Part Two – That All-Knowing Light
Discussions of God
Most discussions of “god” are partial, focusing on one aspect of the divinity to the exclusion of all others. Usually that aspect is the anthropomorphic one, God a person, a very wise and all knowing person, who seems to have set the universe in motion a while back and through some combination of magic and very clever science, keeps it going. We see such mentions all over our cultural expressions and public media. People are always commenting on their faith in God, their desire to meet him/her, their hope that s/he will provide the understanding of the perceived chaos undermining our sanity and stability, and the suffering that insults our feelings of fair play and just desserts. Others, of course, feel that ‘god’ is beyond human understanding and revert to the prophets they inherited from their parents, who often seem more like perfected men than mysterious divinities.
Those of us on the inner journey realize that this ‘god’ they all talk about reverentially is a consciousness, not a created being, a vastly creative consciousness out of which all manifestations, from microbes to cultures and planets, are brought into being on a continuous basis. The ‘how’ and ‘why’ of that manifestation process seems not only unanswerable but entirely the wrong questions to pose. The movement from nothing to something, from hidden to apparent, is observable but not analyzable in the rational mode preferred by our culture and practiced by almost all as a matter of course. That the astronomers tells us of the constantly expanding universe is but one reference point. Another might be the soul taking up residence in the fetus, pretty much on its own schedule, and an immaculate conception if there ever was one, and then magically slipping out the back door eighty or so years on.
Whether through meditation, lucid dream or out of body experience, doing them, reading about them or perhaps both, we know that the god consciousness lies beyond all heavens and paradises in an unending ocean of light, where desire and ambition seem pointless if not impossible, and that being a speck of light in that ocean of light is more than enough, that it was amply sufficient ‘then’ and will be so ‘later’, when the adventures of form and incarnation have been exhausted.
Just this morning, while indulging in a light meditation, eyes shut & vision turned inward, I ‘saw’ a man above me, at a table spread with papers, seemingly fretting and fussing over plans and details. While I knew he represented that mental element within who regularly makes mountains out of everyday molehills, behind him at a distance a bright light illuminated both of us in a way we could easily ignore, much as the daylight soon to arrive. I knew without doubt that this light was not only my source and succor but my real being, the one who could read my token reality for what it was, merely a slice and not the whole pie. Whether it was the ‘god consciousness’ or merely a useful reflection, I surmised at the time that this was exactly what I needed to know.
Recognizing these openings and finding no way to assert or prove them, we lovingly indulge the simpering others as children spinning their favorite fairy tales. We see their attachment to heroes and heroic behavior, defeating all those evils that appear to assault their safe domestic spaces. We see their need for risk and adventure to spice up their dull daily schedules, not to mention their ignoble anxieties that seek some outward expression to exhaust that pent-up energy and allow them to follow their preferences in peace. How they love that harvest of fear in the horror film and the violent vengeance in the thrillers. Is it the only way they can confront death and transformation, or is it their way of keeping them both at bay? Of course, citing such ‘us and them’ scenarios can easily puff up our pride if we don’t leaven it with regular doses of humility. It can be easy to forget that our inner knowing needs little or no broadcasting. Our serenity and sympathy should be the witness.
Yet we can see they need the rewards for good behavior and the dire threats for disobedience to provide the parameters for the realities they inhabit. That field must be securely fenced with a gate that can be pried open with the practice of devotion and the doing of good deeds. Their ‘god’ may be a Santa Claus to us in our embrace of the all-knowing light, but the delight in their eyes at the gifts for all good children can melt that heart we all must surely share despite their shudders at our heretical notions.
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