What Is Trying to Express Itself Through Me?

Most of us spend a great deal of time asking what we want from life.

What do I want to accomplish? What do I want to possess? Where do I want to go? How do I want other people to respond to me?

These are understandable questions. But Yoga Science invites us occasionally to turn the question around: What is trying to express itself through me?

 That question begins from a very different premise. It suggests that perhaps, our deepest creativity does not originate solely in the personality—with its memories, preferences, fears, desires and plans.

Perhaps, there is also an intuitive wisdom within us that is continually available, waiting for an opportunity to be recognized and expressed.

An artist may experience it before a blank canvas. A physician may suddenly recognize what a patient truly needs. A carpenter may see the solution to a problem that resisted every previous attempt. A parent may unexpectedly know the words a child needs to hear.

We sometimes call these moments inspiration. Yoga Science asks us to investigate them.

 Making Ourselves Available

We cannot demand inspiration. But we can make ourselves more available to it. This is one reason the disciplines we have been exploring are so important.

When we make room, we loosen our attachment to the constant and familiar demands of the personality.

 When we practice one-pointed attention, we conserve energy that would otherwise be scattered among countless competing thoughts and distractions.

And when the conscious mind becomes more quiet, steady and receptive, the intuitive wisdom of the Super Conscious Mind can be reflected by the Conscience into our conscious awareness.

An insight appears. A possibility becomes visible. We suddenly know something we did not arrive at through ordinary analysis. But receiving an insight is only the beginning.

From Inspiration to Expression

Suppose an intuitive insight enters the conscious mind. What happens next? Very often the Ego may object. The Senses may prefer something more immediately pleasurable. The Unconscious Mind may present an old habit, fear or concept that says, “We’ve never done it that way before.” And even though the Conscience has reflected Inner Wisdom—the personality still clings to its habitual preferences.

This is where willpower becomes essential. Willpower enables us to translate Inner Wisdom into thought, word and deed. Without that final step, inspiration remains merely an interesting possibility. With it, the invisible becomes visible.

A painting takes form on a canvas. A compassionate thought becomes a healing word. An insight becomes an invention. A new understanding becomes an act of forgiveness. A possibility becomes a life.

Everyone Is an Artist

Jenness often teaches that everyone is an artist. Not everyone paints. Not everyone writes music, sculpts, dances or writes poetry. Yet, every human being is continually engaged in a creative process.

We create through our thoughts. We create through our words. We create through our actions. We create through the quality of attention and energy we bring into every relationship.

From this perspective, our canvas is much larger than anything hanging on a museum wall. The canvas is our life.

And the most consequential question for every artist is not always: What do I want to create? Sometimes it may be: What is trying to express itself through me?

An Experiment

During this upcoming week, when you encounter a decision, a creative problem, a relationship difficulty—or simply a quiet moment—resist the impulse to immediately provide an answer.

Pause. Make room. Give the question your one-pointed attention. Then listen.

Not every thought that appears will be intuitive wisdom. The Ego, Senses and Unconscious Mind will continue offering their opinions. That is their function.

Simply witness them. Then consult the Conscience.

And maybe, nothing dramatic will happen. But perhaps, in the space you have created, you will recognize a possibility that the noise of habit had previously obscured.

And if that possibility carries the quiet authority of Inner Wisdom, experiment with summoning the necessary willpower to give expression–– in thought, word and deed.

It may just be that the creativity we need is not available to us simply because we are desiring or hoping for an answer.

Often, it is simply the practice of becoming sufficiently quiet, attentive and open that allows something new and wiser to become visible in our consciousness.

And so, another question worth asking:
What Is Trying to Express Itself Through Me?

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