Shams Consciousness

Shams Consciousness is an application of a powerful interdisciplinary understanding of a technology of creativity interlinked through a common set of information to create health, wealth, inner satisfaction or whatever we desire to create.

Copyright 2008 by K. Ferlic,   All Rights Reserved

What is Shams Consciousness?

Shams Consciousness is a particular awareness as to what lies in each heart. Or alternatively said, an awareness which lies in what is symbolized by our heart and lies at the core of each human being - a profound creative spirit

It is an awareness and understanding so profound that rather that not share it and keep it to oneself, one would be willing to give their life to be able to share the awareness and understanding with a single other individual

Shams, born in Tabriz about eight hundred years ago, is reported to be the mystical teacher of the Persian Poet Rumi. Many feel the reported stories and events about the relationship of Shams and Rumi are real where as other feel the stores are only a myth. Whether the descriptions of their relationship are real or not is really not the issue. Shams is immortalized in Rumi’s poetry and there is something profound in the understanding carried by Shams about what lies in each heart to become the catalyst for Rumi, a highly educated cleric and scholar, to become a profound mystical Poet.

The story reported to the author about Shams was that Shams had come to have some particular mystical understanding such that he had a passionate desire to share the understanding he had obtained. In asking God to be able to share the understanding, God is reported to have asked, "What price are you willing to pay to share it?" Shams is reported to have said, "My life."

The story goes on to say that Shams was dismissed by many and appeared more of an unkept, uneducated beggar than a man of wisdom. One day the paths of Rumi and Shams crossed. There are many versions as to what transpired in their meeting. But, as a result of their meeting, Rumi the cleric ceased to be the cleric and became one of the most profound and loved mystical poets of the heart.

Shams and Rumi are reported to have spent time together. Again the stories vary as to how and why the two separated. But, in any case, two things stand out in this story. One, whether true or not, is "What is it that the can be known such that an individual would be willing to give their life to share that knowledge with one individual?" The second is that what is it that can be known about what lies within an individual that the cleric almost over night was transformed into a profound poet. What is it that Shams passed to Rumi that forever change Rumi and, for that matter, the world?

Some would say there was nothing special about the Shams - Rumi relationship and Shams did nothing for Rum any different than what any teacher does for their disciple. But, then why was Rumi immortalized in the Rumi poetry and why is this story discussed eight hundred years later if there wasn’t something special about Shams?

The awareness which is described here a Shams Consciousness is not something which was intentionally or purposely pursued. Nor even a thought given as to its existence. As described below, the awareness arose out of a rhetorical question asked the Universe several years before the author experienced what can be described as the Ultimate Accident. In the experience of the Ultimate Accident, the author realized he had stumbled into an understanding about our inherent creativity as human being which caused the author to completely change his life in order to share that understanding. In particular, the awareness contained an awareness about what lied in each heart.

The concept of Shams Consciousness arose only in time several years latter after the author realized he was tell particular individual "Don’t read Rumi, become Rumi." That is, access that same creative power within one’s own heart that lied in the heart of Rumi. It was in telling individual to become Rumi the author began to realized that in some way, this is what Shams knew and called forth from within Rumi.

After the experience of the Ultimate Accident, the author knew the equivalent potential existed within each individual to become that equivalent Rumi. In this regard, he was very much influenced by a story about a wheelwright in the discussion, "A reflections on our creations - the creator, the creation and the creative process," who encouraged a young prince not to read famous writers. Rather he encouraged the prince to come to know them and experience them as individuals. He encouraged the prince to come to know what they experienced to cause them to write such works. It is then we can truly savor what the writer or artist has to offer.

On this point of experiencing what an writer or artist experiences is that it is the creative spirit which brings forth the creative work lies within. When it is accessed, creative action blossoms forth from within the individual as fruit blossoms forth on a tree. The question was, "Why did that potential not routinely reveal itself and what needed to be done to bring it out?"

What was discussed and described elsewhere in the journey of exploration of creativity and to find an alterative way to live life is the existence of what can best be described and called a creative spirit in each heart. As described in the discussions on our creative spirit this is not the spirit of religion and spirituality. Rather it is a creative force, a creative entity, a creative energy with a passion to create which incarnated into a human body for the purpose of having a physical experience.

This creative spirit did not incarnate to have any physical experience. Rather it incarnated to have particular types and kinds of experiences that can best be described as the intention for our life, That is, there is a reason and a purpose for the creative spirit within each of us to be here.

Unless we align with and fulfill that purpose, we will never find an inner satisfaction with life that never runs dry nor will we feel and wholeness and completeness to our life and what we experience in life. When we do align with this intention and allow it to be fulfilled we reveal the gift we incarnated to give and release what can best be described as our charisma. In essence, within each person is the equivalent of whatever individual is held up as an example of the best humanity has to offer. It only needs to be called forth and given the safe and secure space to be released.

The awareness of what lies in each heart and the need to call it forth and create a safe and secure space for it to freely unfold true to itself is the essence of the Shams Consciousness.

It can be said that many have life changing experiences that causes the individual to share what they find. The question can be asked, "Why do you (the author) think you know who or what the consciousness of Shams knew to call the awareness of the creative spirit within each heart the Shams Consciousness - why do you think your life changing experience is in any way related to what Shams knew" The answer to this question is relatively simple and contains six parts. But it does need to be noted here that the realization as to what Shams knew only came over time. It only came in encouraging the readers of Rumi to become Rumi and find that creative force within themselves and become it and when they did, their creativity bursts forth.

The first part is that the Universe was specifically asked what appeared to be a rhetorical question. The question was, "What did Shams know that he would be willing to give his life to share it with one person?" In asking this question with the true desire to know its answer created a fertile space for the answer to be provided. But, what the author did not understand, the key to knowing the answer was to become it and live it in some way.

The second part is a statement reported to be made by Christ. Christ is reported to have said: "Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it will be open to you." But what Christ did not say was how long it would take to get what we seek nor in what form it would come. Nor did He make any comment about whether or not we would recognized what we seek when we get it for the time and place in which we find ourselves when we get it. There is an assumption we know what we truly want when we ask but what we ask may not be what we truly seek. As such, Creation may give us what we do want at our deepest level but mind does not recognize it when we get it. Rather, it keep looking for what it thinks we want. When we ask with passion and act to get what we seek, the Universe responses to meet us.

What many do not understand is that there is a creative process. Once the creative process starts it will continue on automatic unless consciously preempted. Additionally, any creation and its environment are integrally linked. The same essential creation can look different given a different environment. We will experience whatever we desire in whatever form our environment can support. If we do not have clarity of intention when we enter the creative process, the process will still manifest what we desire the best it can. But the creation will be a muddled in some way and we will not get what we expect. The greater clarity we have, the more precise we can manifest what we desire.

The third part was that in experiencing the Ultimate Accident, an understanding was accessed that can be best described as stumbling into the Source of Creation. The understanding was so overpowering it created a passionate desire to share the understanding. It caused the author to complete change his life to share that understanding.

This in itself is not unusual. Many have what can be called a mystical experience that causes them to change the their life. What is different about the understanding discussed here is the passionate desire to share it in detail and use it to its depth with at least one person to the point of not being able to share it is painful. This is the fourth part of the answer to the question above.

Sharing the understanding is not about putting the material of the understanding in a book or going on radio, TV or satellite and share the knowledge. Sharing the understanding in such a way is a relatively shallow experience and does not relieve what is felt. Rather, what is being called forth to share and experienced is different, a different type and kind of sharing. It is about sharing a creation. It is about sharing with another individual the same type and kind of perspective such that two can dance together as one within a single understanding and creation. It is more like finding a playmate who can meet one to one at each and every level of play. It is about consciously creating with another and sharing that creation in awareness.

Part five is the essence of the understanding itself and the part which really justifies calling this awareness the Shams Consciousness. In attempting to share this information with anyone, it awakens and calls forth the creative spirit within the individual. The individual becomes more creative in, and with, their life. It is much like the Shams and Rumi story. In sharing the knowledge, Rumi changed his life from being the cleric to becoming the poet. So too an individual whose creative spirit is released. In some way they transform their life to become more creative in, and with, their life. The direct result of sharing the understanding is about the individual becomes more creative and driven to create. They can no longer sit and allow the world to pass by. They are catalyzed to action to create the life of their choice. They take charge of their life and move to become a conscious creator of their life. They switch from an internal reference to an internal source and reference accompanied by our internal compass.

Part six is related to the fact that many esoteric teachers have said we must become what we desire to experience. That is, we are the creator becoming the creation. To truly know anything, we must become it and/or experience it. As in the story about a wheelwright in the discussion, "A reflections on our creations - the creator, the creation and the creative process," to know the author of a book a creation of any type, you do not read his book or look at their creation. You must engage that author and come to know the world which gave rise to what the author has written. This is of course difficult to do for we cannot routinely get inside the consciousness of another - or can we? Maybe we can in ways our conscious mind cannot understand.

In asking the Universe to know what Shams knew, it required becoming Shams in some way. Without a conscious awareness of what was happening, that transformation did occur. In desiring to know what Shams knew that Shams would be willing to give his life, the author did have to experience such a passion and then meet the equivalent of the "cleric" with whom to share the understanding.

In helping this "cleric" to find that for which they longed in their heart, the "cleric’s" creative spirit was released and they were transformed. They in essence, died before they died. They died to the world that was created when their creative spirit was bound in the cage of our own making and were reborn as that phoenix to create a world where their creative spirit become free. Their life becomes a new creation as reflected in the fruits of their life. Whether what they create is as profound as Rumi, only time will tell. But the experience with the "cleric" was not a unique situation. It was becoming routine.

The author saw such experiences as calling forth the creative spirit in another as the essence of the rainmaker, the dream midwife and dream nanny until he met the "cleric." What the author did for this "cleric" was really no different than what he did for others before he met the "cleric." The awareness and it relationship to shams was not made until one of the individual with whom the was creating the space for their creative spirit to be called forth was a lover and reader of Rumi. But it was their interest in Rumi the connection was made and understood Shams created the space for the release of Rumi’s creative spirit. It was in telling an individual to stop reading Rumi and become Rumi that the realization of what Shams knew slowly revealed itself.

We cannot give what we do not have. When we awaken the Shams Consciousness within ourselves by find and understand the creative spirit within our own being we can become that rainmaker, dream midwife and nanny to birth the creative spirit in another. We can become that Shams for another and birth that equivalent Rumi. In wakening to the awareness of Shams Consciousness and what lies in each heart and in choosing to act on that awareness, we become the Rainmaker. We can, and will, create the space to bring forth the refreshing waters of life to nourish and water the parched inner landscape of another for their creativity to flourish.

Whether or not you accept these six points as justification for calling the awareness of the creative spirit within each heart the Shams Consciousness, doesn’t really matter. The name itself is just a name and really means nothing. What is important is that there is a creative spirit within each heart that needs to be awakened and called forth by another. The key lessons learned here is that creation/Creation is not done alone. We each need another to give us the experiences we desire to have and we each need another to call forth our creative spirit in some way.

If our creative spirit is not called forth and allowed to share its creation, we will experience a pain and a separation at some level of our being. How intense a pain and what type and kind of pain all depends on how our creative spirit is being held captive. Some are only denied a life with meaning or a satisfaction from life or within life. Other experience a pain so intense they are driven into a addiction of some type to numb and suppress the pain.

We each need another to create the space and allow our creative spirit to become free. The question is, " what role is that other in our life willing to play for us - do they become our Shams and cause our creative spirit to become free or do they become a jailer and cause the individual to retreat into a cage of their own making to protect themselves?" But for anyone to create the space for the creative spirit within an individual to become free, we must first awaken to the awareness of its existence.

In looking at the story of Shams we can go a little deeper into its meaning if we look at the story metaphorically. Shams is reported to have an understanding that he was willing to give his life to share that understanding with a single other. Realizing this point, we look at the Creation Story for the Creativity Perspective and contemplate the fact that it was the desire of the consciousness within, or behind, Creation to experience and play with another, to share it self with another at each and every level of being, which gave rise to Creation.

"Shams’ in Arabic means "Sun" In reading Rumi, many consider that Rumi in some way saw in Shams God’s love for mankind. In this regard, it can be said that Shams was the vehicle or the sun to shine the Light of God into Rumi’s life. Yet, as a human, Shams only desired to share with another. A desire so intense that he was willing to give his life. But, is this not the what the consciousness within, or behind, Creation experienced?

Is this passion to share not the fuel for creation? A passion so strong in its desire, it shatters itself as in the Creation Story for the Creativity Perspective as the price to play of have the deep longing for a playmate satisfied. But it is a very special type and kind of playmate for a very specific reason. It is for someone who has an equivalent or similar understanding who is willing to jointly use the understanding to create a state of creative play at each and every level of our being. To do so is to share the understanding of how we are consciousness at play within itself. Or, alternatively said, we experience the Source of Creation within ourselves and within the other before us as the creative force in Creation.

Many only stumble into an awareness of the Source of Creation; awaken to their true creative power; and/or awaken to an awareness that they are not the experiences they have but the creator of those experiences; only after intense pain. However it is clear, this need not be the case. It is possible to create a gentle phoenix for any creative endeavor we wish to undertake. In this regard, we can create a gentle phoenix to experience the Source of Creation and/or awaken and call forth the creative spirit within our own being or that of another.

To create that gentle phoenix we need to be willing to become the embodiment of the principles as to how the inner world is reflected in the outer. We need to see how what we think and believe is creating the experiences we have. We need to give ourselves permission and the safe and secure space within our own being to enter our creative imagination  and explore options. If we do not have the freedom within our own being to explore options, we will never find the freedom in our external world to do what we need to do to create that gentle phoenix. We need to look to see where we do and do not hold our own creativity sacred.

In creating this within, we will find ourselves desiring to share what we find with another. It is in this deep feeling and desire to share we stand at a cross road. In one direction we can look into the Source of Creation. In the other direction we look into Creation and the desire of the consciousness within, or behind, Creation to share itself. In experiencing this desire we will be the embodiment of the principles necessary to create the space for another to do what they need to do at each and every level of their being to be able to return to a state of creative play to experience the freedom of their own creative spirit. In doing so, we can bring these inner transformation out into the world and sustain them. In doing so, we change the world.

The challenge in awakening the Shams Consciousness and acting to create the space for the creative spirit of another to become free is that we must be willing to allow this creative spirit to become totally free. No matter how beautiful the individual may be and become, we cannot hold them in any way. All we can do is let them fly free. The mistake that most make is they are unwilling to let go. They access the most beautiful thing they can every experience, a free creative spirit, but they cannot hold it. They must allow it to fly free. That is the real issue everyone faces. The most beautiful thing they help create must be totally free to become what it needs to become.

The goal is to awaken shams consciousness to create the Rumis of the world. It is to call forth that Rumi within each to go into the world,. It is to see a world full of Rumis living their heart. For that to happen takes a lot of Shams. The challenge is to do the work to create those Rumi is to face the challenge of dying before we die. Simply said, we must face death in several ways. A death as to who an what we want and expect and a death to what we desire to hold.

This is hard for the ego to take. But we need to look at the Shams Rumi story. Shams eventually disappeared from Rumi's life after Rumi’s transformation. Shams was never really acceptable to the world. But Rumi was. We need to realize in that to become Shams for another, we will never get the recognition and accolades desired by the ego. But again, it is not about literally leaving the life of another. It is to not hold on to the other but allow them to fly free in whatever way they need to fly.

There is always a death to be faced both within the individual creating the space for another and a death of the individual releasing their creative spirit. As a Shams Consciousness it means continually dying to what needs to be done for the creative spirit of another to be released. Additionally, we need to be willing to leave their life so they can be about their way. It is very hard to birth a beautiful creative spirit of the heart and have it fly away. But then that is what the work is about. We need to remember, awakening Shams Consciousness is to awaken something so profound we are willing to give our life to share it and give it to someone. When we give it away, we can’t hold onto it or what it causes to unfold.

Quite simply, when we access what lies at the Source of Creation, we must be willing to die in some way. To think we can remain the same is foolish. The Source knows no forms and no boundaries. To experience it is to shatter who and what we think and believe. To become a channel or conduit of the Source for other will require a death on our part in some way. It will cost us our life in some way. If we are not willing to undergo the required death, we block we what desire to bring forth.

Awakening Shams Consciousness is ultimately it is about learning to become phoenix and stepping through the fear of death. It is to understand our energy and consciousness will never die but only transform into a new and different form. To awaken Shams Consciousness within us, we do not have to physically die. But we must be willing to find the truth of our own being whatever the cost. To awaken Shams Consciousness is to die before we die. We must face the a death as to who an what we want and expect

The recommendation could be made to explore the information which gave rise to this understanding and follow the path of the author. Although that may be helpful, it is not the recommended path.

The recommendation is to realize several things. One is to realize that you are a unique creation. How and what you need to do to create anything is unique to you. The second thing is that your mind only knows the past. To create anything is to be outside of where mind has gone so mind will be unable to lead you. What you need to do will not necessarily look like anything your mind thinks. Nor what you will ultimately experience necessarily look like what you think it should look like. Only in hindsight will you see how your desire has manifested.

With these two realizations, it is then recommend that you set the intention in whatever way you feel appropriate such that you can feel the passion to experience what you desire. Then, trust the creative process that you will be given what you seek. You only need to follow the intuitive guidance and body wisdom which arise. How long it will take to get what we seek and in what form it will come cannot be known by our mind. In this regard, whether or not we would recognized what we seek when we get it for the time and place in which we find ourselves when we get it is another question. We may find as the author, only in hindsight do we realize we received what we asked for even if what we thought was a rhetorical questions asked of Creation. What made the difference in the author’s life was that he remember he asked the question.

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