In this ominous time of growing darkness, it is crucial to find ways to bring more light, love, and hope into our daily lives and communities. Paraphrasing Gandhi’s famous injunction to “be the change you want to see in the world,” we are each called to BE the loving, compassionate servants of divine light and love that we want to see more of in the world.
Contemplative practices are essential for grounding us in our truth and inner light. When you sit in silent prayer or meditation, your inner light becomes brighter; it literally gets turned up. Over time, this begins to attract or “draw down” the light of God, which then works through you to help accomplish the divine work in the world.
This process takes place gradually and naturally, at a level beyond our conscious awareness, without our ‘doing’ anything except the practice. In Western terms, prayer or meditation makes the light of your soul brighter. From a Buddhist or Asian perspective, the clear light of pure awareness becomes more accessible and radiant within you. Either way, this light is the omnipresent, nondual awareness that is the natural state of the awakened heart and mind. Just like any other capacity or faculty, this requires cultivation, purification, and refinement.
In these tumultuous times of increasing polarization and conflict in the world, it is absolutely crucial to bridge the ruinous divisions in the human family. Everyone is called to play a unique role in this essential endeavor.
Our particular work at Satyana Institute focuses on bridging the gender divisions in the human family (Gender Equity and Reconciliation International program), as well as the religious divisions across our diverse cultures (Dawn of Interspirituality program). In our network of colleagues, we are especially fortunate to collaborate closely with an international community of leaders who span multiple faith traditions, including: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Yoruba, and ‘spiritual but not religious’ faiths. Yet all these diverse traditions affirm the one divine Light that dwells in us all, expressed in different ways:
God is light. (1 John 1:5) I am the light of the world. (John 8.12)
God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. (Qur’an 24:35)
God is Supreme Light. By God’s Light all else shines. (Brahmarahasya Upanishad)
Thine own consciousness … is the Immutable Light. (Amitabha Buddha)
In Thy Light we see light. (Psalm 36:9)
As Jesus (or the Universal Christ) proclaims to each one of us: “YOU are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14) In this profound declaration, Christ is not referencing some special illuminated condition that is the province of saints and mystics alone; he is speaking the deep truth of who you already are. This light is your true essence. All religions and spiritual traditions agree on this.
Meditation and Prayer of Light and Love
Whether we call it prayer or meditation, the essential practices for cultivating divine light are similar across the traditions: we center ourselves in the deep inner silence and spaciousness of the heart, beyond thought, and inwardly invoke God or the Divine (however we conceive of it).
If you don’t already have a contemplative practice, here is a simple heart practice you can try:
Sit comfortably in silence, closing your eyes if you like, and imagine a beautiful flame of love, burning steadily in your heart. With each inhale, imagine that your breath gently fans this flame of love, so it burns a little hotter and brighter. As you exhale, visualize your outbreath carrying this warmth and light of love from your heart directly to other beings, and to the world. Start by sending love to someone you love, and then expand from there, sending love to others, and eventually to some who are suffering. As you finish, direct some of this love to yourself, and also with gratitude to God (or the Source, Tao, Goddess, etc., whatever divine concept fits best for you).
This practice works equally well with any conception of God or the divine, regardless of your faith tradition. The key to it is the sincerity of love in your heart. You can do this simple practice anywhere, anytime—for example standing in the grocery line, or waiting at a stoplight. It can help you stay centered in what is truly important, especially in challenging moments or on difficult days.
How Does It Work?
Contemplative practices like this are so simple, but do they really work? Yes! First, it’s important to understand that the mind cannot “understand” these practices, because they function inherently beyond the mind. They center us in our spiritual light, which illuminates the deepest truth of who we are. Second, these practices invoke a larger wisdom and source of transformative power that works through us, rather than coming from us. They strengthen our capacity to be present with whatever happens around us, and within us, and over time they help us to become effective instruments for divine love and wisdom. As the Christian monk Thomas Merton explains it, “All the good that you will do will come not from you, but from the fact that you have allowed yourself, in the obedience of faith, to be used by God’s love.“
How can we cultivate this radiant essence? Practices of prayer or meditation and mantra (or repetition of the holy name, and breath awareness) are some of the most effective means, and are especially helpful in the practical rigors and rhythms of daily life. As we develop these practices over time, they shift from something we do—and instead become a refuge that supports and nourishes us from within. Rather than just another dutiful task on our already overflowing ‘To Do’ list, these practices become an inner sanctuary of strength and grace, which helps to cultivate the abiding “peace that passeth all understanding.”
The Universal Blessing of Inner Light
Archbishop Desmond Tutu taught that we are one human family, and that God is vast enough to contain all the world religions. As we engage in contemplative practices rooted in the heart, we are helping to unify the diverse peoples across the planet, in the shared heart of one humanity.
The process of cultivating inner light through silent contemplative practice is one such universal practice. In Christian terms, for example, this is the inner light of Christ, which is “the light of the world.” In Islamic terms, it is called “light upon light,” in which the light of God (Nur) merges with and brightens the light of the human soul. In Sufism, it is called ‘polishing the mirror of the heart,’ which enables God’s light to be perfectly reflected in the purified soul. In Hinduism it is the samadarshana, the ‘universal divine light’ that infuses the entire manifest universe and dwells within all beings. In a Buddhist (Dzogchen) context, it is called cultivating Rigpa, the clear light of pure awareness. In Judaism, Psalm 36:9 tells us how it works: “In Thy Light, we see light.” Regardless of the tradition, it is only by this supreme divine light—which has no shadow, and is far beyond physical light—that we can truly ‘see’ anything, or have any awareness at all. In all traditions, the practice of silent prayer, or meditation, or mantra, or zhikr increases the brightness of this inner divine light.
Becoming the Light you Want to See in the World
These conditions and qualities of spiritual light and peace are not some highly esoteric or inaccessible realities. They are our natural birthright as human beings, available to anyone through contemplative practices. True meditation or prayer has no direction or goal; it is pure wordless surrender, as the interspiritual teacher Adyashanti describes it.
As we practice this in our own lives, the fruits of the practice will flower naturally in our lives, workplaces, and communities. For example, as described by Earl Albert Mentor, a participant in our recent year-long training community in South Africa,
