A Spiritual View of Depression: The Hunger for Light

Although we generally experience symptoms of depression as primarily physical and emotional, their essential core may lie in something that cannot be seen that is of a spiritual nature, namely, the relative absence of the energy of light. When missing, the absence of light can feel like the sun covered over for long periods of time by dark clouds, causing a sense of yearning for warmth and radiance and in some, a sense of depletion and fatigue. This yearning can be completely unknown to the one experiencing it who may only feel the result of what is missing, not the cause.

Light of a higher vibration than physical light is a spiritual energy – part of the energy of Creation. This light has been with us since the beginning, referred to in the Book of Genesis as the primary utterance - “let there be light.” When translated onto the physical level, it becomes a powerful force for healing and change, helping all beings to evolve and human beings to transcend the limitations of darkness that they may have carried for a very long time. In many instances, thoughts, feelings, and physical symptoms associated with depression are each influenced by the absence or presence of spiritual light which both supports and regulates a flow of energy to the brain and to other organs, enhancing and maintaining their many functions.

Often, a soul may be hungry for light and not know what it is that they are hungry for. Frequently, this hunger feels formless and nameless, occurring only in relation to the feeling that there is something missing - a place of emptiness that cannot be filled. Those who are more behaviorally-focused may point to activities of a more meaningful kind that could help with this emptiness including work and relationships with others, and this is frequently true: such activities often help. However, sometimes the soul that is hungry finds that nothing will do – that no activity, no work, and no relationship can make a difference in terms of what the inner self is actually seeking. The emptiness feels beyond that.

The hunger of the soul for light, especially when the language of spirituality has not been acquired fully, 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 doesn’t even belong to oneself. Then, there is a kind of gray pallor that is cast over existence as one goes through the motions of living, with the feeling that everything should be alright, but isn’t. This nameless thing that it is possible to long for involves a hunger at the deepest level. It is both a hunger for spiritual connection - for a relationship with the universe in which there is a sense of belonging and home. It is also a hunger of the body to be filled with light and a recognition, usually beyond words, that we suffer from a sense of depletion. This hunger of the body can occur more powerfully in those who have been exposed to great spiritual light previously, often in other lifetimes. Where this exposure has created a living, embodied experience of connection with God and with the higher realms, one who has lost this connection often feels a mysterious and poignant sense of emptiness.

There is no instant remedy for this situation, for things of the spirit for the most part do not happen instantly. But they can happen in a relatively short span of time, once it is recognized that it is light that is longed for, and once the search begins for an adequate way of providing it.

To initiate our search, we can begin by praying in a simple way for spiritual nourishment. Even if prayer has not been habitual or even desired within our life, a simple kind of asking to be led in the direction of healing and light can open doors of awareness. Simultaneously, we can be on the lookout for conversations, books, people, and unexpected situations that let both heart and body know that we are happier – that we feel more alive. For it is the feeling of greater aliveness that often signals the presence of increased light. In the embrace of light, we feel held, nourished, uplifted, and loved. This upliftment fills the empty places within us that have waited for so long to be filled. It allows our heart to touch its deepest essence and core – the Divine nature at the very center of our being.

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