Illumination

The first act in creation as described in Chapter I of Genesis, when "darkness was upon the face of the deep" and "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters", was when God said, "Let there be light: and there was light". In the Kena Upanishad, Light is given supremacy because it was the first to recognize spirit; and in the Chandogya Upanishad, the first created by mere being was Light. Chapter I of St John's Gospel says "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not... That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world". Clearly, the act of illuminating or being illuminated has enormous philosophical and spiritual significance. According to St Augustine, the individual soul is like an unlit lamp, in darkness until illuminated by the true light. Divine illumination lights up the intellect and will, so that mankind receives true knowledge. This idea is carried over in the common use of the terms "bright" and "brilliant" to describe someone who is very intelligent. According to Patanjali, illumination is the result of sanyama.

Two different teachings on illumination of the intellect come under the heading [illuminism]

- that which considers illumination of the mind to come from a higher source, direct revelation to the chosen few (for example, gnosticism, Rosicrucians); and that characteristic of the [Philosophy of Enlightenment]

, which claimed that pure, enlightened reason was possible within each individual, dispensing with the need for traditional culture, religion or government and emphasizing naturalism with respect to rights, society and religion.