Closer to the Light

Several weeks back I wrote a post about an experience that I had with "the light" while meditating.
Soon after that though, I had some personal insights and it made my mind go hyperactive, and that meant my meditation was very ineffective for a while.
Since then though, things have settled down and Ive been able to meditate quite a bit better. I've also had a couple more experiences with that "light" although not quite as strong and just as brief.

I've also done some reading and spoken to people.
It seems that it is quite likely the "inner light" that we hear about from time to time. In the West, we seem to hear more about it from people who have been in very personally traumatic situations and it is therefore a very emotional experience for them. Or alternately we have heard of it as a religious ecstatic experience of one of the saints etc. For me, I was just sitting there working in my head while meditating, so it was not quite so emotional.

After I got back to meditating, it took me several weeks before I was able to reproduce the effect but I did succeed. It was initially less than a week before the first minor recurrence and then a much longer three and a half more weeks before I got it again. As I said it has not been as strong as the first time, but it is definitely the same effect. My meditation is getting better slowly, and I am able to recognize the preceding stages to the effect too. I am slowly getting better at generating the preceding stages so I expect I'll be able to get better at the "light" as well. My goal for the time being is just to try to keep getting better. My aim is to be able to more or less achieve it at will and to go exploring in my head for other effects too.
At present, it seems that it is significantly easier to achieve during the full moon phase - yeah, I know that sounds a bit "new age" but it seems to be true. So at this stage I just keep working on my meditation in general and we'll see how it develops.

But what does it mean?
Well, it is a "near religious" experience when you find out that what is inside your head can be just as significant and powerful as the most rewarding physical experience that the human body knows!
Physiologically, my personal belief is that it is a cascade of hormone/endorphin releases from the spine and the Pineal gland in the brain (based on dribs and drabs of reading and talking and of course what it actually felt like). - I am of course only minimally qualified to make that statement.

From my readings in several esoteric books and some quality Internet research ;), this is a significant mystic experience and equates with the realization of a personal higher state of consciousness. In Kabalistic texts its known as "Knowledge and Conversation with the Holly Guardian Angel" and represents when your normal consciousness connects with your "Higher Consciousness" - (a bit too much to go into in the current forum). - In my case it seems to have been less of a conversation and more of a quick "hello" or perhaps "I´m really busy right now, can you call me back later" but I´m sure we´ll get better acquainted in the future :)
In Eastern texts, it seems to be referred to as "Kundelini" and is a release of spinal energy that is also a significant and potentially dangerous experience. In Western esoteric circles it is refered to by various names which we have all heard but we have a decidedly "Occult" type view of them as "magical/Mythical" physical world objects. One of the names, most people will have heard of (from the popular Harry Potter books) is "The Philosophers Stone" and other names are "The Fountain of Youth" and the "Holy Grail" etc...

That's a pretty big statement but here is my understanding of what it means:
Having the experience can easily be a "life outlook" and personality changing event. If you are religious then I´m sure it would leave you feeling certain that God exists, and that he loves you personally and the you are definitely going to heaven when you die (or maybe even before) and that in the mean time, all your worries are over - cos God loves you! :) That sort of experience will easily change the way you live your life, and you would not be worried about the future and you would have this incredible inner glow and just feel so alive, and you´d behave more like a child again and without all that life stress, you´d age slower and look younger etc ...
For non-religious people it turns out that the effect is quite similar, only milder... Trust me on this, its true... I know :)
Certainly I can see some element of these effects in myself and it is definitely helping me to change my outlook and also giving me the motivation to meditate more and learn more about whats inside. I´d have to say though, that I was thoroughly engaged in a "change in life outlook" before the experience, so its not clear to me how much effect it has had. But I´m glad of the experience and the motivation to continue that it provides :)

Again from discussions with others and my reading, it is held that the "inner world" is the "real world" (and is eternal rather than just temporary) and the experience of the normal "physical realm" is an illusion (and only lasts for your life time)!
For myself, I believe that the physical world is thoroughly real, but that the inner world is just as real - Since clearly from my cursory Internet research, the experience I had is recorded by very many people through history and in all cases is described very similarly - and hence all the "titles" given above. Despite the experience being identifiable, the meanings attributed to it depend on the religious inclination of the people involved. As always, I will reserve my judgment on meaning pending further personal experience and as for the eternal vs temporary aspect, I really don't know - but that gets back to religion and life after death and reincarnation etc - again I´m not starting that discussion up here since I´m just not qualified to shed any factual light on the subject.

What I can say is that my experiences are absolutely real for me, and those of you who know me personally will know that I´m a very highly trained skeptic of "mysticism" in the manner of most hard sciences professionals, so I don't say these things lightly.

So, more meditation and hopefully more inner experiences, and I'll get back to you with more information in the future :)