This lead inevitably to Dave experiencing what many consider a necessary step in the process of spiritual maturation, which he said the mystics called “the dark night of the soul”. Then on night, in the depths of despair, he dreamt he was rising up above the world, where he met beings of light. He realized that he, too, was a being of light, and that they were surrounded by an ocean of light that permeated everything with joy and grace.
The impact of this 'mystical' experience was Dave’s realization that he was already completely submerged in the river of life and light that he had been taught Christ had released into the world and had asked all men to plunge into. His tendency as a Westerner to put God somewhere outside of himself no longer held, as he found that the light was within him and that he, too, was light himself. This removed the hard harshness of the challenge and replaced it with the utter joy of living in the light and for the light.
Dave did not relate this experience to God or Christ at once, because he could not reconcile what he had seen and been told as a boy with what he had just experienced. That is why he perceived his joining the Society of Brothers (now the Brüderhof) as sort of a compromise, because he was “unable to find any other group with which he had so much in common.” “At least they LIVE the life” he might have said (for the record, I believe there is nothing more important).
Only after many years could Dave replace his boyhood Christ figure with a new understanding, and find Christ within, instead of seeking Him outside of himself. By that time he also understood that the Christ Spirit was not limited to Jesus of Nazareth, but had been unleashed upon creation through other doors as well and that, in spite of the multiplicity of rivers, eventually all mankind was bathed in the same ocean of light. This added to his difficulties with the Christian church(es), as one could well imagine.
Dave also realized the difference between Christ’s teachings, on the one hand, and the understandings that those who claim to be His followers have of those teachings, on the other. This seems to have changed his previous notion that Judaism, Christianity and Islam were 'anthropomorphic religions' (giving God a human form and attributes) and therefore “far off track.”
He realized that it was more correct to say that some people’s understanding of these religions is anthropomorphic, and even began to toy with the notion that, while Truth is One, it is revealed by divine Teachers to a degree and in a way that is relative to the people’s capacity to comprehend at a given place and time. As for his mention of the Bahá'í Faith, after further study he realized that not only is it not an anthropomorphic religion, but that it’s teachings actually contain the essence of what he had struggled his whole life to understand.
Here are a few among these teachings that he discovered and we discussed. On the nature of God, Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
“Exalted, immeasurably exalted, art Thou above the strivings of mortal man to unravel Thy mystery, to describe Thy Glory, or even hint at the nature of Thine essence. For whatever such strivings may accomplish, they never can hope to transcend the limitations imposed upon Thy creatures, inasmuch as these efforts are actuated by Thy decree, and are begotten of Thine invention...
“Whatever duty Thou hast prescribed unto Thy servants of extolling to the utmost Thy majesty and glory is but a token of Thy grace unto them, that they may be enabled to ascend unto the station conferred upon their own inmost being, the station of the knowledge of their own selves.”
About seeking divinity within oneself (excuse my rough translation, as I can’t find the English), Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
“My love is within thee; know it, that thou mayest find Me near unto thee... Thou art My lamp and My light is within thee. Get from it thy radiance and seek none other but Me... Within thee I have placed the essence of My light. Be thou content with it and seek no more... Turn thy sight within thyself, and there thou shalt find Me, strong, powerful, and independent of all things...”
About the essential oneness of all the divine Teachers of humanity, He said:
“Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the Prophets of God is one and the same. Their unity is absolute. God, the Creator, saith: There is no distinction whatsoever among the Bearers of My Message. They all have but one purpose; their secret is the same secret...
“The measure of the revelation of the Prophets of God in this world, however, must differ. ...any apparent variation in the intensity of their light is not inherent in the light itself, but should rather be attributed to the varying receptivity of an ever–changing world...”
About the relativity of revealed truth and mankind’s finite capacity to comprehend, He said:
“Know of a certainty that in every Dispensation the light of Divine Revelation hath been vouchsafed unto men in direct proportion to their spiritual capacity... Indeed, the sun’s rays fall alike on dust and mirror, but their reflection is as different as earth and star, nay, immeasurable is the difference..."
(September 4, 1989)
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