The Light Divine

Here’s one I meant to write earlier. This notion has been floating around in my mind since I watched the deeply impenetrable and totally frustrating film, Bee Season, a couple of weeks ago. In it one of the main characters is a lecturer in Kabbalah – played by the world’s most famous Buddhist, Richard Gere – who is obsessed with the work of the 13th century Spanish Kabbalist, Abraham Abulafia, whose work focused on striving to attain mystical experience through intense focus on Hebrew letters. Through special breathing and repetition of these letters, the mystic then opens the gate to prophecy and a form of illumination in the body and the sense of another spirit presence, which he describes as “and you shall feel another spirit awakening within yourself and strengthening you and passing over your entire body and giving you pleasure”. Sadly, I know this through my own research, not from the film, which raises more questions than it answers.

A key theme in the film is Tikkun Olam, meaning ‘repairing the world’, attributed to 16th century Kabbalist, Isaac Luria. Luria taught a creation myth where God formed vessels to hold the Divine Light, but when it poured through them, they shattered. Our world consists of myriad shards of these light-bearing vessels, and our role is to reunite the scattered light, by raising the sparks back to Divinity and restoring the broken world. Tikkun Olam embraces both inner and outer aspects – embodying the divine light by liberating the spark within and sharing that light in service to others. Our work of transformation is to build a soul strong enough to carry the Divine Light and aid in the repairing of the world.

Kabbalists have, for millennia, sought to invoke this Divine Light, meditating on and opening to the light of the Shekhinah, the feminine spirit and ‘dwelling place’ or ‘spirit of glory’. By raising the quality of our own personal energy, we begin to affect those around us even before we take action. Tikkun Olam places the emphasis firmly on the spiritual aspect of our lives, as the strong centre from which we first take in the Divine Light in order to then share it with others. With every small act of kindness, with each small moment of presence and practice, with every heartfelt prayer, we are offering ourselves in service to the reparation of the world.

However we may come utilise the Divine Light, it is clear that it is best evoked in a peaceful and meditative state, rather like the courting of the muse. As with all mystical energies, the Shekhinah must welcomed fittingly. Metaphorically, she is embraced and received as a bride. In the Zohar, we are instructed that “One must prepare a comfortable seat with several cushions and embroidered covers, from all that is found in the house, like one who prepares a canopy for a bride. For the Shabbat is a queen and bride … one must receive the Lady with many lighted candles, many enjoyments, beautiful clothes and a house embellished with fine appointments”. This welcoming of the divine presence as Shekhinah, the Shabbat Bride, continues to this day.

In Islamic culture, Sakina is found in the Qur’an as the spirit of tranquillity and the peace of reassurance – God’s presence the world. One verse reads “He it is who sent down his Sakina into the hearts of the believers that they might add faith unto their faith”. Christianity speaks of a similar indwelling spirit of the Lord, generally known as the Holy Spirit. As in Judaism, this spirit is linked with prophecy. In 2 Peter 121, we find “For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit”.

So our Judeo-Christian culture is redolent with the imagery of an indwelling spirit of God, that – when it descends upon us – brings illumination. It may seem a little confusing that this spirit both dwells within us and descends upon us. If it helps, I find it easier to imagine that the descending spirit lights up the divine spark which is already within us. When we invoke Grace, we allow what is divine to be illuminated within us and another shard is joined together in the healing of the world.

This week, try getting spiritualised and adding some Grace to your own inner light. Be peaceful and imagine the descent of Divine Light illuminating the spiritual beauty of who you truly are, as you share that light with others. Then take it to the street and share your grace in small kindnesses. Live your practice of Tikkun Olam in small ways every day and watch how your light brings out the light in others.

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