When the Light of an Era Goes Out

When we talk about ecological crisis, be it climate change or depletion of species or sustainability, we know as mystics that the outer world is a reflection of the inner. This is something people don’t like to face or own. We generally prefer to think of the inner or spiritual world as separate and unpolluted—an untouched place we can go to in meditation. But this is naïve: what happens in the inner is a prelude to what will happen in the outer.

There is a light that concerns the destiny of humanity and this planet. Every human being comes into this world bearing the light of the higher self, the soul, God. The meaning of their life lies in this light from the plane of the soul. Only too quickly it gets covered over by the debris, the desires and thoughtforms of this world. Yet for some of us, a moment comes in our life when the soul awakens us again and an inner life begins to unfold. If we find a path and a teacher, the inner light begins to be nourished and to glow, giving us access to the destiny of the soul, rather than the destiny of the ego.

It is our practice to keep that light burning and accessible. It shows the path to follow on the inner journey in the depths of our own being. Without it we cannot find our way. And it also guides us in the outer world, enabling us to find a life of real meaning there. The light of the soul enables our real self to be fulfilled. Without it, one just lives the life of the ego, which means something only on a collective, superficial level.

What happens in the microcosm also happens in the macrocosm, for the world is a spiritual being, with a destiny of which we are a part. The world also has a light, sometimes veiled, sometimes more visible. At different times in different parts of the world, the light would emerge into the collective sphere, drawing people into a collective spiritual aspiration. In Italy during the Renaissance, this light became much more visible and inspired a whole civilization. The great temples of Angkor Wat nourished a whole spiritual outpouring, a monastic city the size of Los Angeles.

A certain light that gives meaning to the life of a civilization seems to have left us. It is a strange secret—like the emperor who had no clothes. People talk about ecological devastation, but spiritual devastation is completely taboo. We accept the reality of physical pollution, but everyone with a spiritual path considers they are doing their bit and are safe from spiritual pollution.

What if it isn’t like that?  Nobody dares to say this, although all spiritual teachings say the outer and the inner reflect each other. Changes happen first on the inner planes. So if there is an outer crisis and outer devastation, there must be an inner crisis and inner devastation.

As a society we are still hooked on the idea of the future as an upgraded version of the present. Somehow technology, political agreement, eco-shopping or mass protests are meant to save our civilization from self-destruction. People are still living in a fantasy that if we have a global accord and become carbon neutral, it will all be OK. What if it never gets better? This would have immense consequences—not just outwardly but also inwardly.

Much of the environmental movement was about saving the wild, the world of nature. Much of that movement has now been co-opted by those whose intention is to sustain our current lifestyle. Their ideas no longer concern the essence of life on this planet, but the sustainability of our civilization and its lifestyle.

For the mystic, spiritual life is about losing. Sufism is called the “tavern of ruin.” It’s not the tavern of getting a better life—one is in the losing business. That is the difference between mysticism and spirituality. If you follow a spiritual path you get something. If you follow a mystical path, it’s a via negativa; you lose something. Eventually, hopefully, you lose yourself. One Sufi saying is: only that which cannot be lost in a ship wreck is yours.

What does it mean if the light has gone out? It means it’s over. One actually becomes aware of that and is able to hold it. There is some question how much is the destiny of the planet, how much is the destiny of humanity, and how much is the consequence of choices humanity made over the last twenty years. But there is nothing we can do to get it back now. We cannot find meaning in regular life at this moment. Nothing will have any purpose for a while, because purpose departed with the light. Yes, there is purpose and meaning in our relationship to God, but as for saving civilization, the light has gone out.

This is already apparent in America. The “American dream” that if you work hard you get a life better than your parents and achieve what you want, is generally acknowledged to be over, and there is a lot of anxiety, resentment and anger. That dream supported a civilization for a century, but now people know they are not going to have it better than their parents. The foundation for America’s vision of itself has gone, but people don’t understand the cause. They think it’s because of politics or economics, but it’s much deeper. As Eliot said, “humankind cannot bear very much reality.” They need their illusions, but mystics have been caught by the hunger for truth and strip the illusions of the self bare. Our path is a slow stripping away of all those layers of conditioning, to get to whatever is real.  So we should be able to bear the truth of what is happening in the world, to hold that truth and to know “yes this is how it is.”

So what happens when civilization is over, but everyone is still driving around shopping for bargains, planning their future, imagining the summer holidays? Where does it leave us? What gives meaning and substance to life is the light of the inner world, reflected into the outer world. It has been called the Great Turning: the turning from industrial civilization to a life-sustaining civilization. On the individual journey there are times of inner crisis where you have to leave everything behind. Maybe this is what is happening to the world. There is enormous potency simply in watching in awareness, without judgement. One watches the darkness as well as the light. One watches it within oneself and one watches it in the world. One watches the conditioned response that things are always going to get better. Actually, we don’t know what will happen.

Shakespeare wrote, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads on to fortune—omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and miseries.”  One of the paradoxes of this period is that for the mystic, time is an illusion, yet it does seem there are some moments that are more potent than others. What we can observe in the life of the individual seems also to be true on a cosmic scale. There are some moments that, if slept through, an opportunity has been missed. Shakespeare’s metaphor refers to a ship that has to set sail with the tide. If it misses the tide it has to await the next tide. There are these deep rhythms in the soul. If you miss the moment, it might not come again for ten or twenty years. There are such moments in one’s destiny and it seems there are also such moments in the destiny of the planet. It appears that we may be coming into such a moment of reality with a capital R, where it is crucial to witness what is actually going on.

Something is over and is not coming back, but that doesn’t mean one should go and dig a hole for oneself. The Prophet said "Even if you know the world will end tomorrow, plant a tree."—that is an affirmation of life. We participate in life because we are actually present in life as it is, rather than in an illusion. We need a certain number of people in the world who are present in life as it is, to hold a certain axis of awareness and love in the world, to keep watch on the world and for the world.

A witness does not judge, he or she sees what is happening, sees the emperor has no clothes, sees that it’s over, sees that the light has gone out. At the same time, he or she is aware that it is an incredible mystery. Just as there comes a time when one just watches one’s own spiritual life, without saying it should be this or that. One does not know. One watches one’s states with a deep quality of attentiveness and remembrance. In doing so one is already present in the mystery of the divine, not just one’s personal mystery. There are certain moments in our individual life and individual destiny. We look back and recognize these pivotal moments when we went with something and our life took an altogether different direction. Or we didn’t, and a door closed. There are such moments in the destiny of the planet, and we are coming close to such a moment. Be present in this moment of time, just as you are present within your own heart. For the inner and the outer mirror each other in a way that is mysterious and wonderful.