Establish your own authority, then listen to others

Thomas Moore’s book, The Soul’s Religion: Cultivating a Profoundly Spiritual Way of Life, offers ideas quoted by Jessica Schafer in her recent post "On Authority". Her excerpt includes Moore’s view:

 "We can best deal with authority by first having it ourselves. We are the authors of our lives, including our spirituality."

Schafer reports the book "was a good read and often thought-provoking." Following the quotation she asks:
* How does this articulation of authority strike you?
* Who has been a positive co-author in your life?