Stories for a Living Future

The nature of the light which I have described in these recent podcasts is that it comes direct from the Source, from the undifferentiated Essence. It awakens us to an awareness of the oneness and multiplicity of creation, and the primal need for praise and thanksgiving. With this light we can return to the wonder of the first day—to the song of creation that is alive in the love within our hearts.

Transcript

Transkript in Deutsch

 

Walking alone on the beach, the waves rolling in from across the Pacific, the sun shining through the early morning haze, I thought it would be helpful if I explained more about the nature of the light about which I have spoken so much in these recent podcasts.

This light, known to the Sufis as the Muhammadan light, or al-Nur al-Muhammadi, is the first expression of the undifferentiated Essence, even as it is also identical to It. According to Ibn ‘Arabi the creation began with this light. Thousands of years ago a quality of this light was given as a gift directly to Homo sapiens, awaking them from a solely instinctual existence, giving them the gift of consciousness. They were awakened to the reality of the Divine, both within them and in the world around—at that time there was no separation between the two. This gift of light, of divine consciousness, is sometimes mythically imaged as fire stolen from the gods, but nothing was stolen. It was given as a gift from the world of light, from the Divine.

This gift of consciousness made these early human beings aware of the world in a new way, as a magical living being to which they belonged, all part of the One Spirit. Because this light comes directly from the Source, they were able to see the world in its divine nature, numinous and alive in wonder. And while previously Homo sapiens, like the rest of the created world, had only a survival instinct, now they also had the need for praise and thanksgiving, as they recognized the divine wonder of the world into which they were born. This is how it was for the First Peoples, who lived as small groups of hunter-gatherers.

And because there was no separation between the earliest humans and the world around them, because they lived in a primal state of oneness with all of creation, the light that was given to them was also a gift to the Earth Herself. They awoke together. This was the beginning of a new chapter in the evolution of the Earth. The undifferentiated, unchanging Essence gave Its gift of light—of divine consciousness—to humanity and to the Earth, and so they walked and sang and danced and dreamed together. This was the beginning of the Dreaming, when the undifferentiated consciousness of the Earth and humanity created the songlines of the Earth and of the souls of early peoples.

This light contains the divine consciousness of humanity and of the Earth, and at that time there was no separation between them. Later, much later, a separation developed, and the One Light would become experienced as two: as a transcendent light, the lumen dei, and a light within creation, the lumen naturae of the alchemists. But at the beginning it was all One Light alive within the souls of humanity and within creation, experiencing and praising the many forms of the world, of the One Spirit. In this light, in this dawning awareness, there were both one and many.

This light also contained the blueprint, the instructions for humanity and the Earth, known to the First Peoples as the Original Instructions. This is the blueprint for the way the Earth and humanity can evolve together and continue this primal process of awakening. And the first humans instinctively knew these Instructions; they were a part of their DNA. Later they became articulated into myths and stories, into different ways of prayer and praise. But in the early years it was as natural as sunlight. Humanity and the Earth were part of a dance of revelation.

Another quality of this light was that it knew and communicated the names of creation. Everything that is created has a name, written in the book of life. This name contains the meaning and divine purpose of each being, its true nature. The essence of every animal is known in its name, as is the essence of every fruit and flower, tree and river. The dawning of consciousness brought an awareness of these names, and so humanity was able to recognize and relate to the true nature of everything. In the Qur’an (2:31) it is written that

He taught Adam the names
Of all things

meaning that Adam was taught the inner nature and qualities of things.¹ And so the first man had knowledge of the names of creation, which belong to the divine “secrets of heaven and earth” (Qur’an 2:33).²

There was a knowing present then that has now become deeply hidden—a knowing of the sacred purpose of creation, of its beauty and wonder. And this knowing was coming alive, speaking to human beings in all the myriad voices of the world around, in the streams and storms, in the cries of the birds and the animals, in the first language of life. As David Abrams describes it, “for the Inuit, as for numerous other peoples, humans and animals all originally spoke the same language.” He quotes an Inuit woman: “In the very earliest time, when peoples and animals lived on earth … all spoke the same language. That was the time when words were like magic … Those who are recognized as shamans or medicine persons most fully remember the primordial language, and are thus able to slip, at will, out of the purely human discourses in order to converse directly with the other powers.”³

Today we think of the earliest human beings in their struggle for survival, and have long forgotten the wonder of an awakening Earth, and how our ancestors were part of its magic and mystery, even though we can see traces of this, for example, in the earliest cave paintings in Southern France, where some of the the animals have a shamanic dimension. There was a numinous quality present then which our memories censored long ago. But the gift of light brought this living oneness into humanity’s dawning awareness, along with the wonder of the multiplicity of the created world, the many colors of creation coming from the single Source of pure light.

And the divine purpose of creation remains present in this light, the light of the soul and the World Soul, even if we have buried it over the millennia, have told ourself other stories. It is present within everything, the hummingbird in the garden, the coyote on the trail—present in their life force together with their own instinct for survival. It is why I like to walk in the wetlands, where I can watch this light, feel its presence and hear its story, so different to the toxic noise of the world around. It is in the simple beauty of the heron bending her long neck as she reaches underwater for a fish. This light and its beauty cannot be contaminated. It is too pure, its vibration too fast. It is the Source alive, a direct connection to the unborn and undying Essence. It is the Divine within the world still constantly speaking to us, even if we mostly forgot how to listen long ago.

The story of the Earth and the story of humanity separated many centuries, even millennia, ago, and now are told in different languages. Today they seem in conflict with each other as our human story destroys the ecosystem, poisons the rivers, clear-cuts forests, and makes species extinct. But if one returns to this original gift of pure awareness, particularly with a heart open to love, the Original Instructions are still present in it. And because the Source is constantly changing and evolving, even as it remains unchanging, the instructions have also changed. There are new ways of praise and thanksgiving, new ways to return to an awareness of a magical Earth, for example, what I have called a deep ecology of consciousness.

All that is needed is a return to the love that is present within the heart and within all of life.⁴ The light is stronger than all of our powers of forgetfulness, and because it is present outside of time it is not contaminated by our history and its patterns of abuse. It is present in the everywhen of the Aboriginal Peoples, where the Dreaming still continues. This is the nature of the light that is given.

 

THE LIGHT IN THE HEART

It is also important to recognize that for the mystic this light has a personal quality. Spiritual life is a journey that begins with an awakening of the love and light⁵ of our divine nature, which then draws us back to the Source. This awakening is always an act of grace, a gift in which the divine light enters our spiritual consciousness, turning our attention back to God. In Sufism this love becomes longing, the heart’s cry calling us to love’s infinite ocean, where, in Rumi’s words, “swimming ends always in drowning.” All sense of separation is dissolved as the lover merges with the Beloved and the essential oneness of Truth is revealed.

The same oneness that the First Peoples experienced in the world around them is awakened within the heart, as the light reveals to us our divine nature and the unity of being. On the Sufi path that I have followed, this light continues to be given directly into the spiritual heart of the wayfarer, given as a transmission of divine love. This is the energy we need to continue on the journey, to travel from separation back to union.

And because this love comes directly from the Source, from the Greater Love to which we all belong, it knows our true name. We each have a name written in the book of life. This name contains our true purpose and spiritual destiny, the destiny of the soul rather than the ego. When we are first awakened our attention is turned from the ego—with its patterns of desires, successes and failures—to the destiny of the soul, which concerns our real evolution. This is the way we can look towards God and also the way to be of service in the world, as Sufism is a path of service. We aspire to be the servants of God, whose favorite name is the servant of servants.

The light and love given through the path align us with this deeper purpose, and it is individual for each of us, which is why one of the early dreams I had was finding a pot for my teacher that could cook one egg at a time. We are each a unique expression of the Divine, of the Great Artist for whom each creation cannot be repeated. And while in our ego-existence we are often caught in the patterns of the collective, the journey home is different for each of us, a journey from the alone to the Alone. And because the love and light that are given contain the mystery of oneness and multiplicity, we are each given a different quality and quantity of this love, each according to our true nature—even as the love reveals the unity of being to which we belong.

When I stopped teaching a few years ago, I explained to those who had sat with me for a number of years that they had each been individually given what they needed to complete their soul’s journey. At the time I do not think that many understood what I meant. But spiritually it was very simple. As long as the individual had sat with me long enough and had done the initial work of creating a container within the heart and psyche, they were given a quality of light and love directly into their heart, into their higher spiritual centers, that could take them home. It was written with their name and the name of God into their hearts. It was a very direct process.

The love and light belong to a dimension of oneness even as it flows into multiplicity. This energy is always present at the Source even as it comes alive in the many forms of creation, or in this instance in the many hearts of those present in the room. Because, as I have shared, I had been taken into the world of light, I could give this to all those who sat with me. They would need nothing more spiritually for the remainder of their incarnation; all that was required was to continue with their practices and live according to the principles of the path. This was my gift.

 

THE TWO WORLDS

It is important to understand that the nature of this light—the spiritual essence within creation and within our heart—is very simple, in contrast to the increasing complexity of our present culture. It is the One Light alive within the world and within our heart, a light that belongs to oneness and does not know separation. This light sings our individual name as well as the name of everything that is created, alive in the first language of life.

That we have forgotten these names is one of the unspoken tragedies of human history, as without knowing our name we cannot find our way. But returning to the heart and to the light within the heart we are present in that moment in and out of time where there is no past or future, just a quality of being that belongs to our essential nature. The journey is then for us to simply remain with this feeling, this inner orientation, and allow it to take us back where we belong.

Today so many of the stories we are told are false, lies built upon lies. They come from a civilization that has lost its way. It has even forgotten that our world is one single being in which spirit and matter are not separate. It speaks of a universe being born from a Big Bang almost fourteen billion years ago, without understanding how matter is spirit made manifest, how everything was created from the pre-existing light. But around us there is another story being told, told in a myriad of forms full of beauty in which the earliest starlight is still present. This is a world in which a divine consciousness is constantly evolving, telling its story again and again. And we are a part of it, our own individual consciousness a spark in this greater unfolding.

In these stories I have told of this light, how it has been hidden from us and how it is being revealed. The first day does not just belong to some distant past; it belongs to a spark of divine light within the heart, a feeling of love for the Earth. The work of the mystic has always been to stay true to this light, this love, to be a part of this axis that spins in every atom of creation.

In the early days of the pandemic, when I wrote “When the Source Ran Free,” I also wrote a few words for mystics and lovers,⁶ because I feel with a passion deep in my heart that we have a central part to play in the world, in the unfolding mystery of love called life:

With our prayers and our practices, with the remembrance of the heart and the song of a soul going home, we carry the mystical light of the world, we live this essential truth. In the words of a Christian mystic:

Each creature God made
Must live its own true nature;
How can I resist my nature,
That lives for oneness with God?⁷

The work of those who are drawn back to God by the thread of divine love is simple: to live this calling in the midst of life. As the world turns we stay true to this essential axis of love that runs through every day, through all of creation. Without this journey being lived, without this song of the soul being heard, a color woven into the fabric of life would be lost, a note no longer heard. We belong to life and we belong to the Divine, and as we live this belonging with our prayers and devotions, with the breath of our body and passion of our heart, we keep alive the consciousness of divine love, the spark in the heart of the world. I cannot stress too much the value, the significance, of living, of breathing, this simple truth, especially at this time of outer turbulence.

The journey continues, the journey always continues. And since the very beginning there have been souls, men and women of all races, called on this journey, drawn by love back to love, called to rediscover the essential oneness of lover and Beloved, the union of divine love. They have been called by many different names in different places and times; they are servants of God, lovers of God, mystics, fools of divine love. But these are just words for a mystery that takes place first deep within the heart, and then spreads to every cell of the body, to our thoughts and feelings, to our dreams, to the way we place our feet on the ground.

Do not forget, do not ever forget, this mystery of divine love, this cry of the heart, this longing of the soul. We are engaged in outer life—as Rumi says “I am the pain of the sick”—and we help where we can, always in service to life, in service to love, in service to our Beloved. And we always stay true to this calling of the soul, this thread of love that draws us Home. While the world lives many passions, we live this one passion, the tears, the heartache, and the bliss of divine love. While the world has many desires, we have this single desire, to be with our Beloved. Whether we are marching against injustice, tending the sick, caring for our family, cooking a meal, or sitting in silent prayer, our heart is turned towards our Beloved, our Beloved’s name is on our lips, love’s remembrance is our duty and joy. 

Today we live in the time of the great forgetting, when even the sacred nature of the Earth Herself is no longer a part of our collective consciousness. Long, long ago, the masters of light helped to awaken Homo sapiens and the Earth to an awareness of the Divine and the song of creation was heard for the first time. And now, when so many thousands of years have passed, the work of these masters is complete and a cycle of creation comes to a close—they have prepared humanity and the Earth for the next era of its evolution together. As a friend was shown in a dream a few years ago, just before he died, “He meets Llewellyn together with other disembodied great masters. The masters explain to him, that they now would have given and reflected the divine light to the whole Earth and to every being (humans, animals, and all other beings). Now this work is completed.”

The light of divine oneness, the unity of being, has been infused into all of creation. The next step for humanity is to take responsibility for our relationship with the interdependent living oneness of the biosphere; and, for those who are spiritually awake, for the light within creation—its sacred nature. We cannot return to the instinctual oneness of the First Peoples who still lived in the garden in harmony with the One Spirit, before the Fall, but nor can we afford to remain in this increasing wasteland caused by our greed and exploitation, our forgetfulness of the Original Instructions. Just as there comes a time on the path when the individual has to take responsibility for their own journey—the light and love that is given—so is it for the whole of humanity: to take responsibility for our relationship to the living Earth and our journey together.

The work now is to tend the seeds of living oneness that have been planted into our hearts and into the world around us, as we transition this liminal space between eras. To nurture them with our love and care for the Earth. So many thousands of years ago we were awakened to the wonder and magic of divine presence. And the same light that awoke in the Earth is what calls us back to love within the heart, so that the world should not forget. In my own life, since I was sixteen, I have tried to live this light: both in its moment-by-moment revelation in the outer world—the light shining, reflected on the waters of the world—and in the deepening mystery of the inner worlds. I have tried to share some of its secrets, even though words cannot capture its brightness. It is like a koan that breaks the patterns of the mind, too clear and simple to be understood, only grasped. I hope that it has found its way through the spaces between my words, places that have been left empty. I do know that it is present in the heartbeat of the world, and this morning it greeted me in the sunlight after the fog.

©2024 The Golden Sufi Center, www.goldensufi.org