Not long ago, the word Sublime dropped into my awareness.
Something of extraordinary beauty, grandeur, or spiritual depth that inspires awe, wonder, or transcendence. Something so profound that it exceeds our ordinary capacity to comprehend or describe it.
It’s not a word I typically use in conversation or writing, yet when it arrived, I knew without question it was important.
This is often how guidance comes to me. A word, an image, a sudden knowing to do or not do something. There’s no second-guessing. Just a clear recognition that something deserves my attention, even when I don’t yet understand its significance.
Not knowing why the word came to me or what I was supposed to do with it, I wrote it in my journal and let it be. Later, as I began contemplating what I’d like to share in this month’s blog, the word returned.
The Sublime Is Already Here
When feeling overwhelmed, distracted, anxious, or caught in the endless activity of the thinking mind, it’s easy to lose touch with the deeper truth of who we are and the extraordinary nature of what’s already here.
The Sublime hasn’t disappeared. It isn’t something we have to summon, earn, or achieve. It’s woven into the very fabric of existence.
Yet we are not always grounded and present enough to experience it.
When we feel grounded, safe, and resourced we naturally become available to greater intimacy with self, others and Life, belonging to something vast, mysterious, and profoundly alive.
Recently, I put on some music, sat down with a blank canvas, picked up my palette knife, and began playing with colors. I had no plan, no image in mind, and no idea where the painting would lead. I simply followed what felt alive in the moment.
As the painting unfolded, an angel emerged!
Angels Among Us — Original painting by Georgette Star
Later, while contemplating including this painting in today’s blog, its title suddenly dropped into my awareness: Angels Among Us.
There it was again!
That spontaneous knowing, arriving without effort or conscious deliberation, just as the word Sublime had arrived. I didn’t set out to paint an angel. I hadn’t searched for a title. Both emerged through a process of allowing rather than striving.
This is one of the gifts of creative expression. When we loosen our grip on knowing, planning, and controlling, we make room for something new to be revealed.
Sublime in the Ordinary
What if the sublime isn’t reserved for extraordinary moments?
We often associate the sublime with breathtaking experiences: Feeling a sense of recognition of the vastness of the universe as we take in the night sky; standing braced against the wind on a beach transfixed by the tumultuous power of the crashing waves, listening to a haunting melody that makes our heart ache with the beauty of it; experiencing any moment that is rich with profound spiritual revelation.
From the perspective of non-dual awareness, the sacred and ordinary are not separate.
What if the sublime is also present in the morning light falling across the kitchen table? In the sound of rain, the movement of trees, the warmth of a hand, or the simple miracle of breathing?
The mystery of Being is not somewhere else, waiting for us to transcend our everyday lives to discover it. It is here, expressing itself as this very moment.
This is the deepest truth that we all recognize at some level. However, when the storms of life are passing through we need tools and support to make it through.
Which brings me to something I’ve been exploring throughout my life and career: Remedies of the Soul.
Rescue Remedies
I’ve been thinking of Rescue Remedies as simple, accessible practices that help us return to a sense of safety, groundedness, and connection. Sometimes spiritual understanding alone isn’t enough when things get tough in our day to day world. Our bodies need care. Our nervous systems need support. Our hearts need compassion.
Some simple remedy examples:
- Place a hand on your heart and offer yourself a moment of compassionate attention.
- Step outside to reconnect with the natural world, and breathe.
- Reach out to someone whose presence helps you feel supported.
- Rest, without needing to accomplish anything.
- Listen to music, move your body, or make art.
When we return to feeling grounded and resourced, something beautiful happens. We become available for something more.
Revelation Remedies
Rescue Remedies help us return to stability and connection. Revelation Remedies invite us to open more fully to the mystery, beauty, and boundlessness of Being, able to cultivate practices of receptivity rather than striving.
A few Revelation Remedies I’m drawn to include:
- Welcoming Wonder
- Luxuriating in Stillness
- Sensing into Guidance
- Creating Without a Plan
- Relaxing into Expansion
Rooted Enough to Expand
Rescue and Revelation Remedies are not two separate paths.
They are complementary expressions of the same loving movement toward wholeness.
As the years go by, the direct relationship between grounding and expansion can become more direct and instantaneous. Like a tree whose roots reach deeply into the earth while its branches extend toward the open sky, the more deeply rooted we become, the more freely we expand into the sublime.
One helps us feel at home in our humanity. The other reminds us that our essential nature is already whole, spacious, and free. Both invite us into a more intimate relationship with life.
An Invitation to Reflect
As you move through the days ahead, I invite you to consider:
- What helps me feel grounded, safe, and resourced when life becomes challenging?
- What opens me to wonder, spaciousness, beauty, and the mystery of Being?
Perhaps you might begin creating your own collection of Rescue and Revelation Remedies—simple practices, meaningful objects, creative expressions, or reminders that help you reconnect with the deeper truth of who you are.
And perhaps, somewhere in the midst of an ordinary day, you’ll find yourself unexpectedly touched by the sublime. Not because you are searching for it. But because you are available to receive it.