Living in the Light

This article appeared in the December 2014 edition of Creative Thought Magazine & was written by Reverend Dr. Christian Sorensen

New Beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.

                                    ~ Lao-Tsu

It’s been a joy bringing you the monthly topics from The Joyous Living Journal this year. As the calendar closes, who would ever have thought at the beginning of this year that December would see the close of an era that has been known as The Creative Thought Magazine.  It has carried a rich history of bright light that has transformed lives for six decades. The holiday season with all of its joy often outplaces the often forgotten fact that the holiday is really about the return of the light after year’s longest and darkest period.. The return of the light has been celebrated from the earliest times in recorded history as a personal metaphor and reminder that no matter how low of ebb you may find yourself in, this too shall pass. Something greater is about to emerge.  I know for Creative Thought what’s next in its evolution is dancing in the light waiting to be revealed.

December is about joyously living in the light even when you cannot see it. The winter solstice has been a magical time of renewal and introspection and offers the opportunity to live from the deep unshakable knowingness that you will be dancing in the light again. The light, laughter and love can live in the brightness of your heart even when it is dark outside. In the embrace of the time of renewal, comes the realization that even the darkness is part of God. There is not Spirit and darkness because that would be twoness not Oneness; and this season is about the light emerging from within the darkest of times. How could you develop a deep knowing of the truth without the experience of calling it forth in those moments of question?  You’ll know through experience that the ebb of difficulty has reached its lowest point and is now returning bringing the potential of the greater. You will no longer be fooled by the illusion of darkness because you will have learned to quiet the doubting mind.  As you learn to lift your consciousness from the cloak of darkness, you discover the light has always been available and healing comes in proportion to your ability to still the distressed mind.

Holidays can be a very hectic and a stressful time of the year.  Lots to do, people to see, places to go, presents to buy.  The holidays tend to be a microcosm of how the rest of your life is going.  Whatever isn’t working, whether you feel lonely, overwhelmed or in lack, can become magnified, if you allow it.  When you get squeezed by the season, what comes out is what is in you.  A vice grip reveals your true character because under pressure what spews forth from you in the intensity of the moment, is coming from within you.  Rumi told us, “The wound is the place where the light enters you.” Spirituality is not about learning all the different religious philosophies of light analogies for the various seasonal celebrations, it’s about living in and being the light.

As one lives with darkness and concern, it seems strange to think holding on to the familiar means holding onto the fear. Yet that is what is so often done because it takes a great deal of courage to let go of the known even if there isn’t any value in holding onto what has lost its significance. There is actually greater traction as you journey onto a fresh path of a new undertaking. With the shift comes a heightened energy, an attentive perception and acute awareness to see much more.  It as if you’ve flipped on the light switch in your life.  When you feel the call of a new challenge it awakens an inner aspect and intensity which enlivens a vibration of your being whose pulse had died.  Ernest Holmes wrote in the Science of Mind that, “God is forever doing new things, and when we conceive new ideas, it is an act of the Divine projecting Itself into creation.” You lose who you were and the identity attached to what was before and become so much more for the world to see in the new light.

It’s as if you have found yourself on a mountaintop watching the sun rise on the valley below you exposing where all the paths lead.  Like a mountain you will have risen above it all and from the elevated perspective you become uplifting to the world around. You as. Yes, they will all lead to the mountaintop but some paths are just tougher than others.  Catherine of Siena said, “All the way to heaven is heaven” it’s just some of the journeys are lighter than others. Knowing you have the ability to step out of the anxiety of the darker times to remember the light is within you and that the higher perspective is always available for the seeing brings comfort in those ebbing times.

When you catch a vison of the first light from the mountaintop, you realize there is no risk in choosing the path you are meant to walk. Just as a river knows it will find its way to the lake or ocean no matter the twist and turns it takes, so the light of your being knows how to illumine your path, even in the darkest of times. Those around you will demand explanation of what you see, and want you to show them how you know for sure the abundant light of good is returning.   You’ll be there with a celestial gaze of peace on your face that you aren’t able to describe, but nor are you able to deny what you saw. You are also very aware if you abdicate the vision for a logical explanation to quiet the skeptical minds, you will have lost the joy of dancing in the light momentarily in lieu of mingling among the doubters.

Living in the light is about listening to the love inside of you more than your fear. Sometimes you must let go of the way it’s been, “a dear friend”, in order for it to become what is possible.  Be careful not to let your good get in the way of your greater good.  You must listen to the light, and as a spiritual being you may be gifted as a seer of the first light which will always be met by resistance by those who are just fine with the way things are.  But greater good is waiting for those like you who will follow the light because you live in a progressive universe that is always looking for the available outlet for what’s next in the emergence of the Divine.   Say yes to the gift of the light this season is offering you!light this season is offering you!