The Truth of Light

This past Sunday, we at Unity Spiritual Center Denver had the honor of hosting Dr. Jacob Israel Liberman as our guest speaker and workshop facilitator. Over the past five decades, Dr. Liberman has become a respected and accomplished expert in the fields of light and vision. I would do a disservice to him and his work by attempting to summarize his insightful teaching. Instead, I recommend visiting his website and reading his books. I will, however, share my perspective on couple of things he talked about.  

Dr. Liberman spoke about how animals have been observed to possess a “sixth sense” that alerts them to potential danger. He used the example of the wild animals who sought higher ground in advance of the tsunami that struck Indonesia in 2004. While no wild animals died, more than 200,000 people were killed.

He asserts that we, too, have a “sixth sense” or intuition, but that we have learned not to pay attention to it. Instead, we have learned to operate from our conditioned minds which insist that we conform to societal norms and learn to fit it. Thus, at the detriment of our essential nature, we learn to respond to external prompting, rather than to the natural light of our souls and the Light of God that is constantly drawing us to the perfect unfolding of our innate nature.

Rather than being guided and moved by the natural flow of light in us, through us, as us and all creation, we resist and restrict our awareness through our thinking, which he calls “worrying.” He states that most of our thinking is worrying about what we did in the past or what we need to do in the future. Our worrying prevents us from entering into a state of presence with all that is revealing itself to us in every moment.

As I sit here in my office gazing across the room at the amazing schefflera plant pictured below, I notice that each leaf is turned toward the light of the sun shining through the window. Years of seeking the light has resulted in branches that twist and turn as they stretch toward the sun. I can’t imagine that this plant worries about whether the light will shine or if it is the most beautiful and perfect specimen of a schefflera. It simply seeks, follows, and takes in the light and grows in its own perfect expression.

Just as plants are designed to grow toward, assimilate and reflect the light without care or concern, so are we humans. The Light of God is always calling us to everything we need when we need it. We can trust it, or not. We can align to it, or not. We can say ‘yes’ to it, or not. In truth, that is the only function of what we know as freewill. Either we follow the light, or we don’t.

When we can relax and trust that each moment will and does reveal to us what we need to know and what we need to attend to, we are more receptive to the call of Light. To assist us in reconnecting with this guidance, Dr. Liberman suggests we practice attending to anything and everything that calls to us or “catches our eye.” For example, if you walk into the bedroom and the unmade bed catches your eye, make the bed. If you walk into the kitchen and dishes in the sink catch your eye, wash them. If a book on the shelf catches your eye, pick it up, open it and read. The more we practice following the light that “catches our eye” the more in alignment with Light we become. We eventually remember our true nature and allow it to unfold naturally, just as the plant does.

He also shared something that struck me at my core. He said that we humans spend a great deal of time and expend inordinate amounts of energy trying to create safety, security and predictability in our lives, even though they do not exist in the world as we know it. Life is constantly moving, flowing and changing, and we are being carried along with it. Attempting to create safety, security, and predictability resists the natural flow of light and life and creates stress.

As I contemplated it this morning, I became aware of how many choices I have made in my life in an attempt to create safety, security and predictability. I know that the desire for those things is based in fear. With the assistance of years of therapy and introspection, I also recognize that the fear stems from childhood conditioning. Previously, I would have said that, in my case, the need for safety, security and predictability had more to do with emotional safety than with physical safety. However, I now realize that the fear of emotional abandonment by my mother, father, or other primary caretakers also extended to a fear of physical abandonment. Even though I now know that I do not need to fear abandonment, my limbic brain is conditioned in that way.

I was nearly brought to my knees this morning with a sudden flash of light. It struck me right between the eyes when I became aware of the many ways I have given up on myself and refused to follow the guidance of the Light in an attempt to maintain what I believed to be safety, security and predictability.  

In denying the light and life of God calling to me and expressing as me, I have, at times, succumbed to fear and “hidden my light under a bushel.” I feel grief as I embrace this awareness. I know that I can mourn having denied my truth. I can also celebrate the new awareness. And, I can begin now to make different choices. I can choose to slow down, pay attention to the light that is calling to me, as well as to the light that is shining as me. I can allow the light to guide me to my greatest unfolding.

Above all, Dr. Liberman’s talk, workshop and book have reminded me that everything is born of Light. Even the biblical account of creation told and shared by those with no empirical or scientific knowledge states that the first emanation of God is Light.

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. – Genesis 1:1-3 NRSV

We are inextricably connected to all life through the Light that imbues every cell of our bodies. It is the same Light that lives as all creation. We may appear separate, but at our essential nature, we are One. As we awaken to this Truth, we are set free. Free to love. Free to follow our own Light. Free to be all we are created to be.

I encourage us all to follow the light of our souls. It is leading us to the remembrance of who we are as the Light of God that enlightens the world.