A Possible Source of Light
by Virgil Stanciu
Junior Warden, COLUMNA Lodge, no. 78, Bucharest
In a recent discussion, this one bragged that he discovered a principle of life which he applied succesfully and, moreover, that this has brought him only satisfaction.
Being curious, I asked him, if he didn't mind, to tell me this principle as well. Without much thought, he divulged to me, radiating happiness, "The Principle of minimum resistence".
Essentially, this meant the avoiding of all the hardships of life with minimal effort, not merely physical, but also intellectual.
What my young interlocutor did not know was the fact that our life, beyond Material needs, which are daily, has also, principally, Spiritual needs.
Wondering, he asked me whether I was not somehow suggesting that there is a second way in life, through which we can fulfill our spiritual needs and, whether this would not somehow suppose confronting especially the hardships?
I was waiting for the question and I answered the challenge, giving him all the explanations to convince him that the true way in life is the one dictated by the "Principle of maximum resistance".
Man is a living entity belonging to the Universe, for which Body (corpus) is the material component and Thought (spiritus) and Soul (anima) are its spiritual components. As living beings we are, therefore, part of the Universe represented through those two components, material and spiritual.
But, in fact, what is the essence of man, what is his foundation or his essential characteristic?
Archaic texts reveal the fact that man's essential characteristic is that inner drive, smaller or greater, called Desire.
Desire is that which pushes us forward, propels us in life and makes us live.
It is not a secret to anyone that desires differentiate us and that they act on three levels:
- Level 1, of which are parts the primary desires expressed through needs such as: to sleep, to eat, etc;
- Level 2, wherein are included the needs oriented towards: honor, power, prestige, authority, etc;
- Level 3, needs directed toward rational domains like: wisdom, answers, knowledge.
If we want a plastic expression of these desires, we could imagine a "vessel", without material existence, which wants to be filled.
The supreme objective of our desires is Light, which can be defined as: neverending happiness, constant joy.
Light is what brings us, in life: comfort, security, peace of mind, hope, optimism, etc;
The lack of Light is at the basis of our suffering, misery and turmoils. We could affirm that Light is that fuel that generates the motivation to want, more and more, something from life.
What is the source of Light? The answer is very simple, keeping in mind that Light is everywhere in the Universe, in Reality and the World that surrounds us, it is infinite and uncontained..
If desire is the essence of life and the Universe is flooded by Light, the question is posed what particularly stands in the way of our happiness?
According to the Kabbala, the symbolic answer to this question is a "Curtain". This Curtain divides the world in two zones:
- the 1% zone represented by reality or the physical world;
- the 99% zone represented by the neverending world or spiritual world.
The 1% zone, named Reality, comprises our physical world, which we perceive through the five senses: smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing. This is the zone in which all things happen to us, whether good or bad.
But are all these mere occurrences or to they have a Cause which we either cannot see or cannot understand or, most times, we explain through Chaos?
This zone is a microscopic portion of Reality in which we try and seek, desperately, th fulfilment of our desires.
Each one of us searches for a way of his own, a salvation, which can be: science, religion, vices, wealth.
Is not, somehow, the source of all the durable fulfilments of our desires, Light, which we seek, in the other 99% zone?
Well, yes, whenever we are joyous it means we have entered into contact with this zone.
The examples are not few that prove to us the fact that the great discoveries come from the 99% zone, situated beyond the Curtain.
Thus,
- Dimitri Mendeleev, in 1869, declares that he has seen in dream a table in which all the elements had their place (the periodic table of elements);
- Niels Bohr dreamt he was sitting on the sun and that all the planets were revolving around him (the model of the atom);
- Plato spoke about the world of ideas, as source of our physical reality;
- Mozart said he could compose entire symphonies in his mind before setting a single note on paper.
All these examples only show that there can exist, in our life, a sublime moment when we enter into contact with the Spiritual world.
It is interesting that each names this connection in his own way:
• "Divine madness", Plato;
• "Divine revelation", the philosopher Cusanus;
• "Inspiration", Mozart;
• "Pure intuition" or "intuition";
• "The sixth sense",
• Instinct.
It follows clearly, from what was presented, that while disorder, temporary fulfilment, passing happiness, effects, symptoms, reactions and material darkness are specific to the 1% zone, perfection, absolute order, action, total fulfilment, infinite knowledge, boundless joy and spiritual light are characteristic to the 99% zone.
Otherwise said, the 1% zone is only a bidimensional reflection, a shadow, of our tridimensional reality, of our 99% person.
But, in fact, what man really desires from life are, essentially, the 11 desires which, statistically, are the following: personal realization, peace of mind, losing fears and worries, financial security, contentment, love, freedom, control, wisdom, happiness, health.
Interestingly, none of these desires can be: measured, weighed, held in hand or localized physically, therefore none is of physical nature and cannot be identified in the material world, of 1%. What man does, a profane, throughout his life, is to seek happiness through material fulfilments. What man must seek, especially a freemason, is the spiritual energy that crosses the 99% reality, contact with this zone of fulfilments in life, to pass beyond day-to-day life, to throw back the curtain between our desires and our fulfilments.
The first step, in this attempt, is to answer the supreme question: why?
Let's take a look at the other side of the curtain, to discover what lies on the other side of Reality, first of all.
"Some time, before a concept existed, like time, existed only a simple reality... Energy". Infinite energy is the only reality, as we gather from the Gospel.
"In the beginning, there was the Word" there only existed pure force, eternal and almighty "And the Word was with God and God was the Word".
The essence of this Energy and its Substance are: infinite fulfilment, boundless joy, unending Illumination.
Energy, made up from all possible forms of pleasure, only desires to "impart its own essence", to offer itself, that's why it wasl called the First cause.
Metaphorically speaking, there must exist an infinite force of offering, the "First Cause", and an infinite "Vessel", "first effect" or "desire to receive".
As long as the "Vessel" only receives, it will remain unhappy. It has nobody to offer to, for the Light has not the desire to receive.
Philosophers have named this rejection of the Light by the "Vessel" Resistence or Resistivity.
Consequently, a possible source of Light is Resistence to desire.
To understand better this Principle of maximum resistence, we can make a comparison between a man and a light-bulb.
The light-bulb, mainly, has a filament, with great electrical resistence, that is to say great resistence to the passing of electrical current, which makes electric energy transform into light. When the two ends of the filament come into contact or resistence falls to zero, a shortcircuit follows. The light produced, in this case, is extremely intense, after which the light-bulb stops emitting light, that is to say darkness takes the place of light.
The same happens also in the case of the man that, if he doesn't respect the Principle of maximum resistance, and so does not have the capacity to resist desire, experiences Desire intensely, lights powerfully for a short interval of time, after which falls into darkness.
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