7 - The Distortion of Freedom and the inner settlor position: When Protection Becomes a Cage
The settlor position and true freedom is meant to be liberating — a grounded confidence in your own being that allows openness, connection, and authentic choice. Yet when misunderstood or driven by fear, it can twist into its opposite. Instead of creating space to live freely, sovereignty becomes a shield, a fortress that keeps life at a distance. What begins as an effort to protect the self can easily harden into isolation, where boundaries turn into barricades and independence drifts into exile. Exactly the position that the system media is portraying that the Sovereign position is. This is what happens when inner gets confused with the outer. This section explores how fear masquerades as sovereignty and how true strength is found not in walls but in the courage to remain open.
Guarded Walls — How Fear Masquerades as Sovereignty
Sovereignty in it’s true inner-standing and real freedom can be easily misunderstood. At times, what we call “sovereignty” is actually fear wearing a mask of strength. The system and policy enforcers of course love it when they come across this as it gives them the perfect excuse to run rough shot over those who aren’t quite there yet. When someone has been hurt, betrayed, or dismissed, it is natural to withdraw and build walls. These walls may feel protective at first, a way to keep pain at a distance. But over time, they harden into isolation. The person confuses avoidance with independence, mistaking disconnection for sovereignty.
Guarded walls are built on the premise that safety comes from keeping others out. Yet this line of thinking denies the truth of sovereignty: that no external force can truly rob you of your inner ground. The wall becomes a prison, where the soul loses its freedom under the illusion of control. Instead of expanding, the self shrinks into the fortress it has created, leaving little room for love, trust, or authentic connection.
Fear, left unexamined, convinces us that openness is weakness. Sovereignty, however, is not brittle. True inner authority is unshaken by the winds of life, and it does not need constant defense. When we mistake fear for sovereignty, we live a smaller life — one defined by avoidance rather than presence.
The paradox is that by trying to protect the self from pain, we inadvertently lock out joy, intimacy, and growth. The walls that keep out the perceived threat also block the gifts that life longs to offer us. In this way, guardedness becomes self-sabotage, undermining the very freedom it was built to preserve.
Recognizing when fear is masquerading as sovereignty is the first step toward liberation. By observing your defenses and questioning their origins, you can begin dismantling the cage. Sovereignty is not about never being touched — it is about knowing you cannot be taken from.
Reflective Questions – Guarded Walls
Where in my life have I mistaken guardedness for sovereignty?
What fears lie at the root of the walls I build around myself?
How do these walls limit my experience of love, joy, or growth?
In what moments have I chosen isolation over presence, and how did it affect me?
What would it mean to trust my inner authority enough to live with less defense?
True Openness — Finding Strength in Vulnerability
If fear builds walls, love builds bridges. True sovereignty reveals itself not in how well we defend ourselves, but in how freely we can remain open without losing ground. Vulnerability is often mischaracterized as weakness, but in reality, it is one of the deepest expressions of strength. To be vulnerable means to live without the armor of pretense, to allow life to touch you fully while staying rooted in who you are.
Openness does not mean naivety. It is not blind trust, nor is it the absence of discernment. Instead, it is the willingness to meet life directly — joys, sorrows, risks, and all — without shrinking away. A truly free sovereign soul knows that no experience can diminish their essence. By staying open, they demonstrate that their inner ground cannot be shaken, even when storms come. Even when assumed authority comes knocking. It matters not what they do, only what I do.
When you embrace vulnerability as strength, you no longer fear connection. Relationships become a space of authenticity rather than performance. You are free to speak your truth, express your needs, and share your heart, knowing that none of this diminishes your inner peace and freedom. Openness becomes a practice of trust in yourself rather than reliance on others.
This shift transforms both the self and relationships. By showing up vulnerably, you invite others to do the same. True intimacy is born not from guarded perfection, but from shared humanity. In this way, openness deepens bonds rather than threatening them. It shows that strength is not found in withdrawal but in courageous presence.
To live sovereign clear and internally free is not to remain untouched but to remain unshaken. Vulnerability does not weaken freedom — it completes it. When fear falls away and openness flows freely, sovereignty becomes radiant: a strength that expands outward, enriching both self and others.
Reflective Questions – True Openness
How do I currently view vulnerability — as weakness or as strength?
In what relationships could I practice showing up with greater openness?
What fears arise when I consider being more vulnerable?
How might openness allow me to experience deeper connection and intimacy?
- How does vulnerability actually reinforce, rather than diminish, my sovereignty?
Closing Reminder
True Inner Sovereignty and real every day internal freedom distorted by fear becomes a cage, but expressed through openness then it becomes liberation. The walls we build in defense may keep pain out, but they also keep love, joy, and connection away. True strength is not in resisting life but in standing rooted while allowing it to flow through you. Always remember – whatever we continue to resist – persists.