Imagine that inside each of us is a sealed doorway. Beyond that doorway is the most immense, beautiful, loving light. When we are born, the door is wide open, its contents freely reached and freely given by the pure souls in which it inhabits. As we get older, the door begins to shut. In the midst of life’s trials, our connection with the light weakens, and for some, all but fades completely.
Throughout all of human history, we have been trying to explain this light. What it is, why it is, how it is. We have given it many names. Jehova, Brahman, Zeus, Odin, God. These are just a few out of hundreds, maybe even thousands throughout the whole of humankind’s existence on this planet.
Along with each name comes a set of instructions reflective of the time in which they were written, and the culture which compiled them. Each set of instructions aims to detail a method of lockpicking one could use to pass through that sealed doorway, to finally touch the inner light whose presence had previously only been a notion. For most of us, that is.
As humans, we can be quite gung ho, a bit dramatic, and extremely narrow-minded. So, as different groups of people discovered how to access their light, of course they wanted to share it. To save the other poor souls from the eternal torment of being separated from the light. After all, this method of lockpicking worked for them. It must be the best way, the only way!
The problem is, most people are not working from direct experience with the fullness of the light. We all search for it, most feel it to some extent, many feel its warmth and transformative presence, but few experience full immersion. So, their perceptions of it can be a little…off. To varying degrees.
I believe that the light transcends these conceptions we have of it. It doesn’t care what you call it, only that you call it. It doesn’t care which method you’ve used to reach it, as long as it is reached.
Many people claim to have access, but they’ve simply been staring at their own reflection on an exceptionally polished, sealed doorway. They claim to be “holy” or “enlightened,” or say they have the truth. In my mind, the truth is not simply an assertion. It’s experiential. And fear not, I’m not about to devolve into relativism.
What I believe is that “truth” is in embodying a certain way. The way of Jesus, flowing with the Tao, becoming nobody, bearing the fruit, living a virtuous life, all different ways of describing the same thing. Truth lies in the overlap. The way can be spiritual, or completely materialistic. Whatever leads to embodying love and compassion, which naturally arises from upholding certain virtues, in my experience.
If you’d like to read about those experiences, you can do that on my post Enter Imago.
I’m not claiming to have the full truth, this is just what I’ve made of my experiences, and how integrating the lessons learned has affected the way I behave in the world.
Everyday Immortal 