I AM the Light of the World

This I AM saying is again connected with divine light, and dovetails with the previous one but with a different emphasis.

Invoking the Light

In the higher realm of the eternal the light of the Sun-being, the divine Word, prevails, and darkness has no place. The Prologue in John’s gospel speaks of the Word as the life through which all things come into being. And this life is the light of human beings, which darkness cannot overcome (1:5). The Greek word katelaben, ‘overcome’ is also translated as ‘comprehend’ – the true Light comes into the world, yet the world does not know or understand the Light.

This ‘world’ cannot be the same as the earth, so abundant with nature’s wisdom and permeated by spiritual forces. In terms of the soul, the gospels are directed to the human spirit and the ‘world’ of our making, the world that lives in human consciousness. The light of I AM has entered this inner world. Yet when the world is blind to the light, we cannot hear the voice of wisdom.

When the sun rises into the sky or we flick a switch to light up a room, darkness is dispelled. But the gospel emphasises the light shining in the darkness. We can compare this light to torchlight that penetrates darkness, while beyond that ring of light the dark world is still there. Light and darkness co-exist. Metaphorically in our soul we are both light and darkness.

In the physical body where experience is acquired through the sense based astral, our spirit is not at home. That’s because as the realm of desire the astral includes all the thoughts and emotions in our soul that stem from ego wants. In other words, it is the content of our lower self, our underworld. For spirit, this is like a prison.

Yet it is not the task of our I AM to make war on this dark world within but rather to shine light in the world ever more brightly and so enable desire to be transformed into motivation that uplifts us.

The divine light is always available to us because it is a gift from the Word, the cosmic I AM. We can choose to receive this gift and wake to the spirit in us. And we can bring it to birth in our souls.

‘Ah, I see,’ we say, when with wonder at last we know, when we experience a light bulb moment. If it’s an insight that enriches our soul, and this is the nature of genuine in-sight, we are affirming our awakening to the spiritual light.

The tasks of transformation

‘I am the light of the world’ is related to two incidents. They are tied up with sin, which comes from hamatanein, ‘to miss the mark'. From the view of our spirit, it is about misalignment, leaning towards that dark aspect of self and away from the light of I AM.

In John 8 there’s the story of an adulterous woman – a ‘sin’ demanding that she be stoned to death. The religious leaders, always trying to catch Jesus out, and feigning sincerity ask, ‘Teacher, what should we do with her?’ Jesus bends down and writes with his finger on the ground before saying, ‘Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.’ The men soon slink away. Why? The Christ can look into people’s souls and Jesus simply wrote down the negativity and darkness he perceived there. Jesus, the I AM, does not condemn the woman, only saying, ‘Do not sin again’, which requires her to make a conscious choice and act upon it.

In John 9 a blind man has his light bulb moment. Christ gives him sight for the first time. The man was born blind, and Jesus explains to his disciples that this was due neither to his sin (karma from a previous life) nor that of his parents, but that ‘the works of God might be made manifest in him.’

Yet the man needs to fulfil certain requirements. He must believe in a seeming impossibility, he must be active and wash his eyes at the pool of Siloam, as Jesus instructs, and he needs to acknowledge the reality of his experience, which in the gospel people ask him to do a number of times.

The healings of Jesus make it clear that it is up to us whether and how strongly the light penetrates the darkness of the world. If spirit is to manifest, co-operation is involved – through acceptance, action and recognition. Acceptance requires openness, trust and faith, which is essentially listening to the soul’s inner wisdom.

And action. The specific inner task of our age is to develop the consciousness soul in all we do. That is, our activity in any field needs to be expressed through a consciousness aligned with spiritual will. We must discover how to live in the light and express ourselves through the light. This leads to true creativity.

And when with open-eyed clarity we recognise the heavenly life in the soul, genuine spiritual vision can awaken. We gain the ability to perceive and affirm the wider purposes, the world wisdom and deeper meaning behind events, and take wise action accordingly.

Soul work - thoughts for contemplation

I AM the light of the world – May I create in your radiant presence.

The threefold process of faith, the inner work, and spiritual recognition can be separated as in the story of the blind man’s healing, or implicit as in the freeing of the adulterous woman. If in your experience they take place in a different order, or all at once, that is because the three requirements interweave on our path to discovering the light of I AM.

In our contemplation on this saying, we might observe and compare the activity of darkness and light in our thoughts and deeds. We are all magpie beings, pied souls consisting of darkness and light, goodness and unkindness, generosity and selfishness, hope and hopelessness.

Invoking the Light is a potent healing meditation, for the Light is within us so that we may perceive and know the Light. This radiant spirit does not condemn ‘the world’ but rather illuminates our way to becoming the human beings we are meant to be.

The affirmation I include is also a prayer for true creativity. This comes about through uniting the cosmic I AM and I AM as it uniquely unfolds in our souls. In this union we discover how to express the Light in our lives. Then we align with our purpose and destiny, individually as human beings on this earth. This is wonderfully creative.