By LEONARDO BOFF*
I offer here a method that I call “Meditation on Light: The Path of Simplicity”. He has a high ancestry in both East and West. It has to do with the spirit and the whole human body but in particular with the brain, the seat of our consciousness and intelligence.
The vast majority are complying with official recommendations for social isolation, thus preventing the spread of covid-19.
Many things can be done in this forced withdrawal: a life review; what lessons to learn for the future; how to change for the better; see a movie, etc.
But there is also the opportunity to do some meditation exercise. Not only for religious people, but also for those who, without any connection to any religion, cultivate values such as love, cooperation, empathy and compassion.
I offer here a method that I call “Meditation on Light: The Path of Simplicity”. He has a high ancestry in both East and West. It has to do with the spirit and the whole human body but in particular with the brain, the seat of our consciousness and intelligence.
It is not the place here to discuss the three overlaps of the brain: the reptilian which concerns our instinctive movements; O limbic, the feelings, and the neo-cortical, reasoning, logic and language.
The human brain and its two hemispheres
Let us briefly consider the brain which has a shell shape with two hemispheres:
the left which accounts for analysis, logical discourse, concepts, numbers and causal connections.
O right responds to synthesis, creativity, intuition, the symbolic side of things and facts and the perception of a totality.
In the middle is the corpus callosum that separates and at the same time unites the two hemispheres.
Another important point of the brain is the frontal lobe, seat of the human mind. There are many theories about the relationship between brain and mind. Several neuroscientists maintain that the mind is the name we give to intangible realities, elaborated in the brain, such as the affective life, love, honesty, art, faith, religion, reverence and the experience of the numinous and the sacred. .
The Spiritual Mind and the God Spot in the Brain
Another point to be mentioned is the spiritual mind. Cultural anthropology has realized that in all cultures two constants always appear: the moral law in consciousness and the perception of a Reality that transcends the space-time world and concerns the universe and the meaning of life. They rest on some neuronal structure, but they are not neurons. They are of another hitherto inexplicable nature. Several neuroscientists have called it mystical mind (mystical mind). I prefer a more modest expression: spiritual mind.
Deepening the spiritual mind other neuroscientists and neurolinguists came to identify what they called the point god in the brain. They found that whenever human beings question themselves existentially about the meaning of the Whole, of the universe, of their life and think seriously about an Ultimate Reality, there is an enormous acceleration of the neurons of the frontal lobe. It points to an inner organ of special quality. They said that just as we have external organs, eyes, ears, touch, we also have an internal organ, an advantage of our human evolution. They named him the point god in the brain. Through this point-organ we capture that Reality that unifies and sustains everything, from the starry universe, our Earth and ourselves: the Source that makes everything that is. Each culture gives it a name: the Great Spirit of the indigenous peoples, Allah, Shiva, Tao, Yahweh, Olorum of the Nagô and us simply of God (which in Sanskrit means the light generator, where does the word also come from day).
The mysterious nature of light
Before we focus on Light Meditation, a word about the nature of light. It is considered until today as such a unique phenomenon for science, such as quantum physics and astrophysics that it was preferred to say: we understand it better if we consider it a material particle (which can be stopped by a lead plate) and simultaneously a energy wave that travels through the universe at a speed of 300 km per second. Biologists came to discern that all living organisms emit light, biophotons, invisible to us but captured by sophisticated devices. The seat of this biolight would be in the cells of our DNA. Therefore, we are beings of light Furthermore, light is one of the greatest human symbols and the name given to Divinity or God as infinite and eternal Light.
Light Meditation: Eastern and Western Path
Let's finally get to the topic: How is this meditation of light? Fundamentally, both East and West share the same intuition: from the Infinite comes a sacred ray of Light that falls on our head (corpus callosum), penetrates our entire being (chakras), activates biophotons, heals our wounds, enlivens and transforms us into beings of light.
There is a well-known Buddhist method in three steps: in front of a lighted candle, concentrate and say: I'm in the light; the light is in me; I am light. This light expands from the body to everything around it, to Earth, to the most distant galaxies. Allows an experience of non-duality: everything is one and I am in the Whole.
The western path resembles the eastern one. It was practiced by the first Christians in Alexandria, Egypt who professed to be God the light, Jesus, the light of the world and the Holy Spirit, the “Lux Beatissima”
Follow the following steps with me: put yourself in a comfortable place, such as at the foot of the bed, when getting up or going to bed, or in a more secluded corner. Concentrate to open the corpus callosum and invoke the ray of the Blessed Light that comes from the infinity of the sky.
This ray of sacred Light, falling, already allows the union of the two hemispheres of the brain, producing a great balance between reason and feeling. Then let this divine Light slowly begin to penetrate your entire body: your brain, airways, lungs, heart, digestive tract, genitals, legs and feet. Stop it especially on the parts that are diseased and produce pain. Since the Light has descended, make it return, penetrating your whole being and organs again.
Benefits of Light Meditation
First of all, you begin to feel that this divine Light empowers your energies, brings lightness to your entire physical and spiritual being. Give yourself a little time to enjoy this divine Energy that energizes you fully. Finally, thank the Spirit of Light that is the Holy Spirit. Slowly your corpus callosum closes and you come out more spiritualized, more humanized and with more courage to face the weight of life.
You can mentally do this exercise on the bus, at stoplights, at the factory, in the office, or any time you have in the day.
All those who have become accustomed to doing this type of meditation – via simplicity – testify how they become more resistant in their health, gain more clarity in complicated matters and fixed ideas and prejudices make them more overcomeable, in short, you become a better being and his light shines on others. Try this simple meditation and you will see its bodily and spiritual value.
*Leonardo Boff he is a theologian. Author, among other books by Meditation on Light: The Path of Simplicity (Voices).