Page 10 - Here and Now – Apr 2024

• Person in authority knows what is right/wrong and should have answers to our problems at
least better than peers.

• S/he needs to be a perfect/ideal/model of good/right behaviour (as per our standards) as a
human being.

• S/he should demonstrate concern, warmth and care irrespective of what I do or how s/he
feels.

• S/he should not get angry particularly women authority figures.

• S/he takes actions with a design e.g., s/he may show anger to provoke a response from us

or to motivate us without actually being angry.

These assumptions are not necessarily articulated in interaction or even to self but operate in
action and come to surface in the deeper explorations. As we reflect deeper, these prevailing
operating assumptions tantamount to having an image of authority figures as Godlike beings
with the following qualities:

• Omniscience: The person in authority knows all or should know all. This myth leads to both
expectations, disappointments and misinterpretations of their actions.

• Omnipotence: Authority figures can or should be able to make anything happen if they want

resulting in high expectations and giving unrealistic meanings to their actions.

• Perennial Benevolence - There is an expectation that good authority figures are and must
always be warm, affectionate and nurturing towards us irrespective of how they are feeling and
how I am towards them.

• Sainthood/Selflessness: They must have our interest at heart and have no needs or interests
of their own. Even if they have them, if they are a model of good authority, they will sacrifice
them for us.

All the above qualities on the one hand exemplify the myth of Godhood but at another level

result in dehumanisation of the people in authority and not seeing them as human beings with
their feelings, needs, and limitations.

I came to understand that the images, expectations, feelings and relationships of people with
authority figures voiced by people seem to be rooted in childhood experiences or a child state
even today. Having been provided for unconditionally as a birth right, may be sets up an
unconscious expectation in relation to authority and gets transferred to people in authority in
adult life too. Another dimension of the data was that even people who shared fairly negative

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