Credit: Zenponies.com
By Wes Annac, The Culture of Awareness
I define a “sage” as someone who uses their awareness, which they find in stillness and contemplation, to subtly and quietly create positive change. The sage embodies material transcendence and expresses him or herself through love and peace, and everything flows to this quiet, still embodiment of divine perfection.
The sage who’s successfully opened their mind and allowed their heart-centered wisdom to pour through gains a greater understanding of the nature of reality, and in my opinion, we don’t have to accomplish anything to become a sage.
All we have to do is sit in silence and recognize our simplistic divinity, and we don’t have to be loved by the masses to change the world. All we have to do is transform our consciousness, and everything else will flow from the heart space, allowing us to help the world wake up.
Our creativity will flow when we open the mind and allow our innate higher consciousness to express itself through the heart, and the peace and stillness that are required will reintroduce us to humility and simplicity – qualities the rest of the world seems to lack.
All it takes to be a sage is the recognition that we’re already perfect the way we are, because we contain a divine spark within.
This spark can be used for creativity, meditation, or anything else that lights our inner fire, and as we open up and connect with our higher consciousness, we find all of the creative and spiritual inspiration we’ll ever need.
Most people fail to understand that we don’t need to prove ourselves – we need to discoverourselves.
This is one of the most difficult truths to come to terms with on the spiritual path. While some of us might want to prove ourselves on the world stage, the best way to transform ourselves and our world is to find our sacred center and allow the transformative, paradigm shattering energy to flow from there.
Lao-Tzu. Credit: Thetaoofrecovery.com
Lao-Tzu poses some essential questions for those who like to consider themselves sages.
“Can you govern your animal soul, hold to the One and never depart from it?
“Can you throttle your breath, down to the softness of breath in a child?
“Can you purify your mystic vision and wash it until it is spotless?
“Can you love all your people, rule over the land without being known?
“Can you be like a female, and passively open and shut heaven’s gates?
“Can you keep clear in your mind the four quarters of earth and not interfere?” (1)
The “wise man” keeps his peace no matter what, he tells us.
“The Wise Man, though he travel all day,
“Will not be separated from his goods.
“So even if the scene is glorious to view,
“He keeps his place, at peace, above all.” (2)
He also introduces a concept that’s crucial to the enlightenment path, which he calls “accomplishment apart from work”.
“In all the world but few can know
“Accomplishment apart from work,
“Instruction when no words are used.” (3)
For the most part, the world is too busy rushing around every day to find inner peace, bliss or contentment, but the conscious sage sees the rat race for what it is: a continuous, frantic attempt to stay disconnected from our essence.
The problem with accessing this greater awareness is that, again, it requires a great deal of peace, silence and stillness, which most people are too distant from to understand or embody.
Credit: Mybeautifulwords.com
The silence and stillness connect us with the Self, but to access them, we have to be willing to lay down our constant goals and ambitions so we can clear the way for this connection to be established.
Most people don’t know they possess an infinite wellspring of spirituality and creativity within, and we’re all familiar with the stereotypical artist who’s always frustrated because his or her creativity doesn’t seem to flow.
If only they could quiet their minds and allow their higher consciousness to through, which not only requires peace, silence and stillness, but love, they’d never go without their creative flow again.
As we’re learning, open-minded love is the driving force behind flowing creativity, and even if the mind’s open and we’re peaceful within, our flow will still be blocked if we haven’t entered the heart space.
Adyashanti has told us that “if emptiness cannot dance, it is not true emptiness”, and I think this means that an open mind is incomplete if we don’t open it to the heart. Without love, we don’t have much of anything to inspire us or help us feel passionate, so beyond staying open and empty, we have to remember to stay rooted in love.
In my experience, one of the best ways to keep our inner love intact is to consistently express it through our creative work. Writing is a great way for me to express how I feel along this journey, and there are plenty of other passions we can pursue.
Anyone will tell you that the spiritual path requires commitment, but a lot of spiritual seekers don’t realize exactly what they’ve committed to. They’ve committed to inner peace, joy, bliss and stillness, and beyond our work, these are the most important components of the enlightenment journey that require commitment.
We’ll have other commitments if we fashion our daily work around our awareness, and it’s essential to remember to take time to explore our consciousness throughout the day.
Credit: Charmedyoga.com
Otherwise, we’ll feel depleted of the very awareness we’re here to raise, and along with working hard and routinely accessing our inner silence and stillness, we’re meant to have fun with this crazy journey we call life.
With this in mind, let’s step outside of our mind-driven confines and gain new rich and fulfilling experiences, but let’s also remember to explore ourselves every day. It’s important for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual sustainment, and the rest of the world will benefit when we can remain in this wholly connected space.
Footnotes:
- Lao Tzu, The Way of Life. The Tao Te Ching. trans. R.B. Blakney. New York, etc.: Avon, 1975, 10, 62.
- Ibid., 26, 78.
- Ibid., 43, 96.
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I’m a twenty-one year old spiritual writer, blogger and channel for the creative expression of the inner universe, and I created The Culture of Awareness daily news site.
The Culture of Awareness features daily spiritual and alternative news, articles I’ve written, and more. Its purpose is to awaken and uplift by providing material about the fall of the planetary elite and a new paradigm of unity and spirituality.