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Becoming Our Own Wise One, by Stewart Bitkoff

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

There are as many ways to God as there are created souls.—Muhammad

In our culture, who assumes the role of holy or wise one? In more traditional cultures the holy, wise one is a central figure. Often, they advise the king/queen, sit at the right hand of the chief, understand human behavior and prescribe medicine, help pass along the oral history of the tribe, and have an inner connection with universal wisdom and Truth. When a difficult societal issue arises, this individual is central in helping decide direction or outcome. Daily, they are consulted on a variety of issues.

Today, this diverse role and function has been spread across a team of specialists. For guidance, we go to a priest, counselor, doctor, psychologist, historian, politician, or lawyer, depending on the nature of the issue. Because of the complexity of some issues, this specialist may not even live in our own community, and to consult them we make an appointment, months in advance, travel to get the advice/treatment, and pay a fee.

This specialist model has pluses and minuses. Specialists, because of training, have information and expertise not available to others. In some endeavors, these people are essential and our culture cannot be without them. However, by separating out problems and going to others for solutions, we lose sight of the fact that, for the most part, it is possible to manage our own concerns. Within the wise one model, one person, who is readily accessible, knows us, and is part of our tribe/family, can solve a majority of issues.

In both models, the holy/wise one and specialist model, there is reliance upon others. While it is important in today's technological world to have the option to consult a specialist, we have generally forgotten our own individual potential and multi-level capacities. With training, we can become our own source of wisdom and through inner perception manage a wide range of daily issues, consulting with specialists as indicated.

Gradually, we are returning to a model of self-reliance and individual responsibility. We are shifting away from dependence upon others and searching for our own inner wisdom to manage our life. Tomorrow each person will be their own wise one, consulting with specialists far less frequently and only when required. This is the next stage in the evolutionary process.

Building Self-Reliance
How will this shift in personal awareness occur? We are in the beginning stages of it. Look around and notice the increasing interest in different religious philosophies that maximize individual human potential and how so many are returning to spirituality-based living. See the general discontent in the way government is being run and the growing awareness that neither republicans nor democrats can save us. From the outside, our way of life is being attacked by terrorists who want to return to a more traditional and religion-based social system (as defined by them). It is generally recognized that greed in the market place is destroying our middle class. The family fabric is being strained with couples having to work three jobs. Soon we will be a society of rich and poor.

Many are beginning to wonder, what went wrong? Also, many are searching for real, lasting answers.

We are living in an age when people are turning away from authority-based in favor of individual-based action. Over time, many have realized that we have given up too much responsibility to authority, government, and institutions, and gradually people are taking back control of their lives and working locally to solve their own problems.

The shift has occurred and will continue. Remember—a better world is created one person at a time.

A Missing Ingredient
In order to create better, more complete people, we have to add the missing spiritual ingredient. This enriching element balances individual greed and helps the individual realize that because of our complex world, often our best interest is served helping our neighbor. For example, we may have to spend money to upgrade the air filtering capacity of our car engine so that we have clean air to breathe. This may cost personally, but in the long run the air quality of everyone is healthier.

According to the mystic, the missing ingredient and balancing factor is higher consciousness. This consciousness, because of its alignment with Truth, enables the individual to work toward collective interest. his potential is latent in everyone, and its individual development and operation will help save us; we can then continue with our own evolution.

Personal spiritual development is a new frontier and area of inquiry. How can each traveler develop inner wisdom and reach higher consciousness? How can each become a wise man/woman and achieve excellence in their daily life?

There is a way to do this, but we have forgotten where and how to look. The next phase will see its full reemergence.

How do I go about finding the missing ingredient? Turn back to the religion of your birth; become a better Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, etc. Seek the inner core of religious experience: do not be satisfied with the outer shell of religious teaching and fossilized rules created by others. Find your own inner, vibrant Truth, and become a spiritual traveler. Each of the great religions provides a structure or framework from which to begin the inner journey of exploration of self and higher consciousness.

And, if for some reason, your journey is restricted by the religion of your birth, seek Truth and higher consciousness in another spiritual path. Pray and ask for a different way to open to you. Pray for a guide and teacher who will show you your own inner potential and teach awareness of your own growing spirituality. Find a teacher that is aligned with Truth and who will give you tools to uncover your own strength and teach you how to proceed on your own.

In this endeavor, three factors must be aligned: the student, the teacher, and the grace (Baraka) of the path.

It is tradition that the teacher calls to the student's sincerity or purity of heart; this is the factor that enables the student to be successful.

How do you grow sincere in your efforts? Seek Truth or wisdom for its own sake not for what it will give you. Seek Truth because you love and must know it. Then, as The Light or God wills, the golden or inner path will open to you.

This is the balancing factor, the missing ingredient. One day this awareness will be as common as the growing realization that there is an underlying or connecting energy in the universe.

Balanced Living
Until I achieve this inner understanding, what am I to do? Try to live a good, balanced life. Achieve excellence in something. Seek to help others and develop the many aspects of yourself. Make time to listen to your inner song. Stay away from that which is destructive. Do things in moderation and try not to hurt anyone. Be kind to yourself and others. Be a good loving person that is an asset to their family, community, and world.

If you do these things, in time, the inner missing ingredient will develop. As it develops, it will help you fully utilize all of your skills and abilities. Added spiritual capacity is a balancing and enabling element, helping the traveler reach human excellence and completion.

And when this occurs, you will be a king/queen in this world and the next, having your own inner wise one to consult.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2009. All rights reserved.

A relative told me that when she was a young woman, she saw a very old woman who was hunched over, carrying groceries. The woman asked her for help carrying the bags up to her apartment, which was on the third floor of a nearby home. She wasn't afraid to help because the home belonged to her uncle, who lived on the first floor. Feeling sorry for the woman, she brought up the bags and noted that the ceiling was slanted as if this were an attic. She placed the bags down and left. She later told the story to her uncle, who replied that there was no one living on the third floor. She insisted so much that he had to take her up there to show her that there was a solid wall where the old woman's apartment had been. She never saw the old woman again. Similarly, my acupuncture instructor shared a story about an unusual old woman who had shown up as a patient in his office. He began to treat her for a sciatic condition and she did not respond. She said to him, Water would put out the fire, which made him think to take a different approach, and she began to heal. One day when she didn't show up for her appointment, everyone was concerned. They called her phone number - no answer. They then drove by her address, but it was an empty lot. She was never seen again. I would very much appreciate your opinion on this sort of phenomenon.

Catherine

Dreamchaser:

I love your story - it's just fabulous! I absolutely believe that spiritual beings can manifest in human form. I have heard stories like these over and over again throughout my lifetime. I have also experienced something like this myself.

I know some of you will remember this tale. When my daughter was a newborn, I was taking her to my father's house for a visit. I had to drive about five hours to get there, and I was obviously very tired, since I had a brand new baby and no one to help me. As a result, I fell asleep at the wheel.

I then heard a horn honking loud and steady, and I snapped awake just as I was running off the road, where there was a guardrail and a cliff. Had I not awakened when I did, we would have died.

I looked over to my left for the car that had beeped, and all I saw were big brown eyes staring at me. I know there was a male face there with dark hair, but all I could see were those incredible eyes.

I looked over at my daughter to make sure she was okay, and when I looked back to wave and thank him, there was no car there. I looked in my side view and rear view mirrors, and looked ALL around, and there wasn't a single other car on the road. There were only a few seconds between the first look when he woke me up and the second look to say thanks.

I know this driver was sent as a guardian. He was not human, but he appeared in human form.

Sometimes we have guardians show up to help us in times of danger like this. Sometimes we encounter people who are stuck in the past, like the woman with the groceries that your relative met. Sometimes spiritual beings come to deliver messages to us - there are all sorts of reasons they take human form.

In the case of the acupuncturist, the old woman came as a teacher for your instructor. He learned something important from her, something that he will be able to use to help others many times in the future.

The Christian bible even describes how angels will come to us in human form, so we never know if a bum on the street begging for food or money could really be an angel or some other spiritual being. We should all bear this in mind before we judge someone based on how they look.

After the angel saved my life that day, I have always wondered if the people I see are ordinary humans, or if they are from another place. I also know that in many cases, beings will come to us for help of some kind when they're really there to teach us some kind of lesson. For example, I bet your relative was awakened to all sorts of new possibilities when she helped that old lady carry her groceries that day.

I wish everyone the eyes to see more!

*****

Astrea:

All of the world's religions have stories about angels and spirits who visit the Earth. In the Jewish faith, there are many tales about this in the Old Testament. The one that always sticks out to me is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, in which Lot is warned by angelic visitors to leave and never look back.

Abraham is often visited by angels who appear in the guise of men too. An angel comes to Sara to tell her she is with child despite her old age, and in the New Testament, the Archangel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her that she's pregnant with Jesus.

In the Bible, angels are everywhere personified in human form. Part of the intrigue of those stories is how these angels appear to be so real as to be indistinguishable from ordinary humans.

In ancient Greece, gods and goddesses appeared not only as men and women, but as swans, bulls and other animals. Heck, Zeus fathered heaven only knows how many kids disguised as other creatures! Sometimes the humans in these stories have some idea that their visitor is divine in nature, but most of the time, they are portrayed as clueless when it comes to recognizing angels.

Angelic spirits often take on human form when they visit this dimension. They come to check us out, bring us messages, or take care of us in some way. The old woman in your story about acupuncture is definitely an angel who came to teach that healer an important lesson about his work.

Perhaps there were other people around her during her sojourn here who also benefited from contact with her. Maybe the people around her were supposed to look for her and try to find her when she disappeared, so they would pay special attention to her message. Either way, the kindness and concern those people showed that woman while she was here will garner great rewards for them.

There is a reason we don't recognize angels at first. If angels revealed their true identifies to us up front, we would be so in awe, it would be impossible to learn all they've come to teach us. We're not supposed to recognize them for who they are, at least not at first.

Christians are supposed to greet every person as Jesus Christ and treat that person accordingly. Many of my Southern Baptist friends keep little notes on their refrigerators saying, A stranger may be the only Jesus you see today, or You may be the only Jesus someone sees today.

I think it's a fine plan to treat everyone as if they were the Christ. It's a great way to put that whole love one another notion into action. If we all did that, the angels could stay in heaven, singing and dancing and not being so troubled with us here on Earth.

Your question is MY Jesus for the day. Thanks for asking it!

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.