Active Light, a Life Intention

Know thyself  – as is well-known, these words were inscribed above the entrance to the temple of Apollo in Delphi, indicating that the way to God is through knowledge of the self. Western and Eastern philosophy, religions and esoteric schools alike have taken this maxim as guidance. In their differing approaches, they all found that the concept of ‘self’ is elusive and cannot be described as a material thing.

So, what is this self through which the gates to the divine can be opened? And how does the limited fearful self, with its memories and desires, relate to the ‘true’ self that connects us to God and our fellowmen? In Saint Augustine’s moving ‘Confessions’ – a long prayer and loving surrender to God – he describes the self not as a thing, but as a process. A process of active light and understanding, piercing through the passivity of darkness and ignorance. And, indeed, it is a wonderfully encouraging thought that light, also in its material sense, is an active and creative power, whereas darkness is a passive and ‘waiting’ phenomenon.

Saint Augustine concluded therefore that ‘freedom’ and ‘free will’ are only to be found in the surrender to this active light and that acting upon the desires of the little self or, in his words, ‘sinning’, is not a matter of free will at all, but of passivity. Freedom consists in stepping out of the darkness of this slavery and consciously choosing to follow the light. There have been some religions or philosophies, however, that believed light and darkness to be opposing energies of equal strength. Most famous are the Manicheans, who were convinced that a powerful, though not omnipotent Good (God) was opposed by an equally strong Evil (Devil). They saw humanity, the world and the soul as the eternal battle grounds of God and the Devil. This is in contrast to other religious and philosophical teachings that identify evil as an illusion and a product of humanity’s ignorance. In other words, they state that darkness is the absence of light and understanding, and not a power by itself.

Esoteric teachings indicate that only when we use our free will to choose to serve the good for all humanity can we develop the highest form of knowledge, the intuition, through which we can see the world as active light and all its forms as containing that spiritual light. And, within that light, we can understand that the whole of the Universe is but the Larger Self. We can make darkness visible (through conscious perception) and then are able to see our next steps ahead. We can become conscious of our own passivity and see our place in this Larger Self. And then, when we surrender to this active, spiritual light and accept it as our sole life intention, we can truly radiate this light through our Triangles “upon the sons of men who know not yet  they are the Sons of God,”¹  and know that we are preparing the way for the Coming One.

 

 

1. The Reappearance of the Christ, A.A. Bailey, p.13