By Vimala Viatrix Blavatsky, Mother of River Rapunzel Blavatsky

Cultivating sublime feminine intelligence sets us up to be in the vicinity of enlightenment and awakening when they are ready for us. Why?

Because real enlightenment, not the disembodied, world-fleeing variety, requires capacities that sublime feminine intelligence fosters. These include deep listening, emotional wisdom, a devotion to interconnection, a willingness to be reshaped by relationship, and the genial recognition that no one has the complete truth.

Many antique approaches to awakening emphasize solitary practice and detachment from worldly concerns. But the path of sublime feminine intelligence hypothesizes that awakening strikes not by escaping the reality's messiness but by engaging it with verve and vivacity.

We don’t downplay and prevail over our feelings but instead improvise savvy relationships with them. Our quest isn’t to withdraw into the purity of solitude but to make intimacy a crucible for metamorphosis.

This approach doesn't promise a final state of perfection where all questions are answered and all struggles cease. Instead, it invites us to become more alert and responsive to the web of relationships we're embedded in.

And when enlightenment arrives, not as a possession we can claim but as a gift that finds us, we are ready. Not because we have overcome and moved on from our humanity, but because we embrace it fully.

What are the qualities of people who embody sublime feminine intelligence, as my soul friends and I aspire to do?

• They are lovers of equality; activists committed to social and economic justice; in service to people from disadvantaged backgrounds; passionate about diminishing militarism, plutocracy, bigotry, misogyny, and racism.

• They believe that no one is free unless we are all free; that it’s a supreme goal to reduce suffering and increase joy.

• They prize their understanding of the interconnectedness of all things.

• Listening well is a quality they treasure.

• They are willing to expand and adjust their understandings of the world if they encounter new information that reveals their previous beliefs are obsolete or too narrow.

• They consider the needs of as many people as possible, not just the needs of their immediate community and network of allies.

• They are emotionally intelligent. They understand it’s as crucial to develop a shrewd relationship with our feelings as it is to be analytically smart.

• They regard relationship as a crucible for spiritual work.

• They are not fundamentalists and authoritarians who believe that only their truths are true. They are willing to consider the possible value of alternate points of view. They are open to the perspective that everyone has a piece of the truth, but no one has the entire truth.

• They regard practical expressions of kindness and compassion and ethical behavior as sacred practices.

• They proceed as if loving and caring for animals, plants and the earth is a prime test of our spiritual intentions.

• They understand that accomplishing practical changes in service to the greatest good requires hard work in the trenches of political struggle, often having to deal with people who have different beliefs.

• They regard play and fun and humor as not diversions from “serious” spiritual practice but rather being at the center of it.

• They are nuanced, not simplistic; respect dialog more than authoritative pronouncements; seek consensus, not doctrinaire obeisance; understand that perfectionism is often the enemy of the good.

• They aspire to regard everyone as a potential teacher.

• Love is their highest priority and their go-to motivation.