On the Path to the Inner Light
Here you find a few of my texts in English. You are welcome to copy them and to pass them on to others indicating their origin: Unterwegs zum Inneren Licht, by Theres Meyer Felder, translated by Domenica Cameron, PhD.
ISBN 978-3-9523638-4-3 Unterwegs zum Inneren Licht (Theres Meyer Felder)
ISBN 978-3-9523638-4-3 Unterwegs zum Inneren Licht (Theres Meyer Felder)
Trust
On trusting the wisdom of the soul
If I have to stop
because the door in front of me is locked
I have the choice:
I can fight against it,
throw all my weight against it.
I can pummel it with my fists
and batter my head against it.
I can shatter it with an axe
or try
to pick the lock with a trick.
But the trick is apt to become a burden
and it’s hard to walk with splinters in one’s feet.
I have the choice.
The choice to wail and give up.
The choice to fight - or to trust.
I am blessed
if I decide to trust!
If I turn my eyes away from the locked door
and take the time to calm down.
I will hear a voice within me
guiding my path into a new direction.
At the end of this new path, another door awaits me.
A door my soul has chosen.
The soul has the keys to all the doors it chooses.
Many remain locked to the mind.
Give up, fight or trust?
I choose to trust!
To trust even
when my path looks like a detour.
To bank on the wisdom of my soul.
The Forest, My Church
Nature as a place of contemplation
The forest is my church!
I am drawn there with great force.
It is a church without walls
that separate, confine, exclude;
a church of openness,
always pervaded by a fresh wind
sparking alertness,
aliveness and curiosity.
My church is richly decorated
with budding greens
and life in all manner and forms.
All of creation is embraced in my church.
There is nothing not worthy
of belonging to it.
It is filled with sounds,
with the song of the birds,
the whispering of the wind,
the humming of millions of insects.
What more could I want?
And yet it is a place of great stillness.
I love my church
through which I may roam.
As I roam, novel thoughts arise in me,
my heart opens.
Where, if not in my heart,
could I find God?
And once I have met him there,
I suddenly recognize Him everywhere:
in the trees, the flowers and the birds,
in the beetle and the tiny snail,
and in the person I happen to meet.
My church is the forest.
In it I am at home!
Paradise on Earth
On spirituality’s influence on our actions
Courageous action is not easy. For the risk is real.
But perhaps you may risk courageous thoughts?
In the world of thoughts, only you yourself can stand in your way.
(It is no secret though, that we ourselves are usually the ones
setting ourselves limits and preventing us from approaching the unfamiliar!)
I invite you to a tour across our earth,
encouraging you to be open to entirely new views!
Imagine yourself
standing at a burbling brook,
at a riverbank or lakeside.
Picture yourself gazing out over the wide sea,
knowing
that all this water is God Himself!
Would you not kneel down, if it were so,
and scoop the water with your hands
delighting in its transparency, its sparkle in the light?
Would you not, with infinite care and gratitude,
water your fields with it,
mindfully wash yourself and your possessions with it
and not needlessly pollute or waste a drop of it?
You would!
Take off your shoes
and let your feet walk over the bare earth.
Feel the ground that supports you.
Have the knowledge
that this ground is God Himself!
If it were so, would you not lie down,
spread your arms over Him
and gently snuggle your cheek into Him?
Would you not be glad of the support He is providing
and would you not protect Him and gratefully put seeds in His care
so that He may grow what will later nourish you?
Would you not humbly and carefully lift the treasures
He harbours
so that you may take from them what you need for sustenance?
You would!
Look at the forests on our planet!
They look different on each continent.
Look at the trees
and imagine
that each of them is God Himself!
If it were so, would you not full of amazement and joy
lay your hands on their trunks
and stroke their leaves and needles?
Would you not bow down before them
and from the bottom of your heart thank the ones you have to fell
in order to build yourself a house?
You would!
Go out into the meadows and fields.
Let your eyes wander over the plants growing there.
If you knew
that each of these plants is God Himself
would you not cherish and protect them
full of love and care
and thank them before you accept their gifts?
You would!
Climb a mountain and take a deep breath.
Let the wind caress your skin.
Imagine
that God Himself is the air!
If you knew this were so, would you not hasten
to switch off the motor spewing gas and grime
and search for ways and means
to create alternatives?
Would you not be glad of the air’s purity
and grateful that it permits the sunlight
to warm you and to bring you the day?
Would you not marvel at the power of the wind
and seek out solitary places where you may hear its whisperings?
You would!
Follow the birds with your eyes as they spread their wings,
observe all creatures great and small.
Take time to watch the fish gliding through the water.
Look into the eyes of the animals
and imagine
that it is God Himself whom you are seeing!
Would you not at once fling open the doors of the filthy stables,
if it were so,
and close the slaughterhouses?
Would you not remove the giant fishing boats from the seas
and stop the destruction of natural habitats?
Would you not pause quietly and full of joy,
continuously fascinated
by the magnificence of these creatures?
You would!
Behold the person passing you by!
And the one opposite you!
Behold the one on the other side of the world!
Allow yourself to imagine
that every human being is God Himself!
If it were so,
you would meet each one with the greatest respect and love!
You would make sure that this person had everything
he needed to live:
good shelter, healthy food and dignified clothing!
You would ensure his access to education
and provide him with the same opportunities
that you are granting yourself!
You would take time for him if he needed you!
You would listen to him,
appreciate him
and empower him to follow his own path in liberty!
All this you would do, without any doubt,
if you knew
that water and earth,
trees and plants, air and animals
und human beings
were God.
You would do it -
and through your actions create paradise on earth!
Do you not think that this is God’s desire?
Or what is it
that prevents you from thinking
that EVERYTHING IN EXISTENCE
IS GOD
?
The Boundlessly All-Embracing (Epilogue)
On the purpose of boundaries and the indispensability of leaving them behind
Your light is my light, God!
And my light is Your light!
Your power is my power, God!
And my power is Your power!
Your love is my love, God!
And my love is Your love!
One day these words wanted to pass my lips. Then fear seized me. That God bestows His gifts on us, thus giving the world His light, His power and His love, is an accepted notion of His working. And the notion that someone with flaws and weaknesses like me might be a channel through which God’s love enters the world also seemed acceptable to me. The reverse statement, however, made me falter:
My light is Your light, God
My power is Your power, God!
My love is Your love, God!
Wanting to see in my own light, in my limited power and my human love God’s light, power and love seemed presumptuous to me. Did I not cross a dangerous line feeling and talking this way? May human beings elevate themselves so high? May they, despite their shortcomings, recognise God in themselves? Is this not blasphemous?
Many scruples wanted to hold me back and yet I felt that these words held an important key. Did I want to accept it and use it to open the door to a new way of thinking? I chose to do so:
Your light is my light, God! And my light is Your light!
Your power is my power, God! And my power is Your power!
Your love is my love, God! And my love is Your love!
In my imagination I saw how the power from within the universe merged with the power from within myself, how light and love flowed together to pour from my outstretched arms into the world. The warning in my ears, telling me that I was about to succumb to the devil’s temptations, was countered by the experience of a great joy, which dispelled all my doubts:
The willingness not to be stopped and limited by anything paved my way to God!
From then on it was clear to me that the purpose of every human life is to strive for boundless spaciousness, spaciousness of mind and heart, for the spaciousness behind the spaciousness behind the spaciousness, on the tracks of the boundless deepest and freest truth. This striving should and may break all boundaries; indeed, it MUST break them and may not be held back by anything.
Many boundaries that we know, even those which when crossed are called blasphemy or original sin, serve as guidelines for people who confuse striving for spaciousness with striving for power, and as such they are justified. But why should those be stopped who understand the "recognising of God in oneself " as a desire to "be completely and utterly love"? Why should their striving be constrained? Why should God, even if He were a power or an entity existing apart from human beings, not want this convergence? Why would He grant human beings only "divinity" but not the "being part of God"?
I am quite sure that this boundary differentiating between “being divine” and “being God” has also been created by man himself. We do not dare to draw even nearer to God because we see our weaknesses and flaws. Should we want to see ourselves as part of the grand whole, as part of God, then this would mean that human flaws and weaknesses were also part of God. But we shrink from such thoughts. For we have been and are being taught that such thoughts are an offense to God and will lead us directly to hell.
We are in the habit of judging and classifying everything as “good” or “bad”. To God we attribute only properties, circumstances and events that we call “good”. But how could we recognise the “good” without having experienced everything that is “not good”? Of course the “good” is our goal: absolute unconditional love. But the “bad” assists us on this path. We can recognise in it an INVITATION to go within and a CLUE that there is potential for improvement. We can accept the CHANCE offered to reorientate ourselves. And we can use the OPPORTUNITY that all “bad” occurrences are offering us: the opportunity to be there for each other, to share with each other, to live love. So what is there to condemn? What of this is not worthy to be attributed to God?
It is written: You shall not make for yourself an image of God! Not that God were insulted if our image of Him did not do Him justice. The command not to make an image is for the good of mankind! For every image of God that we humans can imagine is by necessity limited because even our greatest thoughts and our most spacious words are limited. Perhaps we should even stop using the word “God” because it is hardly possible to think or speak this name without associating a (limited) image with it. As long as we are human beings we can only divine the all-embracingness, boundlessness and unconditional love of that which we associate with the name of God. But we can open ourselves more and more to this intuition and we will recognise and experience that this BOUNDLESS ALL-EMBRACINGNESS encompasses us all!
On the purpose of boundaries and the indispensability of leaving them behind
Your light is my light, God!
And my light is Your light!
Your power is my power, God!
And my power is Your power!
Your love is my love, God!
And my love is Your love!
One day these words wanted to pass my lips. Then fear seized me. That God bestows His gifts on us, thus giving the world His light, His power and His love, is an accepted notion of His working. And the notion that someone with flaws and weaknesses like me might be a channel through which God’s love enters the world also seemed acceptable to me. The reverse statement, however, made me falter:
My light is Your light, God
My power is Your power, God!
My love is Your love, God!
Wanting to see in my own light, in my limited power and my human love God’s light, power and love seemed presumptuous to me. Did I not cross a dangerous line feeling and talking this way? May human beings elevate themselves so high? May they, despite their shortcomings, recognise God in themselves? Is this not blasphemous?
Many scruples wanted to hold me back and yet I felt that these words held an important key. Did I want to accept it and use it to open the door to a new way of thinking? I chose to do so:
Your light is my light, God! And my light is Your light!
Your power is my power, God! And my power is Your power!
Your love is my love, God! And my love is Your love!
In my imagination I saw how the power from within the universe merged with the power from within myself, how light and love flowed together to pour from my outstretched arms into the world. The warning in my ears, telling me that I was about to succumb to the devil’s temptations, was countered by the experience of a great joy, which dispelled all my doubts:
The willingness not to be stopped and limited by anything paved my way to God!
From then on it was clear to me that the purpose of every human life is to strive for boundless spaciousness, spaciousness of mind and heart, for the spaciousness behind the spaciousness behind the spaciousness, on the tracks of the boundless deepest and freest truth. This striving should and may break all boundaries; indeed, it MUST break them and may not be held back by anything.
Many boundaries that we know, even those which when crossed are called blasphemy or original sin, serve as guidelines for people who confuse striving for spaciousness with striving for power, and as such they are justified. But why should those be stopped who understand the "recognising of God in oneself " as a desire to "be completely and utterly love"? Why should their striving be constrained? Why should God, even if He were a power or an entity existing apart from human beings, not want this convergence? Why would He grant human beings only "divinity" but not the "being part of God"?
I am quite sure that this boundary differentiating between “being divine” and “being God” has also been created by man himself. We do not dare to draw even nearer to God because we see our weaknesses and flaws. Should we want to see ourselves as part of the grand whole, as part of God, then this would mean that human flaws and weaknesses were also part of God. But we shrink from such thoughts. For we have been and are being taught that such thoughts are an offense to God and will lead us directly to hell.
We are in the habit of judging and classifying everything as “good” or “bad”. To God we attribute only properties, circumstances and events that we call “good”. But how could we recognise the “good” without having experienced everything that is “not good”? Of course the “good” is our goal: absolute unconditional love. But the “bad” assists us on this path. We can recognise in it an INVITATION to go within and a CLUE that there is potential for improvement. We can accept the CHANCE offered to reorientate ourselves. And we can use the OPPORTUNITY that all “bad” occurrences are offering us: the opportunity to be there for each other, to share with each other, to live love. So what is there to condemn? What of this is not worthy to be attributed to God?
It is written: You shall not make for yourself an image of God! Not that God were insulted if our image of Him did not do Him justice. The command not to make an image is for the good of mankind! For every image of God that we humans can imagine is by necessity limited because even our greatest thoughts and our most spacious words are limited. Perhaps we should even stop using the word “God” because it is hardly possible to think or speak this name without associating a (limited) image with it. As long as we are human beings we can only divine the all-embracingness, boundlessness and unconditional love of that which we associate with the name of God. But we can open ourselves more and more to this intuition and we will recognise and experience that this BOUNDLESS ALL-EMBRACINGNESS encompasses us all!