Much of the deepest wisdom in life arrives in deceptively simple packaging. Ancient cultures often distilled immense truths into symbols, short sayings, or small practices that contain layer upon layer of meaning. What initially appears simple often turns out to be what I think of as a Matryoshka doll of concepts; ideas nested within ideas, each entangled with larger social, cultural, and even biological systems.
This is how the concept of the Sacred Triad of Being emerged for me. It is at once individual and collective, personal and political, psychological and philosophical. The triad is composed of three equilateral spheres of “being-ness”:
- Agency
- Autonomy
- Lived Experience Authority
Taken together, these three concepts form a kind of compass—a way of navigating self-understanding and the social world simultaneously.
Agency can be understood as the capacity to act intentionally and to shape one’s own life course. It refers to the ability to make choices and to influence circumstances in accordance with one’s goals and values (Emirbayer & Mische, 1998). Psychologists often describe agency as “the sense of being in control of one’s actions and their consequences,” a linchpin of mental health and well-being (Bandura, 2001).
Importantly, agency is not just individual; it is deeply contextual. Social structures, inequality, and cultural norms either expand or constrain one’s perceived and exercised agency. Thus, reflecting on agency means recognizing how empowerment is negotiated within systems—education, economics, politics—that seek to regulate it (Kabeer, 1999).
Autonomy is the freedom to make informed and un-coerced decisions about one’s own life, including one’s body, values, and directions (Deci & Ryan, 2000). It is a cornerstone of both ethics and human dignity, featured centrally in human rights frameworks.
Self-determination theory, for example, identifies autonomy as one of the three most basic psychological needs (alongside competence and relatedness) for human flourishing (Ryan & Deci, 2017). Autonomy, however, does not mean isolation or selfish independence—it refers instead to the ability to act in congruence with one’s authentic self, rather than being dominated by compulsions, coercion, or conformity.
In real life, autonomy appears in decisions as intimate as what career to pursue or whom to love, and as everyday as what to eat or how to spend leisure time. Autonomy is less about the scale of the choice and more about the ownership of that choice.
In recent decades, the concept of “lived experience authority” has become a powerful framework. It holds that individuals who have directly undergone certain social, cultural, or health-related realities possess expertise that cannot be fully replicated or captured by outsiders (Beresford, 2016).
This challenges traditional hierarchies of knowledge that privilege detached, “objective” expertise over subjective accounts. In disability rights, mental health advocacy, and social justice movements, centering lived experience forces institutions and policies to be shaped by those most affected by them (Pillay, 2023).
Acknowledging lived experience authority strengthens the integrity and inclusivity of decision-making while affirming an individual’s right to interpret their own life. It is, at core, recognition of epistemic dignity—the validation that people know their own realities best.
From birth, each of us is situated within a culture, economy, and society that seeks to mold us into cooperative members of a collective. In doing so, institutions often negotiate against our core “being-ness”—our agency, autonomy, and lived experience authority. We learn, early, to barter or suppress pieces of ourselves in exchange for belonging or benefits.
Science bears this tension out. Human beings are distinctly mammalian: we evolved from highly social primates, wired for both collaboration and competition for dominance (Wrangham, 2019). Territoriality, xenophobia, the urge for control—they stem from evolutionary strategies, but also create shadows that undermine selfhood in the modern context. Developing awareness of the triad gives us tools to navigate these shadows, rather than unconsciously replicating them.
When cultivated, the Sacred Triad of Being functions like a personal star chart: a navigational map that helps orient you toward authenticity in decision-making. With this practice, clarity and confidence replace self-doubt, because you can understand not only what you feel but also why you feel it and which history feeds those feelings.
Developing this awareness is not theoretical—it is practical, a habit of daily introspection. One of the simplest yet most profound ways to start is what I call The “Why?” Method, inspired by the child’s endless questioning of the world.
- Ask “Why?” you feel the way you feel about X.
- Listen, reflect, and once you feel you’ve fully understood, ask “Why?” about that new response.
- Repeat—continuously interrogating your answers until they stop changing.
At the point of stillness—when the answer no longer shifts—you have excavated your true why. This is often the hidden root: the memory, fear, unmet need, or value that truly structures the surface problem.
Psychological research aligns with this process. Techniques like cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing rely on iterative questioning to peel back layers of surface rationalizations until the core belief structure emerges (Miller & Rollnick, 2013). Similarly, mindfulness traditions echo this inquiry—a compassionate, nonjudgmental probing into the inner landscape.
When you reach your real “why,” you have:
- A clearer account of your emotions,
- An understanding of the personal history shaping them,
- And a grounded perspective from which to plan action.
Over time, this method reinforces the Sacred Triad of Being. You learn that agency is your right to act, autonomy is your right to decide, and lived experience authority is your right to interpret and narrate your own life.
The Sacred Triad of Being—agency, autonomy, and lived experience authority—offers a path toward greater confidence, presence, and resilience. These concepts are not just abstract ideals; they can be operationalized in everyday life through reflective tools like the “Why?” Method.
Like all practices of wisdom, this process is deceptively simple. The richness comes from repeated engagement and from the courage to be unflinchingly honest with oneself. The reward of this work is freedom: not the freedom of escape, but the freedom of presence, groundedness, and trust in the authority of your own lived life.
- Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.1
- Beresford, P. (2016). All our welfare: Towards participatory social policy. Policy Press.
- Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01
- Emirbayer, M., & Mische, A. (1998). What is agency? American Journal of Sociology, 103(4), 962–1023. https://doi.org/10.1086/231294
- Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women’s empowerment. Development and Change, 30(3), 435–464. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00125
- Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
- Pillay, M. (2023). Lived experience and the reclamation of social and epistemic authority. Social Epistemology, 37(5), 533–546. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2022.2124998
- Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Press.
- Wrangham, R. (2019). The goodness paradox: The strange relationship between virtue and violence in human evolution. Vintage.