A Window is Where the Wall is Absent

The life impulse to express and to connect arises in me and in all of us. This blog is a celebration of these life impulses. Please feel free to join in the conversation or to just visit. There is a Family Photo Album beneath the posts so you can "meet" my family and I. Welcome!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Light

"I remember once being in a place that was so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. My emotional reaction was, 'I can't see anything! I don't know what is there!' But then I thought, 'What is it, then, that sees darkness? I am looking at darkness; my eyes are functioning and seeing darkness.' Then suddenly it became obvious to me that consciousness is light, that even in the dark there is light if you rest in conscious awareness. What your eyes see is darkness, but that is still seeing, isn't it? We usually think of light as coming from outside-- from the sun or an electric light bulb-- but consciousness is light, isn't it? But this is a light that is coming from within.

"Enlightenment is natural to each one of us; it is nature, not conditioned, not to be claimed as a unique gift that 'I have because I am a special kind of human being.' If you start operating in that way, you will be operating from delusion, won't you? But see that everybody is this; recognize it in everybody."

Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally, p. 394- 395.






~

5 comments:

Mystic Meandering said...

"Even in the dark there is light..."
Amen...

Beautiful quote... Christine

Anonymous said...

I think this is one of my favorite posts you've done Mom. Thanks! Love, Mary

Unknown said...

I love Ajahn Sumedho's talks

a beautiful balance between pure awareness and the reflections on our ??? human conditions.

Colleen Loehr said...

Thank you Keith, Mary, and Christine for your comments. Somehow I missed seeing them earlier but I'm glad to see them now.

Jeff Patterson said...

This was so great - thanks for sharing it! I'd never thought of it this way.

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