Sovereignty

I mentioned this word yesterday, as I wrote of compassion. It is a word that can mean different things to different people, so I thought that I would write about this today. Sovereignty has meant a great deal to me over the years. I wonder what it means to you.

My dad's old Oxford Dictionary defines sovereignty in the political sense and uses the word 'supremacy' which implies domination and power over others. I do not use the word sovereignty in this way. I read something years ago, a feminist Goddess-worship inspired use of the word sovereignty which basically said that sovereignty loves both self and world, and holds both as sacred. Sovereignty looks to the health and wholeness of both land and those who dwell upon the land. In this use of the word, control is replaced by responsibility and ownership is a loving service of stewardship.

I am sovereign. I own my body and my consciousness, my ideas and my problems.... I take full ownership and control of all that is my life and all that comprises the place where I stand - both the actual place and the infinite complexities that make up my situation.

For me, the word sovereignty, when used in this way, brings to my mind's eye an image of one standing tall and strong, standing in full I AM ownership of self and situation, standing in courage and responsibility.

"Dun-da-da DAH!"

I AM WOMAN!

Okay, okay. I'll settle down.

I've known for many many years that responsibility is the prerequisite for personal freedom, not its antithesis. By taking responsibility for our own experience we free ourselves. By holding ourselves in sovereignty, supreme in our own lives, we experience true freedom and true creatorship of our experiences. There have been people of my acquaintance who seemed to believe that freedom meant not having any responsibilities. For me, that was nonsense and I was called stodgy and unwilling to take a risk. "Just live for the moment! Hit the road! Just do whatever you want whenever you want to do it!" Needless to say, those words were spoken some years ago - back in the 1970's and early 1980's.

But, you know, it's worth bringing up these ideas about freedom and living in the moment, because this blog is all about that. And sovereignty, ownership and responsibility are key. Living in the moment does not mean that the dishes don't get done. It means that while you are doing the dishes, you are fully present in the doing of them, in total acceptance of the moment in which you find yourself. It is from this point of presence that we experience the divine I AM in the moment.

Sovereignty takes that deep breath and proclaims its ownership of the experience. It is an indwelling, a gathering of self's wayward strands into a cohesive whole. It is a centering of the self in the self. And mark my words well now. When you do this, you will be the supreme creator of your experience of being on this Earth. All That Is will hear you when you speak. All That Is will have no choice but to honour your choosing. As sovereign of your Self, you will be the conscious creator of your experience. It can be no other way.

You have to feel it. Words are not enough to generate the sense of it. So take a deep breath, and straighten your spine. Then proclaim youself as sovereign. And feel the difference in your energy.

"Dun-da-da DAH!"