Open to the Luminous

Open to the Luminous: What Light Has to Teach Us

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Light is a part of daily reality, something we take for granted. Yet it is also one of the profoundest mysteries known to the human mind. Long regarded with veneration, fascination, and wonder, light speaks to our most profound capacity for understanding. As a metaphor, light evokes beauty, joy, intelligence, understanding, and realization. Radiant, brilliant, and luminous, it invites us beyond ourselves. In this course, we will draw on ancient and modern sources to launch an experiential inquiry into the meaning of light for our lives.

Short readings will be taken from scientists such as Arthur Zajonc, Peter Russell, and Brian Swimme, as well as traditional spiritual sources, the Time-Space-Knowledge writings of Tarthang Tulku, and the Diamond Approach of A.H. Almaas.

R. Bruce Alderman, M.A. is an Adjunct Faculty in the School of Holistic Studies at John F. Kennedy University. He teaches such courses as Paradigms of Consciousness, Fundamentals of Transpersonal Psychology, and Ethics and Compassion. He previously taught courses on creative writing and inquiry at a Krishnamurti school in Varanasi, India.

One common way we tend to organize our experience is by person-perspective, viewing and interacting with the world in 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-person terms. Take some time to explore each of these perspectives for yourself, starting at first with the simple pronouns of I, You, and It. One way you might approach this would be to choose an object or entity in your environment, and then practice viewing and relating to it as “I” (perhaps by saying, “That too is ‘I’), or as a You/Thou, or as an It, noting how the quality of your experience and the tenor of your relationship to the object or entity changes as you modulate your perspective. Take special note whether, and how, your feelings towards, stories about, and even preferred modes of engagement with the object or entity shifts as you proceed with the exercise, and pay attention also to how the object or entity itself may appear to undergo a subtle transformation in light of each person perspective you adopt