There is no brighter gift, no greater potential given to we human beings, than the presence of a timeless Light within us whose power makes all things possible. This ever quiet, always present Light goes before us at all times, as does the illumination of a lamp move ahead of the one who walks by the safety of its beams.

One may wonder: if this Light is already within us — a timeless power whose presence makes things right — then why do we run into as many problems as we do? With such a source of courage at the very center of us, why do our fears outpace our ability to put them behind us? The answer to both these questions is amazingly simple.

What good is the light of any lamp in the dark if we forget to take that lamp with us out into the night? In other words, what good is this fearless nature of ours if we can’t remember that to walk through life without our Light means we are likely to stumble and “fall into a pit”?

There is a part of ourselves that knows — without having to think about it — what is right from what is wrong, true from false. It is that “still small voice” within us incapable of compromising itself, and that would rather perish than cause unnecessary pain to another. This celestial part of our individual consciousness lives in everyone, and even though we humans number in the billions, our conscience is one. By its light we are empowered to see things as they are; through its encompassing intelligence we understand, at once, the beautiful wholeness of things and their many separate relationships. And as the light of this new awareness dawns within us, we become the very things we have sought for, and fought for all of our lives: compassion, wisdom, kindness, courage, and love.

Our spiritual task, assuming we are stirred to seek this truth of ourselves, is to awaken ourselves to this Light that first invites us, and then unites us with its uncompromised life. Our receptivity to its abiding presence is our connectivity to its fearlessness, and accordingly we are empowered to possess ourselves; for as we enter into its life we not only see what is right, bright, and timeless, but also come to realize these beautiful qualities as being one and the same as our True Self.