There Are No Sages - How Wisdom Survives Through Remembering

Maybe there’s no such thing as a sage (from Latin sapere, “to be wise; to taste.”) — only human beings who remember (from Latin rememorari, “to call to mind again.”).

We all experience moments of clarity: the mind becomes still, and for an instant, things make sense. But those moments fade. The difference between an ordinary person and someone we call a sage isn’t that one has endless peace and the other doesn’t. It’s that the sage knows what that peace really is — and has learned to return to it again and again.

Clarity by itself isn’t enough. It has to be supported by knowledge — by a clear understanding that the self, the actionless witness, is never affected by the ups and downs of the mind. Without that knowledge, clarity remains just an experience. With knowledge, it becomes recognition.

Even then, it’s not a steady light that never flickers. The mind continues to move, emotions continue to arise, life continues to happen. But the one who knows keeps coming back to the truth, no matter how often they drift. The return itself becomes natural, almost effortless.

So perhaps a sage isn’t someone who lives in constant perfection, but someone who never stays lost for long. Their peace isn’t continuous — it’s recoverable. They remember, over and over again, until remembering becomes their nature.