter how heinous. Gaslight the public on their irrefutable failure to honor their mission, such as limiting only 6 of 14,000 forever chemicals in the U.S. and just 1 to 10% of products containing hazardous substances in the U.K. while claiming to be the safest in the world and listing “accomplishments” that in fact mean nothing in light of the reality of wholesale corruption. Retaliate against scientist employees who don’t promote industry-approved narratives. “The EPA scientists claimed that they were encouraged to delete information about chemicals’ risks or harms, including serious health issues such as cancers and neurological problems. In some cases, they said their managers deleted this information.”
Seeking Inspiration
No matter our differences, we can each observe our own behavior regarding authority and power and consider how it’s been working. Has what we’ve been doing gotten the results we wanted?
The systems that have betrayed humanity are the same ones that have the power and influence to inundate us with messages that they are the only way our world can work. So is it any surprise that many people find it hard to believe that it’s possible to reject these systems and try new things? Humanity has been force-fed the false idea that corporate growth helps people and that governments as they exist today are capable of leading humanity. The strong implication is that a breakdown of "society" will be the end of everything good and will make survival impossible.
And yet there are so many examples of people making independent choices to create new ways of living with their family and neighbors. You might find some of these thought leaders and activists inspiring in their approach.
Vandana Shiva — Has supported Indian farmers in achieving multiple successes with knowledge, community and teamwork.
Cesar Chavez — “A first-generation American, he was born in 1927 near his family’s small homestead outside Yuma, Arizona. At age 11, his family lost their farm during the Great Depression and became migrant farm workers. Cesar finished his formal education after the eighth grade and worked the fields full-time to help support his family… Cesar’s dream was to organize a union that would protect and serve the farm workers whose poverty and powerlessness he had shared. He knew the history of farm worker organizing was one sad story after another of broken unions and strikes crushed by violence. He knew that for 100 years many others with much better educations and more resources than he possessed had tried, and failed, to organize farm workers. He knew the experts said organizing farm workers was impossible.”
Community Fridges — Setting up community fridges for volunteers to stock with free food provides fresh food for the hungry and reduces food waste.
Gandhi — Gandhi’s use of the spinning wheel was, in part, a way to demonstrate economic freedom for his people to regain independence from British rule. “Gandhi’s use of the spinning wheel was one of the most significant unifying elements of the nationalist movement in India. Spinning was seen as an economic and political activity that could bring together the diverse population of South Asia, and allow the formerly elite nationalist movement to connect to the broader Indian population…. It… had the potential to overcome labour, gender, and religious divisions and thereby produce an accessible and effective symbol for the Gandhian anti-colonial movement.”
Rosa Parks — “In 1955, Parks rejected a bus driver’s order to leave a row of four seats in the ‘colored’ section once the white section had filled up and move to the back of the bus. Her defiance sparked a successful boycott of buses in Montgomery a few days later. Residents refused to board the city’s buses. Instead they carpooled, rode in Black-owned cabs, or walked, some as far as 20 miles. The boycott dealt a severe blow to the bus company’s profits as dozens of public buses stood idle for months. The boycott was led by a newcomer to Montgomery named Martin Luther King, Jr.”
The Grandmother Who Resisted — “Standing Rock Grandmother Regina Brave has been compared to Rosa Parks when it comes to… the Water Protectors praying and holding space to block the pipeline in North Dakota.” Brave resisted arrest as she believed it within her rights to peacefully pray in support of the Standing Rock tribe’s efforts to resist the oil pipeline that threatens their fresh water. (The efforts included years of extensive efforts to go through the political and legal systems.) A nearby richer city had successfully refused to accept the pipeline but the Indian reservation’s sovereignty was not similarly respected by the corporate and government powers.
Independent Healthcare Providers — There’s been an increase in health and wellness providers acting independently of corporate systems, returning to a more authentic partnership with clients to implement evidence-based techniques that seek to spur true healing.
Tiny House Network — Connections and support for sustainable living.
Intentional Communities, Ecovillages & Cohousing — Many people have created ways of working together to grow food and build networks of support.
For Wellness Providers & Educators: Boost Your Impact — Premium Resources Just a Click Away from $19
Since 2012, Wellness Resource Center and Yoga Teacher Central have been supporting teachers and wellness providers. We’re here for the helpers — yoga teachers, health providers, trainers, coaches, and educators who empower others.
High-quality resources are just a click away: planning tools, research summaries, lesson frameworks, wisdom teachings, structured workshops, and ready-to-use content. Whether you’re planning a class or workshop, educating clients on anatomy, inflammation, energy, meditation, or the root causes of over 50 diseases, guiding breathwork, strength-building, or relaxation, designing a training, or compiling research that backs up your teachings, we’ve got you covered. Our resources elevate your work and amplify your impact, giving you the confidence and time to focus on being present and doing what you do best.
We Provide
Evidence-based resources, delivered in context and designed for real-world application.
Flexible knowledge base with guided pathways to support your evolving learning and service goals.
Practical support for workshop and training delivery, including content, lecture notes, and handouts.
Personalized support to focus your efforts, maximize your time, and amplify your impact.
Collaborative, values-aligned community for connection, inspiration, and learning.
How Can We Help You Today?
Verifiable research on evidence-based therapies and tools? ✔
Contextualized guidance to individualize your services? ✔
Curricula for trainings, workshops, coaching, and client consultations? ✔
Customizable content with lifetime, royalty-free distribution? ✔
Packages & Pricing
Select from two membership tracks:
Providers and Teachers — Access evidence-based education, research, and resources to support your planning and preparation for teaching, coaching, and consulting. Pricing starts at $19/month (annual pay) or $23/month (installment pay).
Associates: Trainers, Consultants, Educators — Includes all Provider benefits plus customizable content and lifetime, royalty-free rights to distribute materials for trainings, courses, workshops, series, presentations, and consultations. Flexible credit-based pricing lets you select exactly what you need from 500+ subjects. Pricing starts at $400 for content and lifetime distribution rights.
Got More?
If you’ve got more examples, send them my way. I’d love to curate a more diverse and comprehensive compilation of inspiring models.
Excellent report Shelly! Thank you very much for the well written piece 🙂
Who is my teacher & my authority? The Creator that made me - a Soul & who gives me Life 🥰🌹