"Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is my light."
These words of the ancient prophet Micah (7:8) have been cited through the ages by religious thinkers from both the Jewish and the Christian traditions. The verse expresses the deep suffering and alienation that so pervades human life; all too often this world seems a place of despair and darkness: both from the perspective of our individual struggles with pain, illness and loss, as well as from the cry that we cannot but hear from the poor, the hungry and the disenfranchised.
But even as the prophet recognizes the truth of that pain, he also speaks of the hope that fills many religious souls, the comfort and redemption of faith. That is not in any way to dismiss the profound sense of meaninglessness and desperation that consumes the one who suffers. But life is also filled with sublime wonder -- the stunning beauty and the ordinary mystery that lead us to the borders of poetry. There is a majesty to our world that touches the ineffable, the indescribable. As spiritual masters have interpreted the verse from Micah, God is the radiance that dwells at the soul of existence, the rock upon which the weary might rest. Even as we travel in the dark places, the spark of an inner divine flame may sustain us with a measure of hope.
Divinity as Light is an idea that has been developed extensively in the history of religion and in the history of mysticism in particular. Mystics of many different religions (including Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism) have described God as a radiant Being, a force that shines and illuminates all of reality. The Zohar, the masterpiece of medieval Kabbalah, whose very name means "radiance," spoke about the divine realm as awash with running rivers of light -- often playing upon the similar sounding Aramaic words, nehara (river) and nehora (light). God, for the kabbalists, was understood to be composed of 10 luminous dimensions of energy, forces of emanation and portals to mystical contemplation. According to these masters, Divinity is best characterized as a wondrous light that shines with the mystery of all that was, all that is and all that shall ever be. The eternal. The timeless. It is for this reason that spiritual practitioners have described the peak experiences of meditation and contemplation as states of enlightenment and illumination; through our human encounter with the Source of light we ourselves are left aglow, our minds and perception elevated to new and heightened states of awareness.
For the Jewish mystics, and particularly the Hasidic mystics of 19th century Eastern Europe, this transformed state of consciousness, this sense of closeness to God, is the ultimate goal of holy time. Our passage from the ordinary landscape of the workweek into the sacred zone of the Sabbath is a process of opening our eyes to spiritual sight. On the seventh day, the Hasidic masters claim, we gaze upon the world and upon our lives with a vision refreshed -- we are able to see the earth as a new creation, our individual journeys as filled with possibility.
The crossing from the labor of the week to the rest of the Sabbath is also considered to symbolize a movement from the mundane of this world to the redemptive perfection of the world to come. The ancient sages of the Talmud taught that the seventh day is a semblance of that world to come -- on the Sabbath we are able to reach beyond the bounds of our ordinary physical existence to the place that is all spirit and soul. The lighting of the Sabbath candles at dusk on Friday, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, marks this quest for the divine flame in our innermost hearts. According to one late 19th century Polish mystic (adapting an older Jewish idea), that candle flame evokes the first light that was created at the dawn of time -- a radiance that was hidden away deep within the veils of reality for the wise to rediscover in each generation. It is found in the words and chambers of Scripture; it is found in the natural world and in the self-examined soul.
"Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is my light." As we pass from the burdens and materiality of the workweek into the spiritual realm of the Sabbath, we enter into the mystery of divine presence -- the light that restores us to our center and anchor in a life of meaning and purpose.
In just a few weeks it will be Hanukah, the Jewish festival of lights and miracles. It is a holiday that celebrates the miraculous survival of the Jewish people in the face of ancient persecution, and the miraculous way in which one day's worth of oil endured to light the rededicated Menorah (candelabrum) in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem for eight days. But the candles we light at this darkest time of the year also remind us of our yearning to reconnect with the Source that is all light, the great and unified flame of Being that ignites unique sparks of spiritual awareness in each of us.
The Sefat Emet ("The Language of Truth"; composed by the late 19th century Hasidic mystic, Rabbi Yehudah Leib of Ger) teaches that the will and intention of a person is powerful enough "to awaken the holiness of God in every place." We hold the power to turn moments of the mundane into opportunities for the sacred. Divinity is the mystery that is everywhere present; we only need to awaken our consciousness from a state of spiritual slumber. The Sefat Emet cites a fascinating ancient midrash about Jacob's dream of the ladder between earth and heaven and the altar to God that he built upon waking, in which Jacob's yearning to serve God at the site of the future Temple in Jerusalem was so strong at that moment -- he being still at a great distance from that location -- that Mount Moriah itself (the supposed place of the future Temple, and the mountain upon which Abraham was instructed to sacrifice Isaac) was uprooted by divine miracle and brought to Jacob where he was!
The Sefat Emet teaches that through such intense yearning and will we too are able to awaken light even from within the deepest darkness. Like Jacob, we are able to draw Divinity into our lives even when we feel that we stand at an unbridgeable distance from God. This, I submit, is the true miracle of Hanukah that we seek: to awaken light and redemption from within our darkest places, both as individuals and as a community. To break through the barriers and the hardships that hold us back. To realize that the yearning of our heart and the force of our intention can bring about the miracle of transformation. The will to survive and the commitment to draw close to God hold the power to move mountains. "Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is my light." So may it be in our time.
I think you got it backwards....you're going from the light into the darkness of FEAR, SUPERSTITION, INSECURITY, DISTRUST AND ALL OTHER NEGATIVE THOUGHTS one is driven into with religion.
God sheds light on the future telling us what will happen in the future. This is like having understanding of the future before it has happened. Jeremish said 25v11 "And all this land must become a devastated place, an object of astonishment, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”’
Daniel quoted this scripture as he new the 70 years were coming to an end. Dan9:2 "in the first year of his reigning I myself, Daniel, discerned by the books the number of the years concerning which the word of Jehovah had occurred to Jeremiah the prophet, for fulfilling the devastations of Jerusalem, [namely,] seventy years.
Jeremiahs book was like light to Daniel he could rely on it. This would enablre him to prepare for the future in the wright way. History tells us that The Medes and Persians under Darius conquered Babylon in 539 and the Jews were returned to their homeland by 537 thus fulfilling the 70 year prophesy. Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon in 607 70 years on brings us to 537.
Permission has been granted to speak of the Sefirot by the use of allegory and metaphor…To return to our Kabbalistic example of calling the Sefirot “lights”, the metaphorical image is that of the light of the sun and sun itself. Before it goes forth from the globe of the sun, the light is an inextinguishable part of the sun and has neither name nor existence. Only when it is separated from its source does this radiation become something in itself, identifiable as sunlight. ...
To pursue the image further, just as the light of the sun becomes visible to us only upon separating from the sun, so too do the Sefirot exist for us only when they issue from the World of Emanation. Before that they are still united in one Divine reality. “ ( Stensaltz - Discourses on Chasidic Thought).
We've had Christmas every year, and still we've been plunging down the slippery slope toward destruction because Man, in his spiritual blindness, claims he can see better than the next guy.
Spiritually blind Man claims God is on his side, and that his critics and opponents are "godless."
Meanwhile, God, and God's true servants, merely wait for the blind to stop following the blind, because true servants of God realize that it will be the humble, gentle, loving, faithful, peaceful and "meek" who shall inherit the earth.
If you really want to help, if you really want to do something that will make a difference, just read what's at http://cjcmp.org/campaign2011.html.
And listen to what the man says at http://www.soundclick.com/ttap
Or (light)
Aleph vov reysh
1 + 6 + 200 = 207
Raz
Reysh zion
200 + 7 = 207
Isn't it time to grow up?
But the way of others entails different approaches to life.
To put it succinctly. it is incumbent upon you to respect the differences of others regardless of how odd their views are..
This is true maturity.
So, Ami, now is the time for you to grow up.
I was advised to limit my conversations with atheists.
Now the table is turned. You are now cautioned to limit your conversations with those who find a poetic sensibility within religious and spiritual expression.
Shalom
Then he cops out and doesn't explain why all the suffering instead talks about God as a radiant Being. I could care less about God as a radiant being - how about God as the supposed omnipotant being that could eliminate suffering if he chose to do so but would rather exude his "radiant beingness".
to make room for creation as it were; Kabbalists call this Tsim-Tsum. Thus creation becomes a risky business and the all-powerful is not all powerful for this reason-He needs our help-and Kabbalists admit the world is broken and needs repair-something happened in the process of emanation-like a cosmic "fall". Perhaps not satisfying to you, but I don't think the author is unaware of this
what we see as darkness is just our level or inability to see that spectrum of light.
space is an illusion there is no space in oneness nor a void. all is awareness and phenomena.
consciousness is phenomena temporal and transient.
it is impossible for there to be any space ie void in infinite oneness.
The time is now, the place is in the sanctuary of your heart where the words of God are written on the ancient scroll of your heart.
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness"
Bring the light into the darkness of your being by asking without doubting, and you shall receive.
www.newheavenonearth.wordpress.com
All of this stuff is so clearly illogical and man made.
Aren't you a bit to old for Peter Pan.