There have always been, besides Jesus Christ, certain individuals at all times, who had discovered that man does not live by bread alone. Man does need food to keep him alive, and the ancients recognized this fact very clearly when they declared 'annam' as Brahma. And people have eaten anything and everything; when driven by extreme hunger.
Food nourishes a man on earth. but his life is intended for discovering the meaning and source of life. In order to get at this, man will have to shake off his lethargy and come out of the sleepy state in which he lives, and the mechanical conduct which characterizes his life.
Man at his birth, is only half man. He has the shape of a human being, has the potential to become fully human, but will have to consciously work on himself. If he is to grow to his full potential, he should be awakened to his reality. If this growth is not attempted, he will pass out of existence, as the countless fish in the sea, born this moment, only to die later.
While animals and other creatures live their allotted span of life mechanically and pass out without the possibility of growth other than the physical, man emerges on the earth as a semi-finished product with immense possibilities for inner growth which will shape him into a finished product. To do this, he has to go deep into himself, and discover who he is. Not all human beings have the wish to do this. It is only some who feel the great longing, and what they then undertake may appear to be for their own sake. But this is not so.
While the discovery has to be made by the individual through his own work, others benefit from it enormously. Men around him gather the necessary inspiration and courage to launch on this supreme adventure, looking at the example of the person who has risked his all for the discovery. Such a discover of life's truth may participate in the productive process of society to grow more food, more this, more that, or may not do so. He may be creative in the accepted sense of the word by being literary, artistic, or may not be. But he is truly creative, even though his creativity may not find expression in ways known to us.
He is creative in the sense that he has an intense love for existence: he loves the whole of creation so deeply that anyone who goes into his presence is 'infected' with the same love, if the.visitor's heart is 'open'. Thus quite a few of the 'receptive' visitors who went to Ramana of Arunachala. J Krishnamurti or Nisargadatta Maharaj, to speak only of a few of the sages of the twentieth century. were deeply affected by them.
This altered their lives radically and their relationship with the world of
human beings, nature and objects, changed completely. They were no longer capable
of self-aggrandizement; they were slowly getting transformed into real human
beings. Thus only the sages, true ones of course, can create better human beings,
who would care for other humans, including the animals and the environment.
The true sage is the only hope of humanity. It is he who can lift the individual
from the mire into which he has sunk, to awaken him to his true potential, and
show him that he is a lion, gone astray while yet a cub, bleating about like
a lamb.