THE LIGHT OF YOUR OWN MIND – BE A SPIRITUAL BEACON OF LIGHT
Smitten By Faith Issue Number : # 00077 25th November 2023
Light and darkness are basic natural phenomena which go together. The darkest and longest night of the year occurs when there is no moon in the night sky and all seems black. However, the darkest night of the year is also when the new moon then peeps out. So, just two weeks ago, on this annual event - the darkest night of the year, the world celebrated the Hindu festival of ‘DIWALI’ also known as the Festival of Lights. For Hindus, by celebrating Diwali on the darkest night, the festival reminds them of how to break free of their inner darkness and demons. At Diwali, millions of candles are lit at night – a stunning effect visually - which proclaims to all who see this that our inner nature must shine as bright as possible and we must become beacons of light to those in spiritual darkness.
Above : Diwali candles – millions of them all lit up in the darkness of the night.
Above left : See how the beacon of light from the lighthouse shines all around – pulling all to its aureole of light and to safe harbour.
The spiritual background of the festival of Diwali is paramount. The ‘Ramayana’ is possibly the greatest spiritual epic for Hindus which at its core represents each person’s struggle with ego, with good and bad, how to know oneself, how to live a better life and how to find inner peace and non- conflict. In the Ramayana we see the battle between Lord Ram ( who represents the divine self, good ) and King Ravan, the King of Lanka ( who embodies evil ) and the beautiful, courageous and innocent Princess Sita, the wife of Lord Rama ( who symbolizes the silent figure of strength and devotion ), the woman who is kidnapped by King Ravan.
Above : Battle at Lanka, Ramayana, Udaipur, 1649-53
From the public domain - Battle at Lanka, Ramayana, by Sahib Din. Battle between the armies of Rama and the King of Lanka. Udaipur, 1649-1653.
The illustration above shows the intense battle between the armies of Rama and Ravan. You can see here Rama’s army of monkeys led by the monkey God Hanuman and the King of Lanka, Ravan’s army of demons led by the three-headed demon general Trisiras. In the epic, Rama, his brother Lakshmana and Hanuman fight to free Rama's kidnapped wife Princess Sita. Following bloody battles, Rama's monkey army is finally victorious and you can see in the bottom left of the picture, the demon general Trisiras beheaded by Hanuman. At the top left, you can see the victorious Lord Rama as he looks out over the carnage before him. After the defeat of Ravan, Rama is able to bring Sita home at last. Light has triumphed over darkness.
SPIRITUAL DARKNESS AND LIGHT
Above : Michelangelo’s marvellous ceiling frescoes ( 1512 ) of the ‘Separation of Light from Darkness’ in the Genesis chronology ; the first of 9 central panels that run along the centre at the entrance of the Sistine chapel, Vatican City.
In the first chapter of Genesis ( verses 3-5 ) : God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning the first day.”
In Michelangelo’s fresco, you see the figure of God with arms out-stretched separating the light from darkness. You can see the tremendous majesty of God and almost feel His creative energy and love and God lifts the darkness and brings us light. Darkness and light – both extreme opposites scientifically - are used metaphorically here . If God is light, if light is faith - then surely light means life; light means salvation. We are in darkness when we do not see this; when we do not experience the spiritual growth and energy that comes from loving God. Darkness represents our spiritual death.
“The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. …Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men.”
( John 1:4 )
Light is the symbol of joy and of life-giving power, as darkness is of death and destruction. As I write today’s article, it came to me that when I first launched ‘Smitten By Faith’ on the Substack platform, my inaugural article, publication number # 000001 on 6th August 2021 was also about light ! That article which was entitled : ‘LIGHT THE LAMP AND PUT IT ON THE STAND’ was written more than 2 years ago and was accompanied by some amazing and beautiful theretofore unseen private photography by my first guest contributor, friend and priest, Fr. Thomas Montanaro LC who inspired and taught me. Fr. Thomas did indeed light the lamp of my mind for me and I am forever grateful to him.
“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 5:15–16)
When you light a lamp, surely you don’t hide it under a bowl? If you light a lamp, it’s because you want to light up your space. The Apostle Matthew goes further to say that we don't light up the lamp to just light up a room but we should give that light to others ! Just as the Apostle Matthew did. Matthew was in fact a tax collector from Capernaum when Jesus met him. Jesus saw Matthew’s goodness, his intellect, his light and his humility and called him to be one of his Apostles. Matthew’s light shone all over Syria, Cappadocia, Galatia and Thrace until he was cruelly put to death by the Romans and Jews. But, before his martydom, Matthew wrote and completed the Gospel of Matthew, the first man to write the teachings of Jesus in Hebrew.
THE LIGHT OF FAITH AND HOPE
Faith is the foundation of our relationship with God.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
( St. Paul to the Hebrews 11:1 )
God has given us the hope of redemption so that we can face our present, however difficult .
“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
( St. Paul to the Romans 8:24 )
“The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life” (Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi Facto Sumus 2).
LIGHT OF YOUR OWN MIND
Above left : St. Augustine of Hippo with his mother, Saint Monica; oil on canvas by Gioacchino Assereto; Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Saint Monica never ceased to pray for her son’s conversion to God. She followed him from place to place, awaiting his repentance and transformation. God used St. Monica to shape a great saint for the church. Her tears and sacrifices became gifts from her son Augustine to the church.
Above right : St. Augustine by Philippe de Champaigne 1645-1650; LA County Museum of Art. The artist here shows St. Augustine holding a burning human heart. According to St. Augustine, the human heart is restless until it unites with the God. Philippe de Champaigne’s painting shows the divine energy of God that dwells in our human hearts and as St. Augustine says, “… sets [us] all on fire."
Finally, we come to the light of eternal reason; the light of your own mind ! For me, this is best articulated by St Augustine of Hippo, one of my favourite saints who lived in the 5th century during the time of the ancient Roman Empire. St. Augustine was a very late convert to the Church when, thanks to his mother’s ( St. Monica) prayers, he transformed from sin to a life of virtue. So brilliant was the light of his mind that as a theologian and philosopher, St. Augustine is considered as one of the 4 theological ‘doctors’ of the Catholic Church and his writings continue to inspire and light up the hearts and minds of millions today.
St. Augustine said that it is because all of humanity is created in the image of God that we are able to discern truth through this God-given divine illumination – that of the light of our own mind. St. Augustine says that just as light comes from the sun; the effect of this divine illumination from God ; the light of the mind is as the sun is to the eyes; and without God we would not be able to know eternal truth.
“There is present in us the light of eternal reason, in which light, the immutable truths are seen.”
( St. Augustine of Hippo )
Every human being needs God’s light to find and see the truth. The source of this light is God. God moves the sun. God moves us and He does this because of love. The illumination of our minds with this love is unconditional and absolute.
"You have made us for Yourself, O Lord,
and our hearts are restless until they rest in You."
(St. Augustine of Hippo )
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Editor’s Note :
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