I see the light! (or I try to anyway)

The God in me is loving the God in you. I worked with a woman who used to utter that phrase at various times, never quite getting it, and to me it sounded like one of those Zen koans that I never understood either. I was much too insecure at the time to ask her what it meant, but for some reason it has stayed with me through the years.

Now that I have a bit more spiritual knowledge and know the difference between the ego-self and the soul, I finally understand that cryptic phrase! It has now become a practice for me, to strive to see the light of the soul, the God in each person I encounter on this earth. But it is not always so easy to maintain this practice.

Walking past the homeless person, pushing a grocery cart that has become their home, my first thoughts are “they don’t look nice, they don’t smell nice, and where is their light of God?” Oh how the ego likes to judge, in such a superficial way. But if I tell my ego to quiet down and let my soul do the talking, I can envision a beautiful light inside this seemingly disheveled being, whose outer light has dimmed a bit. It reminds me of words I’ve read that say the most highly advanced soul is oftentimes disguised as a human being with the most challenging of circumstances, not always so pretty.

And then there are the button-pushers, those we connect with here in our lives that for whatever reason make us want to pull our hair out! How can we see their shining light when all we see is darkness when we are with them? For me it helps to remember that sometimes when we are scared or in pain, we lash out at those trying to help us, much like a wounded animal will do. It’s difficult for any of us to shine when we are hurting. And from a spiritual sense, those button-pushers really are our greatest teachers. From them we learn how to look past the outer and learn to see the inner, and reach for the soulful action that is forgiveness.

This practice of seeing and loving the God in all of us becomes a practice of compassion, one that our greatest spiritual teachers throughout time have tried to teach us. A simple shift in how we view others and connect with them can start a chain reaction of peace and understanding, as we tell our blind-sighted egos to step aside, and start seeing one another with the eyes of our souls.