“Reason will object and say, is it not right for a man to attain the Light of God, and also the light of the outward Nature and Reason, that he may be able to order his life wisely, as the scripture directs?
“Yes, it is very right; nothing can be more profitable to a man, neither is he capable of nay thing better; nay it is a treasure above all earthly treasures for a man to have the Light of God and of Time, for it is the Eye of Time and of Eternity.
“But mark how thou ought to use it;when the Light of God first manifests itself in the Soul, it shines forth like light from a candle and kindles the outward Light of Reason immediately; yet it yields not itself up wholly to Reason, so as to be under dominion of the outward man.”1 ~Jacob Boehme
The Greater Light
There are a number of ways to categorize types of light, but we will limit it to a simple one for our purposes. There is mundane light that comes from the universe of matter. This is the light we see when we look at the stars or the sun.
There is another Light that is invisible to most of us. Yet it is the brightest Light of all. It can be called Spiritual Light, Divine Light, or the Light of God. Whatever you call it, it remains the Greater Light of the two kinds. It is the greater light because it comes directly from God. It may reach us through an intermediary, primarily the spiritual sun, but it is still coming from God and serves as a path of communication between us and God. In fact, it links us to all being of higher consciousness.
The Lesser Light
The lesser light is all material light. He light from stars including the sun. Don’t let the term “lesser light” make you think this light is not important. It is very important for Physical life and health. If the physical sun stopped shining on us, we would freeze solid. Plants rely on the light of the sun even more than animals do, but all living things on Earth need that light.
Both Lights
Some think that we need only one light. The more materialistic think physical light is the only light and it is all that we need. But that light doesn’t awaken and nourish our spirit and soul. It only serves the physical and mental levels. It only feeds the body and mind.
Others say that when we start to develop our spiritual side, we must turn away from everything material. But while the Greater Light from the Spiritual Sun nourishes the spirit and soul, it doesn’t do much for the body and brain-mind. Probably the only way it benefits the physical realm is in helping it transform back into spirit.
So as long as we have a physical body, a mental body and mind, and a spiritual body and soul, we need both lights. We need to continue functioning in the physical realm while we work on developing our spiritual Self. It is said that burning your bridges behind you is generally not smart. We all reach situations where we have to take a few steps back and try again. If burning bridges behind you is a bad idea, how much worse is burning it while your still standing on it? So we need the physical light as well as the Greater Light of spirit as long as we have a physical body.
1- I have taken the liberty of converting some words in the quote to modern English for readability.
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