“Man should not be an automatic gas-machine, cleverly contrived to release a given quantity of illumination under the stimulus of a nickel. He should be like the great sun itself which ever radiates light, warmth, life and power, because it cannot help doing so. Because these qualities fill the heart of the sun, and for it to have them means that it must give them constantly. Let the sunlight of our sympathy, tenderness, love, appreciation, influence and kindness ever go out from us as a glow to brighten and hearten others. But do not let us ever spoil it all by going through life constantly collecting receipts, as vouchers, to stick on the file of our self-approval.” ~ William George Jordan
Life is a radiant force. If you are alive, you still have life in you. Whenever you abandon radiance, you turn your back on life.
Think about it. Every time you feel like life is hard, I’ll bet you that you withdrew your radiance for some reason before the negative feelings consumed you.
Human beings go to great lengths to justify the abandonment of a radiant stance. They blame others. They criticize themselves. They complain about their circumstances. They get greedy. They succumb to fear. And the list goes on. Each and every time you withdraw the light that shines brightly in you, the world presses in a little harder and the weight upon your shoulders gets a little heavier.
You have two types of strength: the first comes from what you are and the second is born of what you have. You are a human being. Your human capacities of body, mind and heart are the temporal vehicle for the expression the unique eternal focus of life, the “being” that you are.
If you try to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders in “human strength,” that is, by force of mind or body, you will eventually be crushed. If, however, you tap into the ever-present inner strength that radiates consistently from who you are, the burden of your growing responsibilities will be forever easy, no matter how large they become over time.
Radiance, dear readers, is nothing more than the outer evidence of the inner presence of life in you. If you try to conjure up radiance by intention, concentration or through some rigorous means of mental or physical gymnastics while making choices and taking attitudes that obscure your inner radiance, you will invariably show up with a knife at the gunfight. As glittery and glamorous as the great show that human beings have put on in lieu of revealing true radiance, it has nothing on the splendid state that emerges naturally in the light of radiance.
Once you have had a glimpse of the radiance within you and within others it is hard to turn your back on it ever again. That said, I’ve seen many people do just that. The justifications for withdrawing radiance have beguiled human beings for eons. I’ll let you in on a little secret: most people are derailed because they refuse to let go of the thought that they can control what grows as they illuminate the world around them by their radiance. More than one human being has turned his back on radiance because when the lights came on he said to himself “this looks nothing like how I thought it should.”
You divorce yourself from your own inner strength – from the power of life itself – the moment you become more concerned about how things look and feel than you are with being radiant. Life is not meant to be hard. Further, you cannot create the perfect set of circumstances in which life will be easy. Life is only easy as you are radiant, regardless of the nature of the circumstances at hand.
Gregory Hake 
Radiance is a natural process, and as with most (if not all) natural processes, we cannot really control how they turn out, especially with the higher order natural processes. The power of radiance is immense, and therefore a powerful natural process. To try to bend it to our will is to stunt it, and eventually to leave it all together. Why not let radiance build our lives in a natural direction? We work so hard to try and imitate natural processes, but it is usually natural processes that seem to build the most effortless and efficient structures anyway. Just because we cannot see the wisdom behind our radiant direction does not mean it is not there. It’s not even that hard, the biggest difficulty is often just to get out of your own way!
LikeLike
Perfectly timed, as always!
Thanks Gregg!
LikeLike
I can see where good days and bad days come from. This is probably a major contributor to “the nobodys home” person, that for some reason their light has gone out. I’m adding this post to my journal of “aha” moments. Thanks for this enlightening message.
LikeLike
“Life is only easy as you are radiant” – this is a profound point.
All the striving, struggling, pushing, etc to become radiant only leaves you struggling with life – or as you say “invariably showing up with a knife at the gunfight”.
Thank you for this post in particular – the series is a refreshing breathe to consider particularly when most media seems to focus on what is wrong with the world void of any promising solutions.
LikeLike
Obviously all of us are interested in results in various ways and for various purposes. However, where the concern for specific results usurps the position of personal integrity, where we become slaves to a particular concept about a result of some kind, radiance is extinguished and we find we have abandoned ourselves in the deepest sense. So often such an experience is hardened further by blame and self-pity.
Here we see the enormous value of forgiveness, humility and release, because these are the qualities that allow for a realignment with the radiance at our core, a bright and warm reality that actually can never be taken from us, regardless of appearance.
Such valuable lessons here!
LikeLike
There you go – you have to come to a point of understanding where your control of a given situation is absolutely unnecessary to its proper development. Your role is to influence yes, but not hedge all your efforts depending on the outcome. That’s why we have terms like ‘control freaks’ and such, plenty of psychological imbalances that result from an attempt to derive some inner security through forcing situations to conform to one’s particular views. It’s origin is from insecurity, and that can come from a million different places. It’s gotten to the point where if you are not trying to exert your control all the time, some people see you as weak-kneed where in fact your are strong and steady, fully in control of yourself.
I don’t mean for these statements to be taken to the extreme, for indeed we are to influence our surroundings and our circumstances and not be passive doormats of course, but it is altogether with a different atmosphere. There is no desperation or fear present which of course causes alot of these control problems; there is this desire to do right and be helpful where you can. Different atmosphere here, this thing called radiance.
I’ve found the first step to freedom comes when you begin to live this way. Just be yourself, and don’t worry about needing to control every single factor in your life. Life just might surprise you as you relax and let go of the reigns some!
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing this insight, it really is a mouthful!
LikeLike
OMG the file of self-approval is a great description of the type of obsession many are plagued with. This is a great post!
LikeLike
How refreshing to read something that makes so much sense!
LikeLike
This is so true. The choice is really up to us and when we choose to be radiant, life becomes peaceful and purposeful, even in the face of adversity.
LikeLike
This makes sense to me. I’ll keep in mind. Thank you.
LikeLike