Concept versus Experience

In Computer Science, we have data and metadata. Allow me to illustrate.

‘City’ is metadata.

‘Austin’ is data (at least in my case).

Notice that to have a complete understanding, we must have both the metadata and the data. ‘Austin’ as a piece of data could be someone’s first name or last name.

‘City’ is conceptual. ‘Austin’ describes my reality…my experience. I know I live in a city…and I know that city is Austin.

I am going to compare the above to something I touched on in the previous post. It is not a perfect analogy, but it is similar.

In my opinion, ‘Sovereignty’, ‘Freedom’, and ‘Empowerment’ are akin to metadata. I assert that each of us has all of these, however, our actual experience of these concepts varies greatly.

I also allege that all of these concepts are really just different aspects of the same thing. We have freedom to think and choose. When we are able to choose with ease, we feel empowered. And because we are the ones making our choices and thinking our thoughts, we have sovereignty.

However, we might not experience any of these as much as we would like.

Fear inhibits one’s experience of empowerment and freedom. We fear the unknown, and thus choose what is most familiar to what we have chosen in the past. We go along with the crowd because we fear being judged or shunned or ostracized. We choose to not express our true opinions because we are afraid of being criticized.

Although sovereignty, freedom, and empowerment are faces of the same cube, they can be experienced quite differently. If you are in jail, you are clearly not ‘free’. You are not empowered to move in whatever direction desired. However, you are still sovereign. You are still an individual who is thinking your own thoughts, having your own experience, and choosing if to express your thoughts and feelings, when to express them, and how to express them.

Many people, if being truly honest, will say they don’t feel free because of commitments they have made and/or finances. “If I wasn’t married…if I didn’t have kids…if I had unlimited funds, I would be free to do what I really want to do.”

And then there is empowerment. I bet just about every person asked would say they don’t feel nearly as empowered as they want to be. They might say: “I know I could do that, but it is way too scary. I just can’t imagine it working out for me. It’s just much easier to stick with this.”

As a manifestation coach, I get a front row seat with all of this. I help my clients tap into more of their empowerment. And then I get to see doors fly open. I can empathically feel the weight and the fear they have as they consider stepping through one of those doors. The weight of choosing. The fear of letting go of what is familiar (even if limiting).

And then I get to marvel and cheer as they embark the journey to and through those doors.

I continue to feel that Cultivation is one of the most powerful techniques to help us move into the experiences we desire. If you don’t feel as free as you would like to be, start by recognizing that you are making choices all of the time. You may feel encumbered. You may feel limited within those choices. But you are still choosing between this and that.

So notice you have some of what you want. Focus on what it feels like to have that much. Guide yourself into appreciation for those pleasant experiences. Then look for opportunities to experience more as you move forward in time.

Cultivation works great for all of these experiences: freedom, empowerment, love, ease, pleasure, joy, happiness, affection, and so on.

And remember, entanglement is a very real and sometimes physical phenomena. In every molecule of water, the Hydrogen is entangled with the Oxygen. They can be separated, but it requires energy to break the bonds.

We are entangled with the choices we made in the past. We might have very real responsibilities that limit our freedom. If we own a house, if we are in a committed relationship, if we have a job, if we have children, these are all real. It is not really an option to just walk away from them. Yeah, one could do that, but most would not do that.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a lot more of what you want. You can have more empowerment, more freedom, a greater experience of sovereignty, an abundance of ease. You can have much, much more of all of this and without necessarily giving up the commitments you made.

Some may decide to let go of a relationship, or a job, or a house, or a city, or a lifestyle. They may reach a point where they are willing to let go of what is familiar to try something new. And, of course, sometimes that decision is seemingly made for them, but that is a whole other conversation.

I’ll close with this: part of creating ease is being easy with yourself. Don’t push yourself to evolve faster than you are. Don’t berate yourself for having the same problems you’ve had for a while. Don’t judge yourself for not feeling as empowered as you want to be. Make peace with where you are first. Next, use cultivation to move closer and closer to appreciation for the pieces and parts that you already have. Then watch as more flows in.