The Listening Ear

Paying Attention to the Inner Light-7

In the final section of Mind the Light, Brent Bill talks about how darkness in our lives can enable us to see God’s light better. Here he is talking about those times in life when we are plunged into blackness.

It is often the case, that experiences of darkness drive us to seek God’s light with renewed vigor. It can also be that the negative spaces in our lives can highlight those times when we have seen the light.

We might reflect on how we have found God’s light in those times when we’ve been plunged into darkness. That can give us a clue as to how we can open ourselves to God’s light each day.

Now that we have considered some of the things that Brent Bill has to say about the divine light that dwells in us, we might want to take time to reflect on that kind of light we need for our journey through life. What are the ways we can try to find that light?

If this discussion of divine light has been of interest to you, you might want to pick up a copy of Mind the Light. I said at the beginning, one of the most thought-provoking parts of the book are the ‘Illuminating Moments’ scattered throughout it. For me, they alone are worth the price of the book. These questions give us much to consider about how God’s light is evident in our lives.

Paying Attention to the Inner Light-6

One of the most intriguing sections of Brent Bill’s Mind the Light is the one in which he reflects on the impact that artificial light has upon our spirituality. When we possess the ability to turn light on and off whenever we want, it not only give us more opportunity to read the Scriptures, but it also makes it possible for us to cram more activity into our lives. Artificial light can have both positive or negative impact on our spirits.

This can lead us to ask ourselves some questions: Do I regard artificial light as a gift of God? Does such light make it possible for me to experience God in ways that wouldn’t be available to me otherwise? Is there a way that human light can feed my soul?

We might also want to consider how forgoing human light might lead us to a richer spiritual experience. Instead of flipping on an electric light, perhaps lighting a candle or even sitting in the darkness can encourage an attitude of prayer.

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If we can find God’s light within us, then certainly it must dwell in others. Another way for us to Mind the Light is to look for the light of God in other persons. Brent Bill asks us to try to see others they way that God sees them. This will require some imagination on our part.

For Bill, this way of seeing other people starts with recognizing what we have in common with someone else. By making ourselves aware of what we have in common, we begin to realize that the peculiarities and unusual traits we find in them are not really the different from our own.

As we really see others, it leads us to pray for them. One way to do that is simple to imagine them surrounded in God’s loving light. This can move us outside ourselves so that we see them with the loving eyes of God.

It strikes me that it is particularly important for us to put this into practice with those people with whom we have experienced some friction. When we can see them surrounded by God’s love, I think we are better equipped to deal with people who may irritate us. We also recognize how our own make up may contribute to our feelings about them.

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Another place the Brent Bill wants us to Mind the Light is be recognizing the inward light that shines in each of us. He notes the the search of enlightenment has taken place a variety of cultures and across human history.

The Christian faith finds the Way of Light manifest in the presence of the Risen Christ. To follow that way means to seek the guidance of Christ. Quakers believe that the light of Christ dwells already dwells in every believer. Minding the light means to pay attention to what’s already present.

I have often had the impression that many Christians aren’t really expecting God to guide them. Yet, Bill maintains that we often experience what Quakers call ‘leadings’ if we pay attention to the soul work that is going on in us. These leadings call us to some kind of action. He quotes Southern writer Flannery O’Connor says that what we need is “the kind of mind that is willing to have its sense of mystery deepened by contact with reality and its sense of reality deepened by contact with mystery.”

When we draw near to God, God draws near to us. The distance between our inner life and our everyday life begins to close. Nevertheless, we need to trust that God gives us all the light we need, even though it may not be all that we want. Brent Bill confesses, “I’m will to be led—I just want searchlights instead of flashlights lighting the way.”

Sometimes we have to recognize that too much light isn’t good for us either. That’s hard for us to admit and hard for us to accept.

Have you ever had the sense of divine light within you? Have you found God’s presence to be light candlelight in the darkness, a light of constant presence? These are good questions for us to consider.

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In Minding the Light Brent Bill explores that ways that we encounter God’s light in creation. He encourages us to really pay attention to the things we see in the world around us in order to perceive God’s light revealed in those things.

Bill draws on his experiences with photography which taught him to look at the way different types of light affect how a photo turns out. Photography helped him notice the various forms of beauty that are found in the world. Bill says, “...I began to think of direct light as God at work in us, reflected light as God in the people around me, and alternative light as things like the Bible, works of good art, poetry, literature and more.”

Such seeing is a spiritual discipline and one of the joys that comes from this kind of seeing is from noticing something previously unnoticed, beholding the brilliance of love blazing in the world around us.

How do we put this into practice? One way is to simply take time to really look at things. We can’t rush it, but need to take time to really take in the beauty of a tree or the delight of a small child playing. We can ask ourselves, how can I see God in every place?

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In Mind the Light Brent Bill urges us to see God’s light both around us and inside us. Just as all living beings need light, our souls crave the light of God’s presence. After all, “God is light; in God there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5).

Bill contends that we will experience God’s presence when we learn to see deeply, to behold, using our senses to be sure, but also seeking to see beyond the surface of things. He teaches us that we will see hints of God’s activity, God’s guidance and God’s grace when we learn to look at the world and our lives in this way.

It is important to note that God remains sovereign in this process. The Spirit will reveal himself to us when and in the way that the Spirit chooses. Nevertheless, we can learn to be looking for the ways that God shows himself to us. That’s what it means to mind the light.

A Guide for Modern Pilgrims-7

It is the interior journey that’s even more crucial than physical travel when we make a pilgrimage. This is true both for sacred journeys as well as how we go through life.

In The Journey: A Guide for the Modern Pilgrim, Maria Scaperlanda identifies certain tools and disciplines that can help us be open to the blessings offered by pilgrimage.

Journaling is one way for us to pay attention to the well of wisdom that Spirit causes to spring up within us. She keeps several types of journals, including her 3 ‘morning pages’ that she writes just to get her juices flowing, an album ideas, images and quotes and also a regular journal where she records dates, thoughts and feeling and ‘aha’ moments.

Drawing on her Roman Catholic tradition, Maria finds meditation on the Way or the stations of the Cross and the use of the Rosary to be helpful practices. Non-catholics have also found value in pondering the events of Christ’s crucifix or using an evangelical form of the rosary.

Maria also finds the Russian text called the Way of the Pilgrim to be a helpful resource. Written by an anonymous writer who simple calls himself ‘the Pilgrim,’ it describes how the writer discovers the prayer of the heart that can be used as a way to

A Guide for Modern Pilgrims-6

In The Journey: A Guide for the Modern Pilgrim, Michael Scperlanda writes a couple of chapters on those who can accompany us on a pilgrimage. He first mentions pilgrims from the Bible who serve as guides for us: Adam and Even, Abraham, Moses, Peter, Esther, Ruth, the Prodigal Son and Mary. Each of these made a spiritual journey as they moved from one place to another.

Michael also suggests that it is helpful for us to find company along the way of our pilgrimage. They may travel with us, pray for us, or share our calling. They may also come into our lives completely unexpected. Even as we journey through life, Michael says that God will always make sure there are other pilgrims close at hand.

A Guide for Modern Pilgrims-5

One of the issues that Maria Scaperlanda explores in The Journey: A Guide for the Modern Pilgrim, is the question of what pilgrimage to take. Since a pilgrimage is a sacred journey, the kind of journey we take is as important as choosing our destination.

Maria believes that we don’t choose the place; the place chooses us. What she means is that God shows us where we might go to experience the touch of God, to come to know God better.

So how do we know that we are being called to go on a pilgrimage? Her first answer is that you just know. There’s no other way to explain it. You feel invited, even summoned to make a particular journey to a particular place.

Another way the a we know we are invited is that amazing ‘coincidences’ happen. For believers, what some call serendipity, we call the Holy Spirit acting in our lives. Not every place that we see featured in the travel section of a newspaper is inviting us to a pilgrimage. We need to listen, to pay attention to God in prayer. God doesn’t want to confuse us.

There are different places that may serve as a place to go for a pilgrimage. It may be traditional site, such as a trip to the Holy Land. Or it may be something closer, like a journey to a retreat center. There might even be pilgrimage sites even in our own backyard. How we make the journey, being open to what God might show us and say to us, is more important the destination we choose.

A Guide for Modern Pilgrims–

As we continue to reflect on the book The Journey: A Guide for the Modern Pilgrim, Maria Scaperlanda expands on the notion that we need to decide what things we need to leave behind as we carry our pack. One way to do this is to focus on the present rather than being weighed down by regrets or hurts from the past or anxiety about the future.

“The key to true freedom is learning to live in the present moment,” she writes. This means to choose to open ourselves to the healing, the hope and the love that we receive by trusting God.

This is an important skill to learn both as we make special pilgrimages and as we continue this journey called life. Sometimes this can be difficult for us because it seems like we are surrounded by darkness. Yet, our spiritual journey is not a decision to leap away from, but directly into the darkness. It is the radical decision to stay with the pain because we trust in God’s healing and loving promise.

That’s the difference between living as a tourist as opposed to living as a pilgrim. For the tourist, the journey is always external. For the pilgrim, the most important journey takes place inside us. That journey involves a conscious decision to live in the present moment and saying ‘yes’ to the graces that God has for us today and each day.