The Light Of Illumination

The  Light  Of  Illumination

Martin Cecil   October 14, 1979 a.m.

There is a question which each of us might well ask him- or herself: “What is the size and the quality of my world?” The size of the world for each one is based in the extent of vision, one's own vision; and the quality of one's world is dependent upon the quality of one's own living. The extent of vision will in turn depend upon the extent of the light that is shining, the intensity of that light. One can see in the light. If it's dark you do not see very much. The quality of one's world is always filled with the quality of one's own living. If that is really seen it might be accepted as cause for some careful thought. Always the quality of one's own personal living fills one's immediate world. If there is a lack of quality apparent in one's view of one's own immediate world one may know why.

A consideration of these things relative to our individual worlds immediately places responsibility where it belongs, not out there somewhere, or on the shoulders of someone else; it comes right back to oneself. We all have this individual responsibility for the light and quality of our living, the light of illumination. It is often looked upon as something that is going to illuminate oneself, so that thereafter one may say, “Well, I know, I understand, I see everything.” But the light of illumination is the light of one's own living, and it illuminates one's world. It illuminates it so that one may see what is present accurately. The intensity of the light that shines will determine the extent of one's world for which responsibility is being accepted.

There are in fact two kinds of light. Sometimes using words seems to carry ambiguity, but we are well aware that spiritual things are spiritually discerned. So there is the need for spiritual discernment, to see beyond the words that are used to what it is that is really being said. So many people just get hung up on the words, never seeing what is actually being said. They interpret the words according to their own darkness, rather than letting the light of their living reveal the truth. There is the light of illumination, the light which shines forth by reason of the quality of one's own living; there is a field of illumination therefore all around. According to the intensity of the light, so is the size of that field. This is one kind of light, the light of illumination, the light which illuminates.

There is another kind of light, which might be defined by using the word “observed”—observed light. We have an example of this on a clear night when we look up into the sky and see the stars twinkling there. The stars do not illuminate the earth, but the fact that there are stars can be observed. There is therefore a distinction between these two kinds of light. Utilizing the example of the heavens in the external sense, the sun provides illumination for the solar system; however that same light observed from another star would be categorized as observed light. But in this immediate system it is the light of illumination. We have illumination here on earth, during the daytime at least. Sometimes there is illumination of a sort at night; that comes from the moon, the reflected light of the sun, the source of illumination for this system. By the same token each of us properly has a field for the illumination of which we are responsible, a world which should be illuminated because we are present.

In the world the way we know it the fact that human beings are present doesn't as a rule illuminate very much. It increases darkness, confusion, chaos, conflict; and while the human intellect claims great things, it is a source of confusion too. However we do have the potential for letting the light shine. The light only shines on the basis of the real quality of our living. When there is such real quality the light shines and there is a world illumined around us, so that we ourselves may see what is present. Because this is not understood by most, the light that is commonly experienced is merely observed light. This comes out of memory, out of the past, out of tradition; someone can tell us about it. It has been customary in human experience to pass on traditions from one generation to the next. This was considered to be important because for the most part it was the only kind of light that anybody had: second-hand light, we might call it, connected to us by the darkness, just like the stars. The only valid light is the light in the present moment—not the light out of the past, which is second-hand light, observed light and not the light of illumination. It doesn't really illuminate anything. It engenders imagination, so that one may interpret what it is imagined is seen in the darkness. The interpretation given to what human beings think they see in their dark worlds is based in the past, the experiences of the past, the traditions of the past.

We have tended, ourselves, to see everything in this way. This is usual in the human world. But our concern is the light of illumination, so that we may emerge out of the darkened observation, out of misinterpretation. We emerge out of that into the experience of illumination because we see what is present with us in our worlds, and the quality of that is dependent upon the extent of our illumination—the illumination, the light that is shining by reason of our presence. The world for which we carry spiritual responsibility changes when the light shines. It could be said that it is not an actual change; it is merely a change of what is observed. The greater the intensity of light the more there is to be seen.

It was said that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Human beings have repeated this statement over the centuries. We have come to realize that this is the Gospel, the Good News: the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. However if nobody knows it because nobody sees it, the statement itself doesn't have much value. It is a hint that there is the necessity for increased illumination so that we might see what is actually there. If the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand it's there, but we cannot see it in the dark. It requires the light of illumination. As this light increases in intensity then we discover that there are lots of things that have been present with us all the time that we haven't seen, but because of the brightness of the light which is now shining we begin to see what is present. This requires the light of illumination, which is the shining of the light in our living.

We only see on the basis of our own light. Someone else may inform us of what is present because the light of illumination is shining forth from that one. Being lazy in human nature, there is a tendency then to say, “Yes I see that.” But you don't; you merely have received a tradition, a more immediate tradition perhaps. But the only way one can actually see first-hand is by reason of one's own light. You never see first-hand by reason of someone else's light. What is present may be conveyed to you in words perhaps by someone else who sees, but that doesn't cause you to see. It merely stimulates your imagination, and your imagination being stimulated, you say, “I see.” Well you see what is in your imagination, yes, but on that basis you haven't seen what is actually present yet. There is only one way to see that, and that is because the light is shining with sufficient intensity consequent upon the nature and quality of your own living. Then you begin to see what is present, and the things that you thought were present before begin to fade or recede in favor of the reality, which becomes ever more plainly visible. It begins to stick out at you.

The quality of your own living permits the shining of the light, the shining of the light illuminates the reality that is present, and you find yourself in the Kingdom on that basis—the Kingdom has come. It didn't actually travel to you. It was always there but you hadn't known it. Now, with the light shining, you know it, you see it, you experience it. This is the restoration, isn't it? It seems to me that very often the idea of restoration centers in the concept of a transfer of a true state to where human beings are, as though it wasn't there already. It is there already. Reality is always present. How could it be otherwise? If that reality has been covered up by what might be referred to as unreality, the vain and evil imaginations engendered in the darkness, that does not deny the fact that the reality is present. It merely reveals the fact that there is little or no light shining through the individual who remains unaware of the reality.

Here we have a gauge, incidentally, of the extent of the light that is shining. Let us not fool ourselves. Let us not take the attitude, “Well the Kingdom isn't quite here yet. We're doing our best, we're living according to our highest vision, we're following out Emissary instructions, and the Kingdom will arrive one day.” Never! It doesn't have to arrive—it's arriven!—the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. It's here. It's present. The quality of our living reveals it. The light shines and there it is. As I say, we have a good gauge then. What is the extent of our vision? What is it that we see? What is the nature of what we see? As we have noted repeatedly, even those who think of themselves as Emissaries see many things about which it may be felt that complaint would be justified.

Recently we have been considering the matter of thankfulness. We discover that it is only natural to be thankful when we see what is present. We couldn't be any other way. Here the Kingdom is! Awakening to that fact because the light is shining to reveal it, is that not cause for thanksgiving? It may be said that nothing has changed except the light which is shining by reason of your own presence. The light coming through into your world illuminates your world and you find your world contains the Kingdom. It's there already.

On this basis, then, we discover that it is the fact that human beings live in a world of unreality. They live in a world that only exists in their own imagination. I noticed the editorial indicating that the idea of inflation, exists in human consciousness; and as long as it is there, as long as it is constantly being reinforced, of course the fact of inflation will always be present. Everybody anticipates it. Everybody makes arrangements so that they are going to be protected as this inflation increases, and so the inflation increases. “That which I feared is come upon me.” It always happens. We establish the thing that we are going to experience. People are trying to preserve themselves in this inflationary world. They are figuring out ways and means of doing it—absolutely certain that inflation is going to come! They don't want it much. Some may think that they are going to profit by it, but most people don't want it much. They go into the grocery store and they see the prices have gone up again—cause for complaint. Yet it is something that human beings establish upon themselves. Now we may say that as individuals, and we may observe it, but we realize that all this is happening simply because people are living in an imaginary world, a world which is capable of being manipulated in this fashion.

The true world, the world which is revealed when the light shines, cannot be manipulated by human beings. As long as a person is involved in the human world, in the world of imagination, he doesn't know that any other world really exists. He may have faith, he may have strong convictions, strong beliefs, that heaven is a reality somewhere, somehow, but he doesn't know. The only thing he knows is what is apparent in his own imaginary world. We all share this imaginary world in the human state. Everybody agrees on it, so that's the way it is. There seems to be no other alternative for most, but we have recognized, surely, that there is an alternative; in fact we have experienced a little something of it. How about letting the experience be increased? We cannot let it be increased by subscribing to the unreality, by agreeing with that. We have the opportunity of accepting the reality into our own living so that the light shines. One has to do that for the light to shine, and until the light shines you don't see what's there.

It may be helpful if someone comes along who is somewhat aware of what is present in reality and tells you about it. It may encourage a person to accept the responsibility of letting the light shine so that he may know for himself. Unfortunately all too often when something has been said and the individual has accepted what has been said—it's a second-hand light, isn't it?—he has assumed that that was sufficient: Now he knows; now he understands; now he is an Emissary. But he is no different from anybody else. Nothing has happened. Nothing has changed, except the nature of the outlook with respect to the unreality.

There is only one way, and that is to allow one's own light to shine: Let your light so shine. Then it illuminates your world and you are no longer fooled by the crazy notions that most people have on the basis of second-hand vision. You see first-hand what is actually present, and because you may then work with what is actually present, what you do is extremely effective. People are trying to be effective by manipulating unreality, and because it is unreal it keeps slipping through their fingers. Everything gets established according to some certain way that is supposed to be effective, and it works for a little, apparently—a new form of manipulation. But it doesn't work for long, because here is a dream state, here is a realm of imagination, and imagination tends to go this way and that way. There is a firm imagination with respect to inflation these days. There have been firm imaginations with respect to all sorts of things in the past, quite different things, and what was effective in days of yore is no longer effective now. So a new application is made in the realm of manipulation, and it works for a moment but then that too passes. There is nothing sure. Everybody tries to make something sure. Social security! Well we seem to benefit from that a little for a while, but then we are struck by inflation.

Why be all involved in this imaginary state? “Well,” the human being says, “we have to be, we have to live in this imaginary state.” Do we? Do we really? We have been accustomed to living in it, and we may at times have the idea that if we ignored it we would be in a bad way. “We have to struggle to keep our heads above water.” The more you struggle in quicksand the quicker you sink. But there is a real world present. Because the imaginary unreal world has been thought to be real, the real world has been thought to be imaginary. Here is the backward state of the human condition, and it seems like quite a thing to let the customary viewpoint be reversed. Someone may say, “Well four billion people can't be wrong!” In days gone by they said fifty thousand Frenchmen couldn't be wrong! But this is a larger majority. Is it believable that they are all wrong? Well let's find out! The only way to find out is by letting the light shine, by assuming the qualities that are of reality in one's own experience. Strange, isn't it, how human beings fight tooth and nail against being restored to a state of reality. And it isn't as though they enjoyed the dream so much. Pleasing experiences tend to be few and far between in that state. But there we are in the midst of reality. How much do we know it? The unreality still looms pretty large in the consciousness of most, even of most of those here gathered, I believe. But the reality is here, completely hidden if there is no light shining, or an inadequate light shining.

But the light that is to shine is such that it illuminates the reality. It illuminates it within the scope of  one's own world, so that each may say with respect to himself, “Whereas I was blind, now I see.” But don't say that merely on the basis of what someone else has told you, me or anyone else, or what has been written in some traditionally accepted book. The Bible stands out in this regard. The Bible has nothing to tell a person until the light is shining by reason of that person; then he sees what is present in the Bible. He sees what is present in his environment. And on this basis there may be those who begin to be capable of functioning in the real world. The real world is not separate from the imaginary world out there.

The real world fills all the space,

and the imaginary world has been superimposed on top of it.

We can't find a real world by going to some other planet. The real world is right here, just as the imaginary world is right here. So we begin to discover that there is vastly more present in our worlds than we had previously thought, and what we had previously thought is seen as being untrue. Some of it was out-and-out foolishness; some of it was reality twisted. When the light shines the twists come out, and what was out-and-out foolishness just isn't there anymore.

Human beings have the capacity of superimposing complete fabrications on their fields of observation.

This very often happens when a person is bored. You may recall the story about the truck driver driving down the highway hour after hour after hour. It was night. Suddenly he saw a dog run across in front of the truck and he swerved the truck. The truck was wrecked. It was foolish to swerve the truck. But the dog was imaginary; there was no dog there. Yet I am sure he was completely convinced that the dog was there. So there is a superimposition of complete fabrication upon our worlds very often, and a person doesn't have the capacity to tell what is a complete fabrication and what is merely a distortion of something that is really there. The only way to discover the truth is to let the light shine, and then what is really there is seen and all the fabrications go and all the misunderstandings go, and we are in position to take responsibility. We now have authority because we know what's present.

To try to exercise authority with respect to a field, an area, a world, of imagination is done of course by human beings, but it piles confusion upon confusion. True authority can only be known in the real world, and we must be aware of the fact of the real world before we can know true authority. We let the light shine. We see what is present. We find that we have authority in the situation. That's the way it works. There is no great struggle about it. We didn't have to make the real world be; it's there already. It's already built. It's already there. Human beings have excluded themselves from the experience of it in their world of imagination, but when the light shines it all begins to come back. I suppose some might say, “Oh that's a memory, something being brought to remembrance by the spirit of truth.” That's one way of describing it, because it is something that was always known in reality; but it isn't really memory; it's just observation of the fact. “Let your light so shine.” We all have a part to play in that.

Some people are a little hesitant to play their parts. Some may say, “Well I'm too young yet; I don't have sufficient experience.” Yes, experience of reality is important, but each person has a part to play at the level where he is. It doesn't matter what, for instance, the age is in the external sense. There are those who say, “Well I'm too old now; it's time I retired.” Looking at the true picture, I would say that the older a person becomes the more responsibility he should carry.

Most people think of carrying responsibility primarily in physical terms, sometimes a little mental thrown in, so that when one loses somewhat the seeming vibrancy of youth then it begins to expose what is actually true of the person. One can cover up one's spiritual expression with a lot of physical activity, for instance, using the physical activity as a means of proving that one is very vibrant in spiritual expression. But that may prove to have been merely a cover-up; there wasn't any spiritual expression. You'll find out when the vibrancy of that physical activity begins to wane a bit as you get older. You can't do all the things physically that you could before in youth. Then what is there? That's the question. People become more exposed in this regard as they grow older, and it begins to be revealed as to how much actual light of illumination was present. It had nothing to do with the extent of physical activity.

Age, in the usual human sense, indicates that a person has had greater opportunity to experience what was needful from the standpoint of spiritual expression than has yet been possible to a younger person. So the older a person is the greater the responsibility he should be carrying. It is well to remember that in the days of your youth, because when a person grows old he often begins to feel rather desolate, simply because there was no adequate light shining. He is suddenly faced with the truth of the matter, which was covered up by all the expertise that this person had in years gone by when he had lots of physical strength to undertake whatever it was. But when that's gone, what is there left? With all too many people, precious little. They never remembered now their Creator in the days of their youth so that there might be the expression of the real quality of living, the shining of the light, an awareness of the reality, and the ability therefore to take responsibility for it and to speak as one having authority and not as the scribes, who are the second-hand people. Age of itself doesn't give anyone any special privileges.

Privileges come in balance with responsibility accepted.

Of course the longer one has lived, presumably the more responsibility one should have accepted. I am speaking of spiritual responsibility here particularly, and to the extent that that was actually done then there may be said to be privileges that go with it. So at every level we have the opportunity of letting the light shine, and as the years go by that light should be shining more and more brilliantly, so that the individual concerned is more and more aware of what is present.

We may see this as it relates to a collective body responsible for letting the light shine; all share then in that greater illumination which then becomes possible and the reality becomes that much more apparent. The more there are sharing in this the more apparent the reality becomes. Aha, the Kingdom is coming! It isn't really coming; it's emerging out of the mist. It's found to be present and the things which obscured it are seen as being unreal, not worthy of very much consideration at all. Behold, I make all things new. The things are there already. The Kingdom is there already—that's one of the things. They become new, or apparent, in their reality, not having been known before by those who are letting the light shine now; and that's a wonderful experience, cause for tremendous thanksgiving. The more this happens the more constant is the thanksgiving. It's not a matter of getting up in the morning and saying, “Oh well, I'm thankful for this new day,” and then forgetting all about it for the rest of the day. Everything that happens reveals the reality that is there, when the light is shining; and one is responsible oneself for the shining of that light, nobody else. When you let it shine you know the reality that is there and you are thankful in consequence. You cannot help but be. If you are not thankful you do not know the reality that is there, and if you do not know the reality that is there your light is not shining. Proof! Let's not fool ourselves.

Let your light so shine, to the Glory of God, revealing the truth, illuminating the truth in your world; and behold the quality of your world changes. The quality of you and the quality of your world are found to be synonymous, and when the true quality of you is present the true quality of your world will be found to be present also.

© emissaries of divine light