There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
John 1:4-5, 9-10
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)
As often as I've written about the light, it never came to me as clearly as just recently when I was forced to unpack a deeply painful situation.
"Why do these things happen to good people?" I asked rhetorically because I knew the answer.
Because it is only through suffering that we learn. It is a hard fact of reality. Only when the pain gets really tough, really hard to bear, so difficult that we can't avert it, drug it, dim it or shut it up, it is bound to get through to us. Then, there in the deep caverns of our soul, it works its alchemical magic. It wizens and changes us, always for the better. It wakes us up and helps us see another piece of the truth. When you can't push the pain away, it's going to get your attention and then you can listen to its message. Ultimately, it wakes you up more.
St. Thomas More said to his distraught daughter on the night before his execution by the English King Henry VIII, "One does not get to heaven on a feather bed."
We are all, in our perfect ideal nature, beings of pure light. If you were to cut open a hand of a light being, there would only be more light. That's all they are. That's all we are. We are light beings living in earthen bodies. The difference among us is as wide and diverse as the levels of our awareness of this truth.
Ok. You probably get that. I get it, but here's the missing piece to really driving that awareness into the greater depths of your consciousness where it will actually catalyze and activate a profound change in your life.
Jesus told us, "do not judge, lest you be judged." Why? What is judgment, really?
It is an abuse of power. It is imposing one person's power over another. And, it creates an abusive, controlling power paradigm. As children we are all taught to submit to authority, and we try or else. What happens if we don't? In our dark world, we may get punished, beaten, deprived of things we enjoy, and so we learn to obey authority through fear of punishment. We also, sadly, learn to associate the authority we know here as the authority of God.
So, we have to unlearn all that, and as Morpheus said in The Matrix, we are enslaved and controlled, living in an unreal, imaginary world that is feeding off us. We have to free our minds.
It may be like quitting smoking after 30 or 40 years, that's if you live long enough to get to that point. We are controlled by judgment, which is a terrible corruption of your authentic being and of your understanding of God. We have to unplug from it - both internally and externally.
I realized, that like most of us, I had internalized a lot of guilt if I stood up for myself to an abusive person. I realized that I wanted peace at any cost and that cost usually meant me giving in. That became a life long pattern of acquiescence.
But, God wanted to take me to the next level, and unplugged me from that mindset and gave me a vision of a light being and told me that's what you - and all other humans - really are. Every time you give in, submit, to an external authority, you are allowing them to impose their control over you, and that is darkening your being. After a lifetime, you discover that you have a lot of buried insults and hurts.
As you have learned to submit to others' judgment of you, you have also found an inner reaction to them. You find that your reactions blind you and you stay caught on authority's fishing line, feeding them your power, while you thrash in the air wondering what happened.
If we knew that only God deserves our worship, then we would not submit to the authority of our world. That, quite simply, is idolatry - the very worst kind. Yet, we've all been taught to submit.
A friend of mine pointed out to me recently that all the states in the United States are "at-will" states in terms of employment (well, with the exception of Montana). That means that any employer can fire you for absolutely any reason. Even if they want to fire you because of your race, they can make it about the color of your socks rather than the color of your skin. We are at the mercy of our employers, our bosses, these false gods in the corporate world.
I often wondered why people are so afraid to speak up to their mean and abusive bosses. Because life on the street isn't so pleasant. You can be in debt, on a long term lease, living pay check to pay check, and your boss can kick you out the door with one minutes notice. You're cooked. It's over.
So, what are we to do? That's a very real issue that our social justice people who talk and talk about economic justice, and helping the homeless, etc. should look at. But, it underscores why corporate America, which is built on the masculine power down structure needs to be turned upside down.
I believe this is what Jesus came to teach us. We need to unplug from the authoritative power of the ruling powers of our world, and tune in to the beautiful music of heaven within us. We can begin by honoring our own innate right to be wrong. We can accept we are not perfect and we make mistakes and we can be honored despite that. We need to never allow another fellow human being have power over us and we need to begin to detox from all the internalized hurt and woundedness we all share because of this system that runs completely unchecked, and has for thousands and thousands of years.
Knowing that we are light is the first step in our own awakening. Realizing our worship is of God and only God, whether you call God, Allah or Krishna. (You know, "A rose by any name smells as sweet.")
The second is checking ourselves, catching ourselves when we gossip, judge, condemn, criticize or have a negative self righteous opinion about anyone else.
When we talk about changing global systems of exploitation and control, that's not an opinion or a condemnation. That is a fact that is calling for the transformation of our global political and economic systems which are destroying the world. It is a power-down system, which controls us like slaves, each one afraid of losing their job. So, each one prostitutes their truth to the great wizard of the corporation. That is evil. The whole system is corrupt. Period. It is no wonder that the Book of Revelation talks about the Great harlot and the beast at the end times. Do you see a correlation here?
I think, and all of this I remind myself of constantly and am only sharing it here on Tiger Lilies to stretch my awareness and share it with anyone interested enough to read these long-winded pieces. I have learned to listen carefully to what I'm thinking and watch my reaction to others. Any reaction of mine points to the place in me where I have buried pain. And, it is in this deep inner place where the wound is, like a sunken ship in the mouth of the Columbia, and this is when and where to apply the beautiful Hoponopno prayer. (Published on Tiger Lilies on April 20, 2011)
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