“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson
”In the Sikh religion Diwali is celebrated to commemorate the events of 1619, when Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh Guru, was released from prison, along with the 52 other princes who were imprisoned with him. The Golden Temple at Amritsar is lit up with thousands of lamps to remember this joyous occasion. Contemporary Sikh writer Bhupinder Singh comments that, “it is also a symbolic celebration that when the Guru’s light shines inside our house, which is the human body; then all the darkness of ignorance is dispelled and there is light everywhere.”
While in prison, Guru Hargobind told his jailer, “I am not a ruler who is lamenting at the loss of my kingdom here in my incarceration. I am a mendicant of God. I spend my time in His remembrance and in His presence. The ruler can imprison my body, but my mind cannot be imprisoned.”
300 years later, Victor Frankl, the Austrian Psychiatrist who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, wrote, “The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given circumstance.”
The human world has been full of fear and confusion this year, and like most people, there have been times when I have been anxious about the uncertainties of the situation we find ourselves in. Whenever I feel myself falling into anxiety, I try to remind myself of those words of Victor Frankl, that we always have a choice about how to respond. I try to bring myself back to an attitude of gratitude, to count my blessings. I am blessed to be able to go outside and appreciate the beauty of the natural world. I am blessed with good health, fulfilling work, a home, a loving family, good friends. I am blessed with belonging to this wonderful spiritual community.
This second lockdown has afforded me the opportunity again to slow down and pay attention to the beauty of the simple, everyday things, things that in previous years I may have taken for granted. This year has taught me that it serves my well-being to focus on what I can do and what I have is much rather than what I cannot do and what I have lost.
I used to find November a difficult month – I resented the increasing darkness and bemoaned the corresponding drop in my energy levels. These days I try to accept nature's invitation to listen to my body and slow down, to deepen into silence and stillness, to try to embrace a simpler existence, and (most difficult of all) to learn from the trees shedding their leaves and practise letting go of what is no longer needed, so that I can focus on nourishing my inner light. We are only able to share our light with others if we are feeding the flame.
Ami Bhalodkar, Interfaith Minister in New York, writes, “Diwali is a time to turn inward and light the lamps of knowledge and truth in our hearts and minds so that we can dispel the forces of darkness and ignorance within us and allow our innate brilliance and goodness to shine forth. Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is the principle deity associated with this festival. During Diwali we ask her for assistance in cultivating and accumulating spiritual wealth, such as compassion, forgiveness, and loving-kindness... And since all wealth, be it material or spiritual, should be shared with others who are less fortunate, Diwali is also a time to reflect on the various ways we can assist others and shine our light out into the world.”
Bhalodkar suggests some simple yet transformative ways in which you can share your inner light and spiritual wealth with others. For example, asking everyone you meet, “How are you?” and really listening to their answer, smiling at people you encounter while going about your day, and quietly blessing others as they pass by you on the street.
The kindness of strangers has been, for me, one of the blessings of lockdown, especially smiling. Northerners are known for our willingness to strike up conversations with strangers, at bus stops, in the street, in the supermarket, and this friendliness has increased – exchanging smiles and a few words with strangers in the shop or street are now everyday occurrences. It has been wonderful to witness how smiling works even when wearing a face-mask. When we smile genuinely our eyes light up. I now smile at everyone I see. It lifts my day when people smile back and I hope my smile might lift their day.
As theologian Albert Schweitzer wrote, “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”
I invite you over the next week or so to take the time to connect with your inner light, and to consider your spiritual wealth and how you share that with others. How do you shine your light?
A Blessing for Diwali by Satya Kalra, "May the lamps of love and devotion burn brightly in your heart. May the light of understanding shine in your mind. May the light of harmony glow in your home. May the bright rays of service shine forth ceaselessly from your hands. May your smile, your words and your actions be as sweet. May Maha Lakshmi bring you the true wealth of peace, health, happiness, and love."
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