Quote:Nice experience. I don't have any very clear theoretical views about light Justin, but it's very notable that there does seem to be some correlation between physical external light, and that we perceive internally. As in external light can somehow as Bets has described trigger the internal experience.
I mentioned that light and especially the dawning of the clear light (regarded as primordial awareness unobscured by conceptual thought) is a central perspective in the Tibetan Buddhist Bardo teachings. Here's a greatly summarised version of what the Book of the Dead has to say about this in the context of the Bardos:
http://www.theosophical.org/publications/questmagazine/mayjune03/bakula/index.ph...Another interesting thought on the role of light is outlined the movie 'What the Bleep Do We Know'. There is it seems good scientific reason to think that photon exchange or the emission of light is the means of communication by which higher DNA encoded higher information (like we are all part of a leg) is transmitted between cells.
Cancers it's suggested are possibly caused by compounds that scramble this transmission of light. (interestingly enough some of the preservatives used in cured meats that have been fingered in this regard do seem to scatter light, to produce prism like or diffractive effects) There's a view as well that the light we perceive internally is also the result of some sort of quantum effect.
Anyway. Unless we're naturally very gifted it's all theoretical until we do the meditative work to generate the stability needed if we are to be able to rest in states where these perceptions arise. perceiving light is not an act of will at least at first - it seems to spontaneously arise...
Thanks for the info Vajra. It's interesting to note that prolonged darkness tends to stimulate the Pineal gland in the body.
BUT, on the other hand, its interesting to note that Sunlight stimulates the Pituitary gland, as in Sun gazing when the ultraviolet rays are very weak, at sunset and sunrise. Something i need to practice more of.
There is some controversy about what gland goes to what "Chakra". Physically speaking, the Pineal gland is the highest in the body and that's one of the reasons many have linked it to the Crown Chakra which is seen as the highest as well.
However, that which is physical is a reflection, a slightly distorted reflection of that which exists as pure consciousness.
Cayce's guides say that it is really the Pituitary gland, which is the highest or most expanded gland spiritually and vibrationally speaking, and which corresponds more to the Crown.
They say that ideally what happens in meditation, is that the Kundalini flows from the cells of the Leydig, which are connected to the Gonads/Ovaries, and then flows through all of the other glands purifiying, balancing, and activivating them, reaches the Pineal at the top, and then flows over and down to the Pituitary.
This is why in Egyptian philosophy and art, the Cadeus snake is seen to rise to the top, but then the head of same is below and parallel to the Pituitary area, and not to the Pineal.
This is also the golden cup that runneth over, as talked about in the Bible. Literally, it pours over and is like a "chalice". The Pituitary is Golden, and to reach that one must become silent and receptive.
But its Light which completes this process, not darkness. Darkness is just the first necessary receptivity, and balance to the Light. Or in astro terms, Neptune comes before and "veils" the Sun.
Neptune is the receptivity, and meditation, and one must spend time in that, but then the Sun shines forth when the student learns to fully, holistically, and consistently practice in the world what one has passively learned and become attuned to in meditation.
The Sun is the symbol of people's Higher or Greater selves, and we can become that personified.
Buddha was Neptune, Jupiter, and Mercury (pure Pineal gland perception/awareness), Christ was Sun (and the Pituitary gland) who came after, and the Buddha helped clear the way for him. Or at least my guidance and intuition says symbolically. Since i'm not a perfectly clear channel, there may be distortions here and there. Btw, i'm not trying to say that Christ was "better" than Buddha or anything like that. I see them as brothers arm in arm, and two parts to the same coin.