The I AM lights the world

Friedrich Rittelmeyer in his book, “Meditation, guidance of the Inner Life” suggests that the seven I AM sayings are meditations. This is what he says as he moves from “I Am the Bread” to “I am the Light”.

“We can understand, in a living way, that the Mass is not merely about hearing the word, as in the Protestant service, but it is an act in which Christ is the meal – this is a much more powerful experience than hearing words. Christ is the bread, He is proclaimed to us through a meal. The Mass is not only to be heard and to be celebrated, but in all its details it is to be received as a food for the soul.

If in this saying “I am the Bread of life,” we have looked down; in the second “I am” we look up. “I am the Light of the world” (John 8, 12). We change our view of the world. It is this spiritual working upon the world that is necessary if man is to become new. To contemplate deeply the words “I am the Light” can build a real temple of light for us. A temple in which we spend our time, retreat to when there is a need. This is not a narrow personal Christianity but a Christianity as great as the world. We can think of all those who have ever worshipped in temples of light. In silent vanished centuries our brothers and sisters have sent up their souls in prayer to the light.

Think of the old Holy Rishis, how they taught their pupils to pray: “We would receive into us the love-awaking light of the great sun-being, which gives life, that it may help our spirit onwards.” Think of royal Zarathustra, how he brought to his Persians reverence of the spirit-ruling majesty of the golden sun. We hear the sacred song of the sun echoing from the Egyptian temples in Thebes, in Memphis, in Heliopolis.

We may also think of later times: of how, in the Middle Ages, Francis walked under the glowing sun of Italy:

Praised be Thou, O Lord, with all Thy creatures,
And especially our brother the sun,
He makes the day, and we are lighted by him,
And he is beautiful, and shines with great splendour,
And of Thee O most high he is the symbol.

Think of how in misty Holland, Rembrandt, hungry for light, conceived of his whole art as a feeling after the wonders of light. Think of how, as a priest’s service of light, at the summit of German history, Goethe reverently gazed into the “deeds and sorrows of light,” of how, in the colours, he recognised the revelation of the Elohim, of how, in his last confession, he reverenced the sun, along with Christ, as the most mighty divine revelation, “which it is granted to us men on earth to see.”

Then think of the first divine word of the Bible: “Let there be light,” … and of the last one in Revelation about the new world to come: “They need no light of lamp or sun for the Lord God will be their light” (Rev. 22:5.) Between these two statements we can place the words of Christ, “I am the Light of the world.” This is a new “Let there be light.” But now let it come from within that it may shine through all that is outside. In our meditations seek Christ’s being till we experience Him only as light, and penetrate this light until it is Christ Himself. Allow yourself to experience the acts and words of Christ upon earth as if you were there. Experience it as if first-hand. In this way we become light-workers in a higher sphere.

In your meditation see the outward light before you in spirit, as a sea of waves of life, and dive deep into this light as into a healing spring. Feel how your whole being breathes in health in the light. We feel how powers of healing stream forth from the light. Seek to experience Christ in this way. Think not only of His words, but think that the power of healing proceeds from His words, as when the woman became whole by touching the hem of His garment, or the son of the nobleman was healed from a distance. (John 4:51.) Then seek to experience how the light has something still more inward to give our souls. Think about how our souls must be pure if they are to live in light, and how purity flows forth from the worlds of light. This purifying power of light lives in unimagined fullness in Christ. “You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you,” says Christ to His disciples. That is the healing in the light of Christ. (John 15:3.)

Then listen to the divine harmonies of light, to the deep tranquillity and contentment which makes us part of the Divine working. Look from there to Christ as He says, “The peace be with you.” The gates of Paradise open through His words, and the harmonies of heaven spread themselves around you. Then see yourself becoming totally light in this light. As in the sunlight, when we give ourselves to it, we seem to become light, through and through, as if we are sunbeams. So fill yourself with divine light from Christ in every corner of your being. Then illuminate, first, your own being with Christ, the Light, then illuminate your environment, then the rest of the world. We are one light with Christ. Look around in this light, try to perceive; even if it is only dimly. Remember, Christ makes the blind see. (John 9:39.) You will begin to experience the food that comes from the sunlight. It is as if a starving man within us had waited for this food of light, as if he wanted to eat his fill at the table of light. And so the light of Christ is food for the light within us. There is a great power that can change the world living in this light, the creative power which speaks at the beginning of the Bible, “Let there be light” can enter into us, we cannot remain the same, we must be changed if we give ourselves up to the power of this light.

Every word we hear from Christ moulds us anew. In each word of His there is power, the creative power that existed in the beginning of the world. In each word of His the new man lies dormant, we can awaken that new man.

By deeply contemplating the words, “I am the Light” we are led on a sure path into the world of the “I” which is light, in which the daily sunlight and the highest divine revelation are one in Christ. This is the act of serving God in the temple of the sun.

In the west men have achieved their ego. But there is no light in this ego. In the east men have honoured the light. But they have not found their ego in the light. But we are going towards a new world, where we with Christ shall “shine as the same light.” “Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father.” As Christ says of Himself, “I am the Light of the world” so we can also hear him say to us, “You are the Light of the world!””

Peace and Joy to all at this special time of the year - Kristina