Daily Light: Reflections for Holy Times - We Are One Light

We Are One Light

“The lamps are different, but the Light is the same. One matter, one energy,
one Light, one Light-mind, endlessly emanating all things.
- Rumi

Rumi, a Persian poet and Sufi mystic, died nearly 750 years ago, on December 17, 1273. And, yet, his poetry resonates so deeply with us that he has become the most popular poet in the United States. Why do Rumi’s words still call to us across the boundaries of time and space, religion and culture?

Rumi wrote extensively about love, focusing on how humans connect with one another and with the Beloved. His approach to love grounds itself in his Sufi faith, which teaches that we deepen our spirituality and gain transcendence through the transmission of Divine Light, from the heart of the teacher to the heart of the student.

“The lamps are all different. . . .”

What a simple truth, but one that causes human beings so much pain and dysfunction. As human beings, we are programmed from birth to label and separate our Selves. As babies, part of our psychological journey entails figuring out “what is me and what is not me.” This funny thing that finds its way to my mouth, if I bite it, it hurts. Later, I will learn this thing called “thumb” is a part of my very own body. As we grow into childhood, we begin to differentiate people—this is me, she is mama, he is dada. We learn our own names and the names of those we love. We learn to define family, friends, and strangers.

And this gets us into trouble. Adults teach us to label people as good and bad, right and wrong, friends and enemies. We begin to believe our own myth that lamps are not merely different, but that some lamps are better than others. The ornate brass lantern is more beautiful than the crude clay lamp. The lamp with the bigger flame is preferable to the lamp with the soft, gentle glow. And, inside this misunderstanding of reality, we rob our Selves of connection, love, and safety. What would be possible if we could simply accept, without judgment, that, yes, indeed, the lamps are different. . . .

“. . . . but the Light is the same.”

December is a season of both darkness and Light. With the arrival of winter, the days grow shorter, fields are left fallow, and many animals find a cozy place to hibernate. Meanwhile, we humans celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Festivals of Light! We light candles and lanterns, we fire up the oven to cook and bake, our fireplaces blaze with Light. But, amid all the comparing and contrasting and judging of Light, we miss the exquisite beauty and oneness available to us through this universal explosion of Light.

I have attended services at the Islamic Sufi mosque in Dallas and found that the invitation to Divine Light is offered, lovingly, to all who are open and curious. Sufis live into the possibility and worldview Rumi speaks of, that just as Light is the same, so are human Souls. What would be available to us, as individuals and as members of society, if we adopted Rumi’s affirmation that the Light is the same? What if, instead of divisiveness, we lived into the truth that we are. . . .

“One matter, one energy, one Light, one Light-mind. . . .”

Rumi acknowledges that the lamps are different but insists that the Light is the same. And he takes us one step further, challenging us to expand from sameness to oneness. Rumi asserts we are one Humanity, one collective Heart, one Soul, one Spirit. We are interconnected and interdependent. Inside this cosmology, when one suffers, all suffer. When we hurt another, we wound our Selves. When we judge “the other,” we diminish the Soul of all Humanity. When we deny the reality and the truth of this cosmology, we separate our Selves from the Beloved.

And, in separating our Selves from the Beloved, we separate from each other, tearing at the very fabric of our families, our communities, our nations, and our planet. Embracing a cosmology of love and oneness grounds our values, beliefs, and mindsets. Believing we are one Light, believing in the power of love, we act and react from a foundation of Universal Love. The course of our collective future, whether we are conscious of this or not, will be radically different when it is love, not hate, that is. . . .

“. . . .endlessly emanating all things.”

Life spirals endlessly through phases of Light and darkness. The sun rises and sets, the moon arrives and departs. Spring yields to summer, summer gives way to autumn, autumn surrenders to winter, and winter gives birth to a new spring. In times of seasonal darkness, we simply light the lamp.

Yet in seasons of human darkness, we capitulate our Light to baser urges. Unlike physical Light, spiritual Light is a choice, made individually and collectively. We choose to shine, or not to shine, the Light of Self and Soul. We choose to see Light in the “other,” or not. We forget, misremember, or deny that all lamps are different, but they radiate the same glorious Light, the Divine Light of the Universal Beloved. What future would our grandchildren’s grandchildren live into if you became a student of Rumi’s simple truths today?

Gretchen Martens
Interfaith Spiritual Companion and Energy Healer
Author and Wisdom Teacher