THE LIGHT OF THE SELF
   
by Paul Hourihan, edited by Anna Hourihan
 

There is no joy in the finite. Only in the infinite is there joy.
                                         - Chandogya Upanishad

If indeed we are souls and partake of the Divine, which is infinite, it follows that the finite does not slake our desire for Truth, for true Happiness. Only the Soul satisfies the soul—and those experiences and manifestations which point to the Soul—the Self, the Divine presence within—such as unselfish actions, which manifest, to some degree, the soul’s essence. Or universal conceptions of oneness and unity which draw the mind up, while conceptions based on differences and the  many draw the mind down.

Only the finite finds happiness in the finite. Dogs, for example, find complete happiness in eating and physical activity. But is not the Self in them also? Isn’t that their nature, too?

It is. But in a low degree of vibration—as there is light in a darkness-filled cellar, but so faintly and so ineffectually that we call the cellar dark and gloomy. So in the dog, the life of the Self is like that.

But even in the dog there are signs of the potentiality of the Self: for example, in certain seasons he is said to bay at the moon with a strange yearning in his cry—what is it he is seeking? Likewise, one hears of instances of his extreme faithfulness to his master even unto death, such as lying on his master’s grave and refusing to leave—immune to the pleasures of food and all other activities.

Nevertheless, we may say that generally the dog is rooted in the finite. The light of the Self is faint, tentative, and remote.

In the mass of humanity it is stronger, but still dim and easily disregarded. Not only in lower types is this so, but in the great majority of men. The light of the Self is faint and wayward in them. The veils that hide it are still thick and numerous.

They are like the camel that despite constantly bloodying its nose and face by eating a certain thorn-enclosed berry, continues to do so.

The scriptural counsels of all faiths are for those human camels that have begun to reflect: “There must be a better way to live than this!” In other words, they are for those in whom the light is no longer dim, faint and remote.
 

See also: DISSATISFACTION: THE PREREQUISITE FOR SPIRITUAL LIFE

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