Personal sovereignty is a term that has been thrown around in a lot of spiritual circles online in recent years. You also hear about in relation to BIPOC communities and the racism and oppression they endure.
I have been very interested in what exactly this term means, what it applies to, and how people are misusing it, especially in the light of spirituality, because there are several conflicts that arise within the clash between what people claim as personal sovereignty and humanity.
Let’s explore!
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What is Personal Sovereignty?
Let’s clear this up right now.
Personal sovereignty is a universal law that says every human being has the freedom to determine their own beliefs, values, and choices, without influence from external sources like religions, colonialism, or corporations.
Period. That’s it.
This means that personal sovereignty is claiming your own personal power, autonomy, and self-governance.
I’ll get more to how this applies to overarching society in a moment, so keep reading.
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Compassion and Personal Spiritual Sovereignty
Personal sovereignty and compassion for others go hand in hand. Understanding yourself and having full control of your own actions, acting mindfully and intentionally, is part of the path of treating others with understanding and respect as well.
When we recognize our own self sovereignty, it follows that we recognize the personal sovereignty of others as well, and thusly, we act from a place of love and understanding. Personal sovereignty makes it more natural to create the feeling of safety for others.
Personal Sovereignty and the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism
Actually, in Buddhism, love and understanding often mean the same thing. In Buddhism, there is something called the Four Noble Truths. The first truth, boiled down to its most simplest explanation, is that life is stressful.
However, everyone’s own life is stressful for different reasons: perhaps you’re dealing with racism, or maybe your parents abused you as a child. These stresses (called “suffering” in Buddhism) are your own personal path to understanding and should be held with grace in order to move on to the next step in awakening (which is letting go of these stresses).
In this way, self sovereignty is absolutely essential to living life in this world. You have full control of your actions and life, and you act with the understanding others do, too.
What Personal Sovereignty Is Not
Spiritual posers are everywhere.
Personal sovereignty should not be used as an excuse to not care about others. And if it is, it is not personal sovereignty.
I’ve seen many places online spew the belief that self-sovereignty means that we get to act however is most beneficial to ourselves and our own truths. Sounds great, right? Of course, once we look under the covers a little, this also implies that those who embrace personal sovereignty do not need to consider the others. (Basically, “I only think about myself, screw everyone else.”)
This is NOT personal sovereignty. This is ego, plain and simple.
Those who preach self-ownership without accountability for the wellness of others are speaking from a place of fear, not love.
Self sovereignty should always come from a place of love and understanding. Always remember the golden rule of most religions: do no harm.
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Accountability
At this point in human evolution, we have the knowledge and tools to be able to be supportive and loving toward every other person. We have enough food and resources to reasonably end starvation and malnutrition within 15 years if we cut military spending. (These numbers do not seem to have been updated in about a decade, so I don’t know what that looks like now.)
There isn’t any reason for us to be actively suppressing the personal sovereignty of others in this world. There’s no excuse for fascism, even if it’s wrapped up in a pretty bow of “helping others.”
Our Current Administration Is Directly Infringing on the Personal Sovereignty of All Manner of People Across the World
Under the guise of “helping others rise,” our current administration is steeped in white Christian Nationalism. It’s a “them versus us” mentality that likes to pretend that white culture is the end-all-be-all. It asserts dominance by making attempts to control everything, from voting rights, to trans rights, to groups of people all the way across the world, like Palestine.
Think about Christians who feel that there’s a “war on Christmas.” If YOU have personal sovereignty and you don’t want to celebrate Christmas, it somehow infringes on their belief that they’re better than everyone else.
Personal Sovereignty and Rebellion Against Dominant Culture
Personal sovereignty can be seen as a rebellion against an overpowering dominant culture.
Some people believe if you claim your sovereignty, that you are choosing to disrespect the dominant culture, that somehow if you choose individuality, privacy, and the protection of personal rights, that somehow you are disrespecting (and in some cases even harming) the collective.
But we are stronger when we each embrace our own personal sovereignty and work together, instead of “us vs. them.”
We can utilize this to our benefit to push back against the overpowering dominant culture, especially when that dominant culture is a fascist regime that’s trying to control others.
Conclusion
There’s a lot of people out there that misunderstand what personal sovereignty is. Don’t fall for it! Continue to respect others’ sovereignty anyway. Personal sovereignty IS compassion and understanding for yourself as well as others.
Utilize your self-ownership to resist what we’re up against in 2025.
