The Steward

A Sufi is a child of this moment.

Rumi

Being present produces a new inner ‘Being’, a psychological entity that is simple and natural, as unassuming in wearing the crown of presence as a hermit with a halo. And as with all keys to understandings awakening, esoteric schools represent this new Being in many ways. A saint, a wise man, a sage, a Sufi, or in legendary names, the Buddha, Lao Tzu, Solomon, Gabriel, Heracles, to which Gurdjieff added the term of ‘Steward’. In each case, the name of this Steward does not represent a human identity, more the name of its role, the guardian against imagination and the servant of presence. Names disappear, fame or repute has no meaning, since the Steward has no self-concerns, wholly dedicated to guarding against one’s lower, animal-self, while serving as the bridge for the pure, intense consciousness of higher centers.

A Steward therefore has unity when one’s functions have none, resists where the mechanical tendency is to become identified, discriminates on which effort to make, sets aims when imagination is aimless, and disengages consciousness from the many I’s. Visual representations of the Steward show these attributes as symbols; the Tarot magician with his table, cup and dice, the Pharaoh with his crook, flail, his lock of hair and braided beard, the Desert father with his prayer book and beads, the Buddhist monk with his staff and begging bowl. The hero’s strength, cunning, endurance, the lover’s ardour, compassion and forgiveness, the saint’s wisdom, inner certainty and faith, all these attributes, these virtues develop from the Steward’s aim to awaken and the reward of Third Eye.