The Founding Steward cannot
- Override consent
- Demand obedience
- Suppress criticism
- Control departure
- Claim ownership of another person’s spiritual life
- Use private disclosures for control
- Place charisma above safety
- Exempt himself from complaint procedures
What the office may protect
- The name and identity of the doctrine
- The integrity of its foundational ethical laws
- The distinction between official doctrine and personal interpretation
- The public record of authorized revisions
- The right to refuse uses that distort the Way into coercion, supremacy, exploitation, or false clinical authority
This is custodial authority over the work, not ownership of the people who encounter it.
How authority is shared
The Founding Steward holds final responsibility for identifying the official doctrine and protecting it from unauthorized alteration. That responsibility does not create unilateral control over people, money, complaints, safety decisions, facilitator discipline, or community life.
As the tradition grows, finances, safeguarding, complaints, facilitator review, and day-to-day authority require documented governance with real checks, records, and more than one accountable person.