be a light unto yourself

Be a light unto yourself, Gautam Buddha once said. I don’t know whether this teaching originated with the Buddha, or whether he had picked it up from more ancient teachings. And the reason I question this is that it is the fundamental teaching: that you cannot find truth from others; you have to find it for yourself.

Others may help along the way a little, guiding you this way or that, suggesting things to explore for yourself, but you yourself must do the work. You must step into the unknown, not taking anything for granted, not believing anything that others are saying, however well-accepted those teachings might be. You need to find the truth for yourself.

So this simple teaching of the Buddha – be a light unto yourself – we must pay attention to. We will not find truth any other way. For the truth we are seeking is the truth about ourself, and how can anyone else know that? It is our truth, deep within us. So we must become a guide, a seeker, the path itself. The whole work falls to us. We cannot delegate any of it.

It’s a big undertaking, but unless we undertake this journey, then we will miss. We will live a second hand life, just copying what has gone before, just being a rather scrappy carbon copy of other people, or society’s expectations. That is not what life is about. We must find ourself. We must find our essence, and to do that, we must undertake the journey for ourself. Our own journey, unique. We must become a light unto ourself.