I find that I am my own final authority, and it’s always that way whether I notice it or not.
CHOICES AND ACTIONS
In terms of my actions and choices, I am my own final authority.
I may tell myself I am doing something because of circumstances, or someone told me, or I was forced to, and so on. And, in reality, I am the one making the decisions. Nobody makes them for me.
Even if I think I did it because others told me to, or because of circumstances, or because I was forced, I was still the one making the decision.
NOTICING MY NATURE
Similarly, when it comes to what I more fundamentally am, I am my own final authority.
Others can tell me. I can read things in books. I can make up any number of worldviews and maps telling me different things.
And I am my own final authority. My own noticing is my own final authority.
What do I find if I set aside what I have been told, and what I am telling myself?
What am I more fundamentally?
What am I in my own direct noticing? What am I when I look in my first-person experience?
A LIBERATING REMINDER
I find it’s liberating to notice I am my own final authority.
I don’t need to get too caught up in blaming circumstances, others, life, and so on for my own choices and actions. I did it. I chose it.
And I don’t need to get too caught up in what others tell me my more fundamental nature is supposed to be. I can look for myself.
GUIDES FOR FINDING IT FOR OURSELVES
How do I discover and clarify this for myself?
For me, different forms of inquiry have been very helpful.
The Work of Byron Katie really brings it home to me that I am my own final authority in my choices and actions.
And the Big Mind process and Headless experiments, along with the Kiloby/Living inquiries and The Work, help me notice and explore living from my more fundamental nature.