Was just asked an interesting question from a potential patient :
“Do you know how to connect with the light in the universe?”
It is interesting because I have been a photographer for many years, and as such know the importance of light but also the shadow. I have always followed the beautiful light, more than any subject it illuminates.
However, in the realm of spirituality in years the focus started to shift more and more clearly and so my answer was :
“my focus is not for seeking anything or striving for anything, but being present with impermanent nature of things, dark, light, whatever is. That way there is no drama and fighting something, as it is inseparable when one clings to something else. Be present with your mind, that is task large enough”
That task is for a lifetime of practice, or maybe many lifetimes as some believe, to work on non judgemental, non dualistic way of perceiving and being – and yet it does not exclude appreciation of light, appreciation of beauty – also present in suffering, in sadness, in longing. Being more present also means being more present with goodness, felt experience and benefits of compassion, to oneself and to others – not an intellectualized moral concept of good to be preached and enforced, but a consequence of attention. But that guest´s question was also interesting because he shared how he had struggled after previous ayahuasca ceremonies, when difficult things were revealed and has asked if it is true that some can commit suicicide when in ayahuasca they will be possesed by evil spirit.
That is so common in our experience here, that those who cling to the light do so because they want to escape – darkness, heaviness, trauma, and hope for some spiritual heaven, a shelter free from suffering. But that heaven can be only discovered in changing of perception and welcoming all.
The devil, my friends, is the most threatening to those religious types, who will want to externalize all weakness, all fault, all mistake, as they do with holiness too. That devil is real for them, no doubt about it, that is why my friends, worship no Buddha and no place but Now.