What is the Universal Light?

The Universal Light is a call to the Oneness of Humanity. It illumines us as one family spiritually connected through a higher power.

In the past, this light has shone through the personages of Jesus Christ, The Buddha, Socrates, Muhammad, Lao-Tzu, Confucius, Ramakrishna, Guru Nanak, Baha’u’llah, Chief Seattle, Vivekananda, Plato, and others. Today, that light can shine through each and every one of us if we can but recognize the light within. The Universal Light, then, is a movement to make that potential manifest.

To achieve enlightenment as a society, we will need to build a new philosophical and theological model which includes the spiritual truths of all peoples and discards the tribalistic myths and prejudices of the past.

—Vince Milum, The Universal Light

Look ye forever upward into the High-heavens of inspiration, where glory awaits the fearless, all-knowing seekers of Beauty in the purity of the Universal Light.

—Walter Russell, The Secret of Light

Nature abhors ugliness; all her works are beautiful. She covers scars with green mantles or paints them with the colors of the sunset. She bathes them in Universal Light.

—Walter Russell, Beauty (as quoted by Yasuhiko Genku Kimura in Project Beauty and Ethical Transformation of the World)

The material world is transient — things come and go, bioforms included.  To the mystic, all forms of impermanence are a type of non-reality, and in many of the ancient teachings, such as in the writings of one of the most highly revered nondualists, Shankara, we find the physical level being referred to as illusion.  This is not to say that it doesn't really exist, but rather that we see its true form in a limited, illusory sense.  There is no doubt that the physical experience is real.  If we walk into a brick wall, it hurts — both the wall and the pain are real enough.  But the pain will pass, the goose-egg will heal, and the wall will eventually crumble.  What is important to realize is that through all the experiences of change, the true reality which underlies and creates the physical world of change does not change.  That level of reality which never changes is the most real — everything else is temporary and illusory.  The ultimate substance and reality of the Universe is not separate particles scattered around in space, but rather a timeless condition of Universal Light.

—Steve Nanninga, The Ocean of Cosmic Light