The
Gospel of John tells us that “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was
coming into the world.”[1] It still is, but can we perceive it? The light is coming, but are we looking for
it in the right place?
Often,
we think of the light as outside of us, off somewhere in the distance. If we wander too far away from the source,
the light becomes dimmer and dimmer until it is no longer visible at all. But what if the light that is coming into the
world emerges from the heart, and is available to enlighten everyone because we
already carry it wherever we go? It is
here that our Quaker relative, Thomas Kelly, invites us to look for the light:
Deep within us all,
there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center,
a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return . . .
calling us home unto itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing
ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the
beginning of true life. It is a dynamic center, a creative Life that presses to
birth within us. It is a Light Within which illumines the face of God and casts
new shadows and new glories upon the face of humanity. It is a seed stirring to life if we do not
choke it. It is the Shekinah of the
soul, the Presence in the midst. Here is
the Slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to become the soul we clothe
earthly form and action. And Christ is
within us all.[2]
“Christ
is within us all.” The Light of Christ,
the source of enlightenment, salvation, reconciliation, healing – is within
us. This is consistent with the message
of the Gospel of John. Christ is the
eternal Word through whom all things were made, the life that is the light of
all people, the light that the darkness cannot overcome. [3] The
light of Christ within shines through us to illuminate a world that is radiant
with the glory of God. John’s Gospel
echoes the psalmist: “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we
see light.”[4]
Note
the language of seeing: of perception and illumination. The light within is not a little candle
twinkling in our heart; it is the capacity to perceive reality holistically and
compassionately with an undefended heart.
The light within enables us to see as God sees.
John
the baptizer testified to this light. He
refused to identify it with anyone or anything outside of himself: not the Temple, or the Torah, or the
priesthood; certainly not Caesar. Religious
leaders tried to force John to conform to their understanding, to the
categories that they could interpret and control. John’s reputation as a wild man came from his
refusal to recognize any human authority as ultimate; he refused to concede to
anyone control over access to the light.
He doesn’t conform to other’s expectations or resist them. They just don’t matter. He is too engaged in bearing witness to the
light.
Nor did
John claim to be the light for anyone else:
he was neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet (he was
merely a prophet). The baptism he
offered was an external sign of an inward reality. John’s baptism was a preparation for, and
public commitment to, the light that is coming into the world. He baptized with water in anticipation of one
who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, transfiguring our perception so that we
become transparent to the divine light within.
Jesus
is the Christ because in him we find the perfect mirror in which to see the
light within reflected back to us. St.
Paul understood this well when he wrote,
For
it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure
in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power
belongs to God and does not come from us.[5]
The
light does not come from us; it comes through us. We are not the power source, but we can be a
transmitter of the light.
Embracing
the light within opens up a tremendous field of freedom, but it also demands
that we take responsibility for our lives.
Here again, St. Paul, was on target when, after admonishing the church
in Philippi to “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,” he
concludes,
Therefore,
my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but
much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and
to work for his good pleasure.[6]
We can
listen to a teacher like St. Paul, but the truth to which they bear witness has
to be experienced directly. It must
become internal to us. Even our devotion
to Jesus and his way can too easily remain a purely formal, external, even
transactional relationship (I will worship you if you save me), rather than an internal reality
(I will have the same mind as you). We
have to engage our own inner work.
And
that work, though it is for our healing, can evoke a good deal of fear and
trembling, because while the light is within us, so is the darkness. Jesus himself teaches us that “The eye is the
lamp of the body. So, if your eye is
healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy,
your whole body will be full of darkness.
If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.”[7]
As our
perception is purified by the work of the Holy Spirit within us, then we become
full of light. But in the process of
inner illumination, it can be disturbing to confront dimensions of our
experience previously concealed by the darkness. Father Thomas Keating offers a helpful image
to express what I am trying to describe.
Suppose
we were in a dimly lit room. The place
might look fairly clean. But install a
hundred bulbs of a thousand watts each, and put the whole room under a
magnifying glass. The place would begin
to crawl with all kind of strange and wonderful little creatures. It would be all you could do to stay
there. So it is with our interior. When God turns up the voltage, our motivation
begins to take on a completely different character, and we reach out with great
sincerity for the mercy of God and for God’s forgiveness. That is why trust in God is so
important. Without trust we are likely
to run away or say, “There must be some better way of going to God.”[8]
This is
another aspect of John the Baptist. He
is a wilderness prophet, and trusting the light within can at times feel like
an expedition into the wilderness: there
be monsters there! But it is only in the
light of God’s love that whatever pangs of conscience, or stuck emotions, or
trauma carried in our psyche and nervous system, can be revealed and
healed. Perhaps we so often seek the
light outside of ourselves because we don’t want to confront the darkness
within. But we must work out our own
salvation in fear and trembling, trusting in God’s grace. Then, in God’s light we will see light, and
drink from the fountain of living water within gushing up to eternal life. And
this light will radiate in such a way as to bring healing, not only to us, but
to the world. As Cynthia Bourgeault
suggests,
When
we see from resonant wholeness, what we see is the Kingdom of heaven, which is
neither a place you go to when you die, nor a human utopia created by all sorts
of pluralistic agendas. Nor is it
something that you simply discover, “Oh, it was there all along.” I think the secret to it: we co-create it,
because the light by which we see is also a stream of energy that beams out to
it and allows it, in that light, to become what it can’t be until it’s suffused
with the light. What happens when the
sun suddenly hits a valley where it’s been cloudy, and all of a sudden, the
whole thing is bathed in light and turns golden? It’s the same thing, but it’s the same thing
at a different energy level. That’s what
happens. “Light shines forth from a
being of light,” says the Gospel of Thomas, “and lights up the whole
world.” That as we begin to create the
stable radiant field, it’s the quality of that presence that goes forth into
the broken and dark and hideous and maimed places of our culture and changes them,
not by programs, but by the light itself.[9]
Or as
Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.”[10] Amen.
[2]
Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (New York: HarperCollins,
1992), p. 3.
[6]
Philippians 2:5, 12-13.
[8]
Thomas Keating, Open Mind Open Heart (New York: The Continuum Publishing
Company, 1994), p. 94.
[9]
Cynthia Bourgeault, “Introductory Wisdom School Transcript,” (Center for
Contemplation and Action, 2019), p. 155.
