‘For the truth, through fire and water…’ – so rings the timeless call, worth a sacrifice every day. To wake to this thought is a true coming to awareness, an awakening. Yesterday you retired to rest as if it were to be your last night. You gazed at the rays of the setting sun, which literally gilded the universe, and you took stock of yourself, of your life. How far had you come, what had you achieved, and what was still left? Had you managed to keep the ideals of your youth, or had you lost them along the way? It was no easy reckoning, but despite your faults you felt content. ‘You have already accounted for all your faults; now, in your soul, settle your debts, and with a pure heart entrust yourself to divine Providence!’
You woke very early after a half-sleepless night, yet you do not feel tired, and now, before sunrise, you wade through grass heavy with dew. Your sandals are soaked and sodden, you cast them off. It is still too early, the day is barely breaking. On your left darkness reigns, and like a dim world of shadows the black of night towers up to the sky, a passing darkness, yet menacing still. But from the right comes the message of light, and the pale glimmer of dawn drives like a wedge into the body of the darkness and pushes the shadow off the face of the world. This is a battle between shadow and light, and you hope the light will prevail. The breeze is still cool, the rim of the sky still only glimmers, but the promise of sunlight about to burst forth is already there. You stop now and then, nature keeps silent, you wait for the waking flight of the birds, you wait for the first rays. You turn your back on the dying darkness and turn your face towards the promise of light, awaiting the Sunrise.
It was to find yourself that you set out. You know full well that this is why it is worth facing challenges of body and spirit. You are not yet stepping out of your safety zone, only out of your comfort zone, but even that is a big enough step. In hardship one is tempered, and it is said that gold is tried only once, but a man many times. Life has tried you many times as well, and now it is you who put yourself to the test.
Your heart is light. The discomforts help you shed all that does not really matter: ingrained habits, fears, expectations… this gives you courage to overcome yourself, and everything grows so light. In man, God becomes effort!
At last the Sun rises. The dawn is over, that uncertain intimation when the battle of shadow and light was not yet decided. But now, with the first rays, everything becomes clear. Unbidden, you raise your hands to the Sun and cling to its rays of blessing. You feel its cleansing power as it bathes your face, you feel its healing rays as they sweep over your body. Deep in your heart the word cries out: I take your life-giving power into myself!
You all but tear off your shirt, to stand there bare-chested in the light. This is how you should tear the last rags of baseness from yourself, fling them far away, and leave behind everything you no longer need. What is fading away, let it perish now, why wait until tomorrow? You can lose nothing but your fetters. Let all that is not I be torn from me!
May your soul be tempered in the fire of self-knowledge, may your heart be cleansed in the bathing water of the dew, may your consciousness rise on the rays of the Sun to the heights of heaven!
Will, rivalry, victory – no longer needed. Proving yourself, self-justification – superfluous. Faintheartedness, mistrust, despondency – away with it! In place of the part let the whole remain, in place of imperfection, fullness. In the dewdrop you find all the waters together, in the first ray of light the whole of light. For even the last and least of miracles tells of the first and greatest miracle. If you lay your cheek in the palm of the Almighty, how could you receive a slap in the face?