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Light

 

 

 

Light is one of the primary metaphors in sacred poetry, suggesting the Divine not framed within a mental concept. But for genuine mystics, this light is not a mere concept; it is directly experienced.

This sense of light is more than a brightness one might experience on a sunny afternoon. This light is perceived as being a living radiance that permeates everything, everywhere, always. This light is immediately understood to be the true source of all things, the foundation on which the physicality of the material world is built.

The sense of boundaries and separation, long taken for granted by the mind as the fundamental nature of existence, suddenly seems illusory, for this light shines through all people and things. It has no edges, and the light of one is the light of another.

This light is recognized as your own Self, while simultaneously being the Self of all others. Since this light is you and, at the same time, it radiates within all, the question arises: How can there be separation? conflict? loss?

This is the light of the true mystics.

See also

Dawn
Sun
Sun
Sun
Sun

Poems with the theme of Light

  Adyashanti A Tendency to Shine
  Akha Far away is the Lord Supreme;
  Akha Speaker of truth and the sun -- these two --
  Akha When one settles into a state of desirelessness,
  al-Alawi, Ahmad Layla
  Alighieri, Dante All Being within this order, by the laws (from The Paradiso, Canto I)
  Alighieri, Dante The love of God, unutterable and perfect,
  Allama Prabhu Light
  Ammons, A. R. Hymn
  Ammons, A. R. Rogue Elephant
  Ashford, Eric Dances with Sophia
  Ashford, Eric Ecstasy
  Ashford, Eric Loves Portrait
  Ashford, Eric Speak Yourself Open Like the Sky
  Ashford, Eric The Breath of Love
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The pilgrim sees no form but His and knows (from Bou Ali and the Old Woman)
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Valley of the Quest
  Attar, Farid ud-Din Invocation
  Attar, Farid ud-Din God Speaks to David
  Attar, Farid ud-Din Mysticism
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The angels have bowed down to you and drowned
  Bacharach, Naftali A Poem for the Sefirot as a Wheel of Light
  Basava The eating bowl is not one bronze
  Berry, Wendell Sabbaths 1998, VI
  Bhitai, Shah Abdul Latif If you are seeking Allah,
  Blake, William Auguries of Innocence
  Blake, William Hear the voice of the Bard! (from Songs of Experience)
  Brabazon, Francis We have waited all night for you, and now the dawn is come.
  Bronte, Emily No coward soul is mine,
  Clare of Assisi What you hold, may you always hold.
  Cloud of Unknowing Blessed With a Kiss
  Cloud of Unknowing The Ecstasy of the Atoms
  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor The Presence of Love
  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Reason
  Crashaw, Richard A Song
  Crashaw, Richard The Flaming Heart or the Life of the Glorious S. Teresa
  Crashaw, Richard To the Name above every Name, the Name of Jesus
  cummings, e. e. i am a little church(no great cathedral)
  Dadu Dayal So priceless is the birth, O brother,
  Dariya Without love there can be no devotion and wisdom. (from Love Chapter)
  Dickinson, Emily [365] Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?
  Dickinson, Emily [611] I see thee better -- in the Dark --
  Dickinson, Emily [839] Always Mine!
  Dionysius the Areopagite from The Doctrine of Infinite Growth
  Efendi, Seyh Ibrahim The Sufi Way
  Feuerstein, Georg Our Worded Universe
  Francis of Assisi Prayer Inspired by the Our Father
  Francis of Assisi The Prayer Before the Crucifix
  Francis of Assisi The Canticle of Brother Sun
  Galib, Seyh Were I your treasure, you would squander me,
  Giraut de Bornelh Reis glorios / Glorious king
  Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Ha! A rush of bliss (from Faust)
  Granger, Ivan M. Kona Winds
  Granger, Ivan M. The Warbler Knows
  Granger, Ivan M. Too many nights
  Gyatso, Chone Lama Lodro A Dance of Unwavering Devotion
  Gyatso, Kelsang Little Tiger
  Hadewijch Love Has Seven Names
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) A Crystal Rim
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) Consumed in Grace
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) Love is the Funeral Pyre
  Hakuin The monkey is reaching
  Han-shan (Cold Mountain) Sitting alone in peace before these cliffs
  Han-shan (Cold Mountain) [203] Above Cold Mountain the moon shines alone
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Fall Moon Festival
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Looking for Each Other
  Hayati, Bibi Before there was a hint of civilization
  Hayati, Bibi How can I see the splendor of the moon
  Hayati, Bibi Is it the night of power
  Hekhalot Hymns (Anonymous) The Face of God
  Hildegard of Bingen O nobilissima viriditas / Responsory for Virgins
  Hildegard of Bingen O spectabiles viri / Antiphon for Patriarchs and Prophets
  Hildegard of Bingen O virga mediatrix / Alleluia-verse for the Virgin
  Hirshfield, Jane The Envoy
  Holderlin, Friedrich Conviction
  Holmes, Dick You Have Me
  Hopkins, Gerard Manley God's Grandeur
  Ibn 'Arabi, Muhyiddin In Memory of Those Who Melt the Soul Forever
  Ibn 'Arabi, Muhyiddin Oh, her beauty--the tender maid!
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar Compared to my dawn, (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar From his light, (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
  Ibn Ata' Illah The light of the inner eye lets you see His nearness to you.
  Ibn Ata' Illah Those travelling to Him
  ibn Gabirol, Solomon Thou art the Supreme Light
  Iqbal, Allama Muhammad Selfhood can demolish the magic of this world; (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
  Iqbal, Allama Muhammad To the Saqi (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
  Iraqi, Fakhruddin Every word of every tongue is
  Iraqi, Fakhruddin The world but seems to be
  Jacobsen, Rolf Guardian Angel
  Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) As air becomes the medium for light when the sun rises, (from Self-Annihilation and Charity Lead the Soul...)
  Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) In losing all, the soul has risen (from Self-Annihilation and Charity Lead the Soul...)
  Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) Love beyond all telling, (from Self-Annihilation and Charity Lead the Soul...)
  Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) Love, infusing with light all who share Your splendor, (from In Praise of Divine Love)
  Jayadeva [2] You rest on the circle of Sri's breast, (from The Gitagovinda)
  Jimenez, Juan Ramon Full Consciousness
  Jnanadev Knowledge and Ignorance (from Amritanubhav)
  Jnanadev The Refutation of Knowledge (from Amritanubhav)
  John of the Cross Full of Hope I Climbed the Day
  John of the Cross Song of the Soul That Delights in Knowing God by Faith
  John of the Cross The Fountain
  John of the Cross Without a Place and With a Place
  Kabir [XVII] The light of the sun, the moon, and the stars shines bright:
  Kabir (6) The moon shines in my body
  Kamalakanta Is my black Mother Syama really black?
  Kerouac, Jack The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
  Khunrath, Heinrich A Philosophicall short songe of the incorporating of the Spirit of the Lord in Salt
  Kuhi of Shiraz, Baba In the market, in the cloister--only God I saw.
  Lakota (Anonymous) Three Lakota Songs
  Lalan As the man and the woman in me
  Lalan The moon is encircled by moons.
  Lalla (Ded, Lal) For a moment I suppressed the bellows of respiration,
  Lawrence, D. H. And Oh--That The Man I Am Might Cease To Be--
  Lawrence, D. H. God is Born
  Leon, Luis de Ode to Francisco Salinas
  Levertov, Denise Celebration
  Levine, Stephen Meng's mountain
  Luria, Isaac A Poem for the Small Face
  Machado, Antonio Last night, as I was sleeping,
  Machado, Antonio Songs
  Maghsoud, Moulana Shah The light of the beloved rises from the horizon of my heart,
  Mahadevi, Akka Sunlight made visible
  Mahadevi, Akka You can confiscate
  Maharshi, Ramana The Marital Garland of Letters
  Maharshi, Ramana The Necklet of Nine Gems
  Maier, Michael If BOREAS can in his own Wind conceive (from Atalanta Fugiens)
  Manikkavacakar Becoming sky & earth
  Mathias, Michael The Tower of Silence
  Mathias, Michael (2) Dukkha - The Cause of All Suffering (from The Cosmic Soul and the World Tree)
  Mathias, Michael (9) My Blind Musicians (from Tagore: Gallery of Sketches)
  Mathias, Michael (10) The Tree of Kabbalah - The Kiss (from The Cosmic Soul and the World Tree)
  Mechthild of Magdeburg Of the voices of the Godhead
  Mechthild of Magdeburg Wouldst thou know my meaning?
  Merton, Thomas A Psalm
  Merton, Thomas Aubade -- The City
  Merton, Thomas The Sowing of Meanings
  Meshullam da Piera Song at Dawn
  Milarepa The Profound Definitive Meaning
  Milarepa Upon this earth, the land of the Victorious Ones,
  Milosz, Czeslaw On Angels
  Mistral, Gabriela Those Who Do Not Dance
  Muhaiyaddeen, Bawa The things that change are not our real life.
  Nachmanides (Nachman, Moses ben) The Soul Speaks (from Hymn on the Fate of the Soul)
  Namdev When I see His ways, I sing.
  Nasimi, Imadeddin Canceled Out
  Nawaz, Gharib Riddle
  Nawaz, Gharib The Second Jesus
  Nematollah Vali, Shah I beheld my essence. What I saw
  Neruda, Pablo Past
  Neruda, Pablo Too Many Names
  Neruda, Pablo [17] I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
  Nevins, Shawn A simple gate of logs
  Nevins, Shawn Do not care for the names of things
  Niffari (an-Niffari, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan) The Standing "My Time Has Come"
  Novalis When Geometric Diagrams...
  O'Donohue, John Beannacht / Blessing
  O'Donohue, John May the light of your soul guide you.
  O'Donohue, John The Inner History of a Day
  Oliver, Colin As these stars answer
  Oliver, Colin Endpoem
  Oliver, Colin Evening
  Oliver, Colin Ploughing at Nightfall
  Oliver, Mary Mindful
  Oliver, Mary Spring
  Oliver, Mary The Ponds
  Pampattic Cittar Like the drops of water that will not adhere to the leaf of the lotus
  Pampattic Cittar One must delve deep
  Pima (Anonymous) Medicine Man's Song
  Rahman Baba Sow Flowers
  Ramakrishna Is there anyone in the universe,
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Conquer Death with the drumbeat Ma! Ma! Ma!
  Ravidas How to Escape?
  Reninger, Elizabeth BirdBath
  Reninger, Elizabeth Dawn
  Reninger, Elizabeth splash
  Reninger, Elizabeth Vision
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (1) what speeded them on their way? (from Uttering Her Name)
  Rumi, Jelaluddin By the God who was in pre-eternity living and moving and omnipotent, everlasting.
  Rumi, Jelaluddin I lost my world, my fame, my mind --
  Rumi, Jelaluddin Reason, leave now! You'll not find wisdom here!
  Rumi, Jelaluddin The glow of the light of daybreak is in your emerald vault, the goblet of the blood of twilight is your blood-measuring bowl.
  Rumi, Jelaluddin A World with No Boundaries (Ghazal 363)
  Rumi, Jelaluddin You are closer to me than myself (Ghazal 2798)
  Ryokan This world
  Saraha The Royal Song of Saraha (Dohakosa)
  Shabistari, Mahmud One Light
  Shabistari, Mahmud Reason (from The Secret Rose Garden)
  Shabistari, Mahmud The Mirror (from The Secret Rose Garden)
  Shabkar (Rangdrol, Shabkar Tsogdruk) A Song by a Yogi in Solitude
  Shih-te (Pickup) [4] Behold the glow of the moon
  silent lotus Feel the Peace
  silent lotus In the Clearing
  Silesius, Angelus Friend, whatever you are, you must not stand still:
  Singh, Darshan At dusk, at dawn I gaze upon your beauty --
  Singh, Darshan How did I ever think silence the language of love?
  Singh, Darshan How should I tell of the feeling that reigns
  Snyder, Gary How Poetry Comes to Me
  Solovyov, Vladimir If desires fly by like shadows,
  Solovyov, Vladimir The Sign
  Solovyov, Vladimir Three Meetings
  Solovyov, Vladimir Near, far off, not here, not there,
  Soseki, Muso Temple of Eternal Light
  Soseki, Muso The Gate of Universal Light
  Stein, Edith Novena Of The Holy Spirit
  Sun Buer The beginning of the sustenance of life
  Symeon the New Theologian By what boundless mercy, my Savior,
  Symeon the New Theologian In the midst of that night, in my darkness,
  Symeon the New Theologian We awaken in Christ's body
  Teasdale, Sara I Am Not Yours
  Teasdale, Sara It Is Not a Word
  Thayumanavar All visible life that is clothed in body vesture (from Bliss that is Perfect Full)
  Thayumanavar Let Us in Meekness Worship
  Thayumanavar Prayer to Being - Let Us Contemplate
  Therese of Lisieux The Atom of Jesus-Host
  Therese of Lisieux My Song for Today
  Therese of Lisieux The Divine Dew
  Tilopa Song of the Mahamudra (Tilopa's Song to Naropa)
  Tiruvalluvar Truthfulness
  Traherne, Thomas The Rapture
  Tu Fu Moon, Rain, Riverbank
  Tu Fu Rain, Four Poems: Two Selections
  Tukaram Smaller than the smallest atom,
  Tulsidas Glimpse of the Invisible
  Tulsidas The Rainy Season
  Valad, Sultan The Soul That Does not Live in God is not Alive
  Vaughan, Henry The Morning Watch
  Vaughan, Henry The Night
  Vaughan, Henry Vanity of Spirit
  Vivekananda, Swami In dense darkness, O Mother,
  Vivekananda, Swami Kali the Mother
  Vivekananda, Swami Song of the Sanyasin
  Walters, Dorothy Don't Make Lists
  Walters, Dorothy Scars of Rapture
  Walters, Dorothy Shambhala
  Walters, Dorothy The Abundance of Brightness
  Wei, Wang Deer Fence
  Wei, Wang Stone Gate Temple in the Blue Field Mountains
  Whitman, Walt [2] Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes, (from Song of Myself)
  Whitman, Walt [9] The big doors of the country barn stand open and ready, (from Song of Myself)
  Whitman, Walt [24] Walt Whitman, a cosmos, of Manhattan the son, (from Song of Myself)
  Wordsworth, William For I have learned (from Tintern Abbey)
  Wordsworth, William Imagination--here the Power so called (from The Prelude, Book 6)
  Wordsworth, William The Daffodils
  Wordsworth, William Visionary power (from The Prelude, Book 5)
  Wordsworth, William [9] O joy! that in our embers (from Ode. Intimations of Immortality)
  Yannai The Celestial Fire
  Yeats, William Butler Crazy Jane and God
  Yen-shou, Yung-ming Immovable Mind
  Yogananda, Paramahansa OM
  Yogananda, Paramahansa Samadhi
  Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [26] The moon shines on the river, (from The Shodoka)
  Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [44] Mind is the base, phenomena are dust; (from The Shodoka)
  Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [59] Two monks were guilty of murder and carnality. (from The Shodoka)
  Yun, Hsu Feelings on Remembering the Day I first Produced the Mind
  Yun, Hsu Mirror Pond on Mount Taibo in Shanxi
  Zohar (de Leon, Moses) The Creation of Elohim


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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
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