Feed on the Light, Be Like an Eye

Threshold Society Theme for January 1996

Though Light is the food of the spirit and spiritual vision,
the body also partakes of it, son.
If your belly is greedy, turn away from the world;
the only way is by a change of food.
You whose heart is sick, turn to the remedy:
the entire diet is a change of attitude.
You who are kept in pawn to food,
you can be free if you suffer yourself to be weaned.
Truly in hunger there is abundant nourishment:
search after it diligently and cherish the hope of finding it.
Feed on the Light, be like an eye,
be in harmony with the angels, O best of humankind.
Like the Angel, make glorification of God your food.

[Mathnawi, V:288, 293-8]

The month of Ramadan will be beginning on January 22. In preparation for that time and during it, we could reflect on our relationship both to physical food and to light. May we begin to make the act of eating less compulsive, more conscious: what, when, and why are we eating? In hunger and in eating let us be in remembrance.

We can also become increasingly aware of light, in the physical and non-physical sense. Allah is calledNur ala nur, “light upon light.” Our preoccupation with the material world, including food, lessens our light. Our awareness of light may lessen our dependence on materiality and open us to the spiritual world. Find some time to invoke Gods light and to hold in our minds the phrase: Nur ala nur.