A Necklace of Lights

I have lived in suburbs where night shines from the sky’s bodies of light and the neighbors’ lamps.

I have lived in a little farm encircled by woods and discovered only the moon and stars’ light brushing across the fields.

When I built a home in India, the first night there, I stood in my darkened bedroom and looked out at a necklace of lights from distant roads and a town. Its magic breathed through me.

When I joined A Course in Miracles, a spiritual study group, I was introduced to the world as illusion that could be taken away, while reality was qualities of joy, love, harmony, and peace that could not be.

When my second husband died, I chose to accept this was a blessing for each of us. I could do nothing more to change our efforts. Yet I could feel peace in his song, “I find peace is here in this world today. I feel love is here in our hearts to stay. I see the light guiding my way. You and I are only here to say that, I find peace…”

I am aware that the charm of my necklace is due to distance and up close the streets may be congested and littered. But it is a double illusion I understand—that of the night and that of existence. What I accept is a feeling of peace that flows within me as I gaze out.

My realization is, “There is what is real, as love and joy, and what is unreal, as the world. Our awareness allows us to both know the truth and still be present in the world.