One Light

Life sometimes becomes a road full of stones and thorns… a dead-end labyrinth. Pain invades each one of the days; one is caught in a world that seems not to understand you, a superficial and unjust world. At such times, one only tries to fit, going with the flow, being a “normal” person, with a “normal” life……But something, inside, it’s calling……

When there is darkness in the life, only one Light is required, as to remove any darkness a small light is enough. Surprisingly we carry that one light within us, and its presence can only be felt when one crosses through the darkness. Since without darkness there is no light, darkness must not be a bad thing, but essential. It is the play of the two that fills us with wonder. Light that shines in the darkness, a light that darkness could not overpower.

The real test of this one light is when suddenly, quiet life finishes, the balance which was earlier there, is broken and the “normality” of life breaks to pieces. Chaos and crisis happens… and one asks why…? Why me……? Chaos and destruction are necessary. When one is far from his road and is not listening to his own heart, life has ways to make you return to your own path. Because something, inside you, continues calling…..the light inside is calling……..

Only when one surrenders and listens to this light and follows the true beat of the heart one is able to transcend one’s own barriers, insecurities and fears, without caring what others would say. You open your eyes and you begin to flow with the same universe… light takes charge of taking you to the right place where you should be. And then you begin to understand… Each moment, each person, each situation… everything has a reason of being. Pieces perfectly fit. Everything, absolutely everything, has contributed to take you to the place where you are and to be the person that you are. And something, inside yourself, calls louder now ……..
And then the heart seems to wake up… and one sees that all the answers always looked for were there, within reach of one’s hand. When looking toward inside, we can see our true nature… a spark of light, a sigh of love. And now, beating of the heart marks the rhythm of our steps. We have begun to respond to the call….. our soul smiles.

And one discovers that, no matter what happens, nothing can stop the passion of the soul looking for light. Later or earlier, we’ll hug our true essence, because our soul remembers its origin and quietly guides so that we learn how to fly again. When we recover your wings…… there is balance and harmony in everything we do and achieve. Appreciating the abundance of life, the reality of both the physical light and the spiritual light and in recognizing the unique gifts we have and we have to share with the world.

When eyes are opened, fears are faced, and life is embraced. That’s the place to start when we want to make our way to the light. Writers and philosophers have suggested that hope, which is arguably the most precious of all things, begins in the dark. “The stubborn hope,” “that if you just show up and do the right thing, the dawn will come. It is the law of nature; darkness is followed by the morning light. One has to just wait, watch and work, and don’t give up.

Each life is a miracle. Each of us is a miracle. We cannot explain by logic or experience where we come from before birth or where we go after death. We have no way to comprehend the mystery of life or the mystery of our universe. We can only appreciate that we exist on this Earth at this time in this vast and expanding universe, and try to use our precious lives for good purposes.

Hope must be a conscious choice. There are always reasons for giving up and retreating into selfishness, ignorance and apathy. If you want hope, you must choose it. It will not necessarily choose you. The way to choose hope is by your actions to achieve a better world.

There are important reasons, though, to have hope. The most important reason for me is the power of the human spirit. The human spirit is amazing. It is capable of achieving sublime beauty and overcoming tremendous obstacles. All greatness - in art, music, literature, science, engineering and peace - is a triumph of the human spirit. But the greatest triumph of the human spirit comes from choosing a compassionate goal and persisting in overcoming obstacles to achieve this goal. All worthy goals require persistence to achieve. They will not happen overnight.

The greatest enemies of change are selfishness, apathy and ignorance. These are the enemies of hope. I urge one should resist these at all costs.

Selfishness is a narrow way to live. It is about what you have, not what you do and give. Rich lives are not about the money we accumulate, but about the ways in which we interconnect and help others. The antidote to selfishness is compassion, built upon helping others.

Apathy is about not caring about others. It is a lack of interest and a failure to engage in trying to make a difference. The antidote to apathy is caring and commitment.

Ignorance in the midst of information is also about not caring - not caring enough to find out about the problems that confront us. Hope and help are needed. The antidote to ignorance is knowledge.

We must be seekers of knowledge, not for its own sake but to better understand our world so that we can engage in it and break our bonds of selfishness with a compassionate response to life. I don't think this is asking too much of ourselves or each other. It is the essence of being human, carrying one light with us in the darkness and finding our way out to our ultimate goal.