Obedience [as related to the monastic vow of obedience] is not about submitting our will to a higher authority (why then did God give us a will in the first place?) but about exploring and proffering ever new ways to engage responsibly, collaboratively, and creatively with the issues of power and powerlessness that we encounter in daily life.

Diarmuid O'Murchu, Poverty, Celibacy, and Obedience