Creativity
Self is creative. Creativity is an attitude, an inner approach you bring to any activity. You experience creative energy as passion and excitement. Enthusiasm and inspiration energize your intentions. You’re creative when you’re meditative, loving and ego-less. Then Self starts flowing through. There is no boredom and you become inventive in small things. You’re fulfilled by what you’re doing. You’re so content with what and where you are, that there is no desire or ambition. You’re already that which you’ve always wanted to be.
If we enjoy it and feel fulfilled by it, if it helps us to become silent, still, joyous and celebratory, if it makes us dance, it is a bridge between us and Self. We become so utterly absorbed in it that ego disappears. Relaxation, not work is the goal. Creativity is a state of no-mind, enabling Self to arise within us. Then things happen out of our overflowing well-being – Osho
Passion is the love of turning being into action. You let the joy of doing propel you, not the end in mind – Neale Donald Walsh
Self is fulfilled. It seeks to express itself, not to impress others. The only way to do great work is to love what we do. Our fulfilment is in the work itself. Recognition is a substitute for when we do not love our work. Creativity may not bring us power, money, or prestige, but inside, we will be the richest person possible – Osho
Self is spontaneous, not fixated on perfection. Eastern calligraphy is a good example of spontaneous art. It is done on rice paper. If one hesitates even a little, too much ink spreads into the paper and makes it a mess. It is very difficult to deceive on rice paper. A Zen painting has to be spontaneous, flowing. For twelve years, Zen artists learns how to paint. Then for twelve years, they are advised to forget all about painting, to do anything but paint. Then one day, a sudden urge will take possession of them. Then they start painting again. As they do, they are told not to worry too much about the technique, otherwise they will not be spontaneous. Trying to make it perfect, makes it not perfect. If we do it naturally, it is always perfect.
For me, designing a garden is creativity in the now. Each idea spawns others as I stay in the process not using mind to plan it all out in advance. Rather, Self draws the completed work into manifestation. I chip away the rock to reveal the completed sculpture hidden beneath.
Intuition
Self uses intuition as its vehicle. When you’re in doubt, in a state of push-pull, you’re usually busy fighting Self’s ‘no’. Your brain can play tricks, your heart can be blind, but your gut is always right. When something feels off, it is off. Going with your original choice and your first impression is usually the right course of action. Let yourself be drawn by what you really love. It is unlikely to lead you astray. I respond to Self by acting on inspiration and then leave mind to work out the logistics.
All the community’s needs were met, simply, gracefully and in the nick of time as a side-effect of their daily interactions with life – Eileen Caddy
Self-realization
Being in Self is Self-realization. It is remembering who you really are. Tension is who you think you should be, relaxation is who you are. You create hell whenever you separate yourself from your Self because you reject who you really are. The word ‘guru’ stands for: gee, you are you!
Self-realization hinges on nothing but mind control based on self-discipline. Self is full potential. In Self, you hoist the colours of your ship, your true colours. The goal of your life is to fully realize yourself while in the body, to become the embodiment of all that you really are.
In Self, you are a stable energy system. You have conscious focus and intention. Energy flows from you in strength, trust & love. You love life in every form that it appears. You perceive meaningfulness and purpose in the smallest details. Filled with enthusiasm, life is rich and full. There is no judgment and no fear. You’re joyously and intimately engaged with your world. Free of suffering, your very existence is a great help to others.
Enlightenment
Enlightened people may choose to live a quiet life and yet have a positive influence on the world. The deeper their self-realization, the greater their positive influence and the less they are affected by the ups and downs of life out there. They continually raise their vibrations and with that those of the people around them and of the planet at large. In this way they aid its evolution. Their healing influence is primarily based on being, not on doing. Everybody they come in contact with, is touched by their presence and peace.
Their peace is so vast and deep that anything that is not peace disappears into it as if it had never existed. This breaks the karmic cycle of action and reaction. Animals, trees and flowers feel their peace and respond to it. They become ‘the light of the world’, an emanation of pure consciousness. In this way, they stop suffering at the level of cause. They eliminate unconsciousness from the world by not reacting to it. They don’t give it any reality.
Swami just lay there all day. He never spoke. People came to see him and did not want to leave. He made their stuff go away with his all-encompassing peace – Paramahansa Yogananda