What does it mean that self-authority is claimed not granted?

No one will give you permission to think for yourself — you must take it.

Example: A senior engineer waits three sprints for the architect to weigh in on a database migration approach. The architect is busy. The migration stalls. Meanwhile, a junior engineer on another team reads the Postgres docs, benchmarks two strategies over a weekend, writes up her findings, and ships the migration. Nobody told her she could. She decided she was the person responsible for this decision. The difference wasn't seniority or expertise — it was that one person waited for permission and the other claimed authority over the problem.

Try this: Identify one decision you are currently waiting for someone else to approve, validate, or confirm before you act. Write down: (1) who you are waiting for, (2) what specifically you believe they have that you lack — information, credentials, authority, or something else, (3) what would happen if you made the decision yourself right now. If the honest answer to #3 is 'probably nothing bad,' you have discovered a place where you have surrendered authority that was never actually taken from you. Make the decision today.