Your Return to Radiance

"There is Only One Light, and 'you' and 'me' are holes in the lamp shade." -- Mahmud Shabistari

The Divine Radiance of One Love is our secret identity -- this secret, though, is hidden in the deepest recesses of the heart... so it is in the heart that we must search to discover the Light wherein the Holy One dwells. This search, and the means for the search, varies from person to person: hence the many "doors", or spiritual paths, there are in the world. [Notice: does any home have only one door?] Nevertheless, there are two constants to the search: "Who am I?" And, "Who is One?"

The first question guarantees the eventual annihilation of the isolated self -- the individualized ego. Only when a person is empty of her / himself can that person remember the whole point of the quest of life: "I am You as You are me" and "All of us together are One". The second question -- or perfect remembrance -- restores the original radiance within us to its -- and our -- "supernatural" condition as "revelations" of the One Light.

These basic "orientation thoughts" are very important because they set the trajectory of our search: they secure our orientation within only that which is essential. (This reminds me of my very first backpacking adventure just after high school graduation. A few friends invited me to go along with them into Kings Canyon National Park climbing up to one of the myriad of unnamed lakes of the High Sierra. I didn't ask any questions -- and no advise was given: so I took everything I could think of that I just might need -- including several books on sketching from the library... needless to say, that is not how one should go backpacking -- especially at 10,000 feet!) "Only that which is essential" is vitally important! Our minds and hearts are crammed full of delusions, opinions, deceptions, judgments, fears, negativity, and -- well, you get the idea, because you know the thoughts that fill your head on a daily basis (it is said that an average person has around 65,000 thoughts a day, and again, for the average person around 85% of those thoughts are negative). "Only that which is essential" provides the focus: "Who am I?" and "Who is the One?" 

Getting one's mind and heart into focus, and keeping in that condition, is the spiritual path. Walking through this "door" or that: each door will offer a way into the interior of the "house": here are a few "universally proven" tools for the journey: 1) Mantra (Holy Name) meditation. 2) Sacred Reading (daily prayerful contemplation of a sacred text(s) that inspires you. 3) Cultivate a humble, simple, attitude of constant surrender and adoration. 4) Accept the interior guidance of "Mindfulness Trainings". 5) Serve others, love others, and cultivate attitudes and practices of kindness, happiness, and harmlessness.  These core practices will set one firmly upon the path of "remembrance" of your original radiance -- "the face you had before you were born"... and with St. Antony of the Desert we can say, "Today I will begin"...



 

---