It's Time to be the Light

Field of Light, near Uluru; installation by Bruce Munro

It was blustery recently, on yet another day when our world was being tossed off its unsteady moorings. I stood looking out my window. The wind tossed the tree-tops this way and that in a wild dance. Motivated by sympathy or anger? Hardly. They were simply reacting as trees do. I began to muse on this. Sap, soil and water give them life, the wind gives them movement. When we are motivated, something outside and in us makes us do things. What about the tree? Is there something behind the physical causes that motivates it into such activity?

There is. It is called spirit. And spirit permeates all. So what are the qualities of spirit? It certainly gets things going. The Oxford dictionary states that spirit is the animating principle governing all vital phenomena. It is depicted this way at the beginning of Genesis where, ‘The spirit (ruach) of God (Elohim) was moving over the face of the waters.’ And after that, creation was set in motion; without this motivating force nothing could have happened.

Poets, mystics and even philosophers have praised and given thanks for the creativity of spirit. In ancient mythology it was given names and identities, which signified the diversity of ways spirit works - goddesses and gods of trees, woods, mountains, fire, water, moon, sky, particular places and so on. Later in history, the oneness of spirit was emphasised. But the spirit is both one and many. It is not limited to either/or. 

Nor is spirit bound to the physical. The Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma mean both spirit and wind or air, and like the wind, spirit is free. In the Gospel of St John we read, "The wind [or spirit) blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or wither it goes." (John 3:8). 

This is how the Upanishads, the great poetic religious philosophies of India, put it, ‘As the wind, though one, takes new forms in whatever it enters, the Spirit, though one, takes new forms in all things that live.’  (Katha Upanishad). Spirit is both transcendent and immanent in all living things. We experience spirit when we experience nature. And we too are part of nature.

How then can we know spirit in us? The Upanishads speak of Atman, the divine self within a human being, ‘Concealed in the heart of all beings is the Atman, the Spirit, the self, smaller than the smallest atom, greater than the vast spaces’. Spirit is hidden. Yet, the ancients say it can be known through faith, attuning and waiting for revelation. These activities still bear fruit. Then thousands of years later the medieval mystic, Meister Eckhart wrote, ‘God in the Godhead is spiritual substance ... God in human nature is a lamp of living light.’ 

There is a subtle difference between those two statements. Eckhart is indicating that we need to know and experience spirit in a dramatic new way. A lamp is its own light. It stands and shines. And this is also the nature of spirit in us. Individual, unique, meant to be out in the open, dispelling darkness.

How to be the Light

Have you ever been out in the bush at night without a light? You are  tentative and very likely to trip over a fallen branch or a dip in the ground. You can move forward with confidence if you have a strong torch though. In the gospels Jesus Christ is that torch. He declares in John 8:12, ‘I am the light of the world’.

In this gospel ‘I am’ statements live on two levels, referring to both the actions of the Christ spirit and to the spirit individualised in the human soul, known as our I AM. So this light is our torch, our living lamp to shine our way into the future. Through it we have courage to face the new, the strange, the unexpected and unsettling.

Light is also a symbol of consciousness, and we become conscious through our thinking and feeling. So they must be involved if spirit in us is to become a lamp of living light. As well we must learn to step forward into a unique expression of who we are though our will.

We do not access the eternal free moving, all-permeating cosmic spirit of the Christ through our worldly consciousness. But if we free our gaze we can come to that spirit as our own spiritual individuality, and we will know its truth.

Then it is no longer like the wind, but becomes like a steady, perceivable light within our soul. In that sense it settles in us, but only because we have made a space there for spirit's independence and freedom from the chains of ego and materialism.

This light becomes our creative motivation, and to shine this light we have to take action. We have to work to make it shine brighter and brighter. This is where we differ from the rest of creation. A tree cannot consciously work with the spirit to magnify it and make it fuller, but we can. We can be free to act and as St Paul wrote, ‘For freedom Christ set us free.’

I think we can experience the individual spirit alive in us when we are creative, imaginative, discovering inspiring ways of doing things, responding to ideas and challenges positively. It is active in us when we are enjoying other people, appreciating their uniqueness and their difference to us. The I AM in us gives us ideas, solutions, the ability to stand alone, and also warmth, generosity and the ability to love without seeking a reward. Through I AM we are compassionate, spontaneous, vital and free. Such a relationship with our spirit enables us to respond to others on the level of their spirit. We are animated from within by a power that will never let us down – or anyone else for that matter.

I have really merely touched on the reality of the I AM. There is much, much more; the Gospel of John for instance, gives us seven I AM sayings to contemplate.[1]

But if ever this I AM, this spirit, was needed it is now. It's time to be the light. We face rapid changes in every area of life. Fear of these changes limits us. Fear inhibits the I AM and dries up its expression. Fear breeds judgement, enmity and hatred. Instead of approaching the changes with fear, if we can let the holy spirit in us flourish through courage, hope and love, then in this way we too can be the light of the world and bring the light of life into the darkness wherever we are. We will perceive the spirit of Christ working in the most difficult situations – and then become co-workers with Christ. Thus the great cosmic spirit and our own indwelling spirit will be in perfect accord. And that surely is worth striving for.    

[1] I have written about how to work with these sayings, plus their gospel references in the series of I AM posts