There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the Light that shines in our heart. Chandogya Upanishad, quoted after: Novak Philip, The World Wisdom, P.21.
The light which shines in the eye
is really the light of the heart.
The light which fills the heart
is the light of God, which is pure
and separate from the light of intellect and sense.
Rumi, Mathnawi I, 1126-1127, quoted in: Helminski, Kabir (2000). The Rumi Collection. P.107.
I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark; he will have the light of life. John 8:12
This is how the judgement works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. John 3:19
O Son of Being! Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou from it thy radiance and seek none other than Me. For I have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favour upon thee. (...) With the hands of power I made thee and with the fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have I placed the essence of My light. Be thou content with it and seek naught else, for My work is perfect and My command is binding. (...). Baha'u'llah, The Hidden Words, 11-12.
O Son of Man! Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not, wherefore fearest thou thy perishing? Thou art My light and My light shall never be extinguished, why dost thou dread extinction? Thou are My glory and My glory fadeth not; thou art My robe and My robe shall never be outworn. Abide then in thy love for Me, that thou mayest find Me in the realm of glory. Baha'u'llah, The Hidden Words, 14.
(...) The great light which illumines the mind gives me a knowledge of the greatness of God; but it is not as if I were getting to know the individual attributes, as before - no, it is different now: in one moment, I come to know the entire essence of God. Faustina Kowalska, The Diary, 770.
Jesus goes on to talk about light in Matthew 5:14-16. Again notice
that he says, you are the light of the world, not you will be when
you are something better. Right now, within yourself, shines the
light for this world. Many have not discovered that light in themselves.
Many perhaps feel that they have no light. Do you think Jesus was
mistaken? Did he not know what he was talking about? So you
must in fact be the light of the world now. Start to look for that
place within yourself where light
shines. It is there.............When you begin to show ever so
little willingness to find your light, offer that willingness to the Holy
Spirit. Do it consciously, deliberately. "Holy Spirit, I am
willing to find my own light." If that is scary, do it anyway.
Your own light is for you. It is the Father's gift to you.
You can trust it to bring you joy. You can be free to enjoy your
own light. If you are willing, the Spirit will rush to show you his
shining within your own spirit. Gustin, Marilyn Norquist, Jesus Pattern
for a Happy Life: The Beatitudes.
The joy of Christmas is the intuition that all limitations to growth into higher states of consciousness have been overcome. The Divine light cuts across all darkness, prejudice, preconceived ideas, prepackaged values, false expectations, phonyness and hypocrisy. It presents us with the truth. To act out of the truth is to make Christ grow not only in ourselves, but in others. Keating, Thomas. The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience. PP. 27-28.
In your life you have all experienced light and darkness. God grants to every person recognition of good and evil. I am calling you to the light which you should carry to all the people who are in darkness. (…). Our Lady of Medjugorie, March 14, 1985. Words from Heaven, P.67.
God is the Light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness of His Light is as a niche wherein is a lamp - the lamp is a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star - kindled from a Blessed Tree, an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil wellnigh would shine, even if no fire toched it; Light upon Light; God guides to His Light whom He will. Qu'ran, Sura 24.
In the supreme golden chamber is Brahman indivisible and pure. He is the radiant light of all lights (...). There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars; lightnings shine not there and much less earthly fire. From his light all these give light; and his radiance illumines all creation. Katha Upanishad, quoted after: Novak Philip, The World Wisdom, P.16.
Why no inquire behind the darkness when you close your eyes? That is the place to explore. "And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:5). Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.11.
Samadhi is a joyous experience, a splendid light in which you behold the countless worlds floating in a vast bed of joy and bliss. (...) Have these beautiful experiences for yourself in eternal samadhi, in God. Auroras of light, skyfulls of eternal bliss will be opened to you. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.11.
(...) it is better for the candle to give light than just to burn, and in the same way it is better to share the fruit of contemplation than just to contemplate. (...) this mixed life was chosen by Jesus Christ-who taught and preached and healed and lived an active life. For Thomas (Aquinas), then, the eye of love gazes not only on divine realities, but also on human realities. Or, more correctly, it sees the divine in the human: it sees God in the world. Mysticism overflows into activity." The Fire of Silence and Stillness, P.30
Don't talk of evil, don't think of evil, and don't do evil. (...). Emphasize the light, and darkness will be no more. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.79.
If in deep meditation you penetrate the darkness behind the closed eyes, you behold the Light from which all creation emerges. (...) God has given you the opportunity to observe in your own consciousness the operation of the same laws that govern the universe. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.167.
He made ten lights spring forth from Him, and which shed everywhere the light of a brilliant day. The Ancient One, the most Hidden of the hidden, is a high beacon, and we know Him only by His lights, which illuminate our eyes so abundantly. His Holy Name is no other thing than these lights. Zohar. Quoted after: Miriam Bokser Caravella, The Holy Name. P.31.
"You are the light of the world. Your light must shine in people's sight, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16).
I have the immense joy of being a MAN, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody would realize this! But it cannot be explained. "There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun." Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. Submitted to Merton-L Discussion Group by Melanie Mattson.
We are cast like sunlight upon the earth.
And our light, passing through the body
as if it were an open window to our Source,
returns, purified, to you.
Whoever sees that sun says,
"He is alive,"
and whoever sees only the window says,
"He is dying."
Rumi, Furuzanfar #2399, quoted in: Helminski, Kabir (2000). The Rumi Collection. P.121.
Because every thought enters the heart in the form of a mental image of some sensible object, the blessed light of the Divinity will illumine the heart only when the heart is completely empty of everything and so free from all form. Indeed, this light reveals itself to the pure intellect in the measure to which the intellect is purged of all concepts. St. Hesyhios the Priest (8th or 9th Century), quoted in: The Philokalia, Vol. I., P.177.
Just as he who looks at the sun cannot but fill his eyes with light, so he who always gazes intently into his heart cannot fail to be illumined. St. Hesyhios the Priest (8th or 9th Century), quoted in: The Philokalia, Vol. I., P.180.
We all know that the Lord is going to call time - we have just so many minutes on the boards of life to play our part in the drama of salvation. What we need more is the insight from the Spirit to grasp this fact in a real way and so play our part accordingly. Then the how, when, and where will fit in just perfectly. This is what we should pray for and desire - not to know how, when, and where, but to receive the Divine Light that we might understand what is going on. Pennington, Basil. (1978). O Holy Mountain! Journal of a Retreat on Mount Athos. P.113.
Last updated: 2008/03/08
See the related subjects: Awakenings, Enlightenment, Grace, Joy, Life, Mystical Union