As we all know, this is the time of the year when the return of the Light is celebrated. For those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, that celebration is both symbolic and literal. Though we are actually just past the Winter Solstice, the days are actually getting longer by minutes each day.
If there was ever a time when we needed to understand the mystical meaning of the “Light”, it is now. We are living in a world confronting darkness everywhere. I noted with great surprise actually that even Queen Elizabeth directed her Christmas message to the people of Great Britain with an emphasis on the need to embrace the Light in these times of darkness.
It has long been my experience in teaching spirituality that the words we use in this field fail miserably at communicating the power and majesty – not to mention the mystical reality – of the invisible realm behind the vocabulary. Sentences such as, “God is love” and “Focus on the Light” are somewhat meaningless if the individual lacks an actual experience of “God as love” or the power of that Light transforming something in their life. Our five-sensory natures crave physical contact and proof of feeling loved. Most people have difficulty believing they are loved by another human being, so how can they possibly trust, much less believe, they are loved by some invisible off-planet cosmic Being? It’s an almost impossible task at best. And it certainly makes no sense to the rational mind.
Let’s discuss mystics for a moment. The defining characteristic of a mystic is that a mystic has had a direct experience of the power or presence of the Divine. As a result, a mystic is someone who has crossed over that inner bridge that divides the rational mind from the irrational nature of the soul. From that point on, a mystic dwells in a type of duality consciousness. You can say a mystic has one foot on the ground and one in the Light, creating a type of “irrational-intellectual” state of being – not consciousness, but “being”. Mystics no longer search for proof of the Divine; their lives become a journey of deepening their experience of this connection to mystical wonderment.
I have read a great deal of the writings by mystics from all traditions. Their spiritual experiences intrigue me for many reasons, one of which is the commonality of how they describe their encounters with Divine Light. At first the Light blinded them, as if the physical body needed to be subdued in some way, allowing the senses of the soul, most especially the “eyes of the soul”, to perceive what the physical eyes could not see. They consistently tell of the Light communicating, not in a language but in a “fullness of intimate knowing and familiarity”. And without exception, the emotional feeling they describe in the presence of this Light is unconditional, endless love – not human love, but an indescribable Love that is the origin of Love itself. It is no wonder then that so many mystics, like Francis of Assisi and Teresa of Avila (among many others) and the greater holy cosmic masters, Jesus and Buddha, drew people to the Light flowing from within them. They were illuminated; Jesus and Buddha were pure Light. Others had and have a pure connection to that Light.
the experience of being Illuminated by Carolyn Myss 2015 Salon
The Vibrant Channeled Creator 