Let There Be Light
You might have heard this phrase many times.
But let me tell you what it means to me.
Over the years, I have experimented with many kinds of meditation, affirmations, and visualization techniques. I can’t honestly say I succeeded with all of them—but I can say this with certainty: I noticed a common thread running through almost every method.
All these techniques are designed to bring light to the dark corners of the mind.
Think of your basement, attic, or a room in your house that you rarely enter. Now imagine that space as your mind. Whether you practice meditation, affirmations, or guided visualizations, they all work on the same underlying principle: bringing things into the open.
And it makes sense.
Unless the contents of the mind are brought into awareness, no real healing is possible. But this is where confusion usually begins. We assume that first we must bring out the negative material—and then do something to fix or heal it.
No.
It doesn’t work that way.
I’ve found that simply acknowledging how you feel—whether positive or negative—is both the first and the final step. The moment you clearly see how you feel about an issue, the inner knots begin to loosen on their own.
Bringing Light to the Mind Is the First (and the Last) Step
Have you ever watched a vampire movie?
Do you remember what happens when a vampire steps into sunlight? It evaporates—without anyone attacking it, fighting it, or trying to destroy it.
All the protagonist does is bring the vampire into the light. The sun does the rest.
That’s exactly how the mind works.
As Osho often explained, we carry an enormous amount of psychological waste—largely because of centuries of emotional suppression. And the only way to be free of it is not to fight it, but to shine light into those dark corners.
Awareness itself is cleansing.
But if it’s so simple, why is it so hard?
Why Is It So Difficult to See Reality?
Because stepping outside our comfort zone unsettles us.
No matter how much junk we have stored in the basement of our house, it feels uncomfortable—even threatening—to turn on the light and really look at it. We avoid it because it shatters the image we have of ourselves as orderly, composed, and “together.”
Seeing things as they are is hard.
And the same applies to the mind. We resist awareness not because it hurts us, but because it challenges the identity we’ve carefully built.
So What Do You Do?
Start small.
Just as you wouldn’t empty your entire basement in one day, you don’t need to bring awareness to everything at once. There’s no need to flood the mind with light in one go.
Be gentle.
Go slowly.
When I first began meditating in 1995, I went at it with force. I tried to purge suppressed emotions aggressively, and it was painful. I suffered unnecessarily. Over time, I realized that forcing meditation is not the answer.
In fact, the opposite is true.
Meditation works best when you allow it to happen, with minimal interference. Awareness unfolds naturally when you stop pushing.
Spiritual growth isn’t fast food. It has its own rhythm, its own pace. Trying to rush the process only leads to frustration and stagnation.
When you hurry inner work, you end up running in circles.
So let there be light.
Quietly.
Gradually.