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A Spiritual View Of Depression: The
Hunger For Light
The symptoms of depression vary from person to person but have enough commonality to have acquired the dimensions of a syndrome or diagnostic picture. Nevertheless, as solid and as real as this picture may seem, what often underlies it is something that relates to light and the hunger for light.
Light of a higher vibration than physical light is a spiritual energy part of the energy of Creation that is stepped-down at multiple levels until it manifests in its physical expression. This energy of light has been there since the beginning, preceding all forms and all forms of evolution. It is referred to in Genesis as the primary utterance - let there be light. When translated onto the physical level, this light becomes a powerful force for healing and change, helping all beings to evolve and human beings in particular to transcend the limitations of darkness and negativity they may have been carrying for a very long time. These limitations include the thoughts, feelings, and physical symptoms that constitute depression. Though often biologically-linked, in the case of depression or any other disturbance, the biology itself can be influenced by the absence or presence of something that might alter its manner of functioning. That something is spiritual light.
Often, a soul may be hungry for light and not know what it is that they are hungry for. Frequently, there is the feeling of something unnameable or unknowable that is missing - a place of emptiness that cannot be filled. Those who are more behaviorally-focused may point to activities of a more joyful or meaningful kind that could help with this emptiness, including work and relationships with others. And this is true, such activities help many. However, sometimes the soul that is hungry finds that nothing will do no activity, no work, and no relationship can make a difference in terms of what the inner self is actually seeking. For the emptiness feels beyond that.
The hunger of the soul for light, especially when the language of spirituality has not been acquired fully and is therefore relatively unknown, can be both painful and confusing. A person can feel lost, misunderstood, out of place, with a sense of not belonging anywhere. In fact, without the spiritual underpinnings anchored in awareness, it can feel like one doesnt even belong to oneself. Then, there is a kind of gray existence as one goes through the motions of living, with the feeling that everything should be alright, but it isnt. This nameless thing that it is possible to long for is a hunger at the deepest level. It is both an emotional hunger for spiritual connection - for a relationship with the universe in which one can feel at home with a sense of belonging. It is also a physical and energetic hunger of the body to be filled with light, and a recognition, without words, that there is a sense of depletion and of having run out of energy and out of the capacity to experience joy in living.
There is no instant remedy for this, for the things of the spirit for the most part do not happen instantly. But they can happen in a relatively short span of time, once the initial premise is understood that it is light and its source that is longed for, and once the search begins for an adequate way of providing the spiritual nourishment that is needed. One can begin by praying in a simple way to be shown the way to be nourished. Even if prayer has not been habitual or even desired within a life, a simple kind of asking of the universe to be led in the direction of healing and light can open the doors that help shift ones frame of reference from the purely physical to the spiritual. Simultaneously, one can be on the lookout for conversations, books, people, and unexpected situations that let the body know that it is happier that it feels more alive. It is the feeling of greater aliveness, along with the perception that a weight has been lifted, that often signals the presence of greater light. In the embrace of light, one feels upheld and loved, because what is truly of a spiritual nature always contains love. Therefore, at the same time that one may feel better physically, there is also an upliftment into a greater sense of connection with life, through love. This upliftment allows the heart to touch its deepest essence and source the Divine nature at the very center of its being.
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