Light for the darkest time of year (in the Northern Hemisphere)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

My Sufi Order has a Universal Worship, in which the holy books of many different religions are acknowledged and read. Last week, I presented a Universal Worship with the theme of Light. Thought you might find these passages on Light from the various books interesting:

The light that is in the sun and illuminates the whole universe, the light that is in the moon and is likewise in fire--know that light to be Mine.
The Supreme Self, verse 12
The Bhagavad Gita translated from the Sanskrit by Swami Nikhilananda

By day the sun shines, and by night shines the moon. The warrior shines in his armor, and the Brahmin priest in his meditation. But the Buddha shines by day and by night--in the brightness of his glory shines the man who is awake.
Verse 387
The Dhammapada translated by Juan Mascaro

Unto the immortal, undying, swift-steeded Sun;Let there be invocation with sacrifice and prayer. When the light of the Sun waxeth brighter, when the brightness of the Sun waxeth warmer, then do the heavenly forces arise. They pour their Glory upon the earth, made by Ahura, for the increase of the World of ASHA, for the increase of the creatures of ASHA, for the increase of the immortal, shining, swift-steeded Sun.
Yast 7 I-III
The Zend Avesta of Zarathustra translated by Edmund Bordeaux Szekely

When God began to create the heaven and the earth--the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water--God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God seperated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.

Genesis 1:1-6
The Torah, published by The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1962

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

John 3:21
King James Version of the Bible

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass; the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the East nor of the West, whose Oil is well nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it; Light upon Light! Allah doth gudie whom He will to His light; Allah doth set forth Parables for men, and Allah doth know all things.

Sura 24 (al Nur-The Light): 35
The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali

May light dispel darkness in your life.

[msongs]

1. sun = god, dark = satan, winter solstice = resurrection :-)

same concept has been rehashed and revamped over the millenia for both good and evil.

Msongs
www.msongs.com
batik and digital art

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Yes,

and I thought it might be interesting to see how different faiths interpret the meaning of light.

I find it interesting that the Zoroastrians, for example, attribute the Sun as the vehicle by which Ahura (God) creates things-but in the Torah, the light and darkness are really merely elements of created time.

Meanwhile the parables of the Lamp in the Qur'an and the light of the Buddha (the Enlightened One) are talking of Light eminating-one being the Light of God Itself; the other the Light that comes from within an enlightened being. And of course in the Baghava Gita, it is Krishna himself who is Light.

The Christian gospel talks of light as truth and good and darkness as evil; the verses before the one cited talk of how those who do evil don't want the light to shine upon what they do; in a sense, this is true today, inasmuch as crooks don't want the light of investigations to be shone upon what they have been doing.

[Evoman]

3. Darkness gets such a bad rap.

I like the dark, the night. Its peaceful, its calm. And in the summer, I like it even more. Summer days are way too hot for me...going outside on a nice, dark, cool day is like water for the thirsty. Going for a walk in the dark is one of my favourite things to do...nobody chattering, nobody bothers you. And I don't feel like I'm in danger, when its dark in the city.

Heh...it may be because I'm the scariest thing walkin around in the night *evil grin*

Rejoice in the light if you must, but don't forget to embrace the darkness.

[greyl]

6. It's an original primal superstition,

one that the yin & yang metaphor works to shed light upon.
Interesting that the antiquated dark/light metaphor is so often used by the New Age industry who co-opt quantum mechanics when asserting that there is more than meets the eye, atoms are mostly empty space, we create our own reality etc, while forgetting that darkness is full of energy beyond the ken of our unaided senses. Lack of cohesion.
Oh, and also that they tend to carelessly throw around the yin yang metaphor.

[I Have A Dream]

4. I appreciate this, Ayesha. I ask that the Universe help us to walk in the Light. n/t

[pberq]

5. thank you, ayeshahaqqiqa

Both light and darkness exist in this world of duality. Let us concentrate on the light.

[jody]

7. Red + green + blue light = white light -- red + green + blue paint = black paint

The behavior of light or additive color mixing and the behavior of paint mixtures or subtractive color mixing is interesting.

Perhaps upon death we leave our material bodies and this material world of blackness and become pure energy, an existence that is white.

Your post was most interesting and informative. :hi: