by Deborah Shouse

As a boy growing up in Havana, Cuba, Jacob Liberman struggled with reading—that’s one reason this Maui resident finds it miraculous that he was called to write books. An optometrist, Liberman initially specialized in helping children with vision-related difficulties find ways to better learn and pay attention. That evolved into working with professional athletes and eventually earning a Ph.D. in vision science.

Through a profound meditation experience, Liberman’s vision spontaneously “corrected”, catalyzing insights that fueled his first three books: Light: Medicine of the Future; Take Off Your Glasses and See: A Mind/Body Approach to Expanding Your Eyesight and Insight; and Wisdom from an Empty Mind. His new book, Luminous Life: How the Science of Light Unlocks the Art of Living, offers a fresh way of seeing and being (JacobLiberman.org).

Why is light so important to us all?

Light is the foundation of everything that exists. That’s why light marks the convergence of science, religion and spirituality. The Bible speaks of the source of all creation as light. Throughout history, spiritual texts from various traditions speak about God, light and consciousness as if they are interchangeable. Physicists consider light to be the fundamental energy from which all life emerges.

Everything is made of solidified light. Our entire physiology is light-dependent. We are a living photocell, and light is an integral part of our guidance system. When we get an intuitive “hit” or spiritual insight, it’s the luminous intelligence of life effortlessly directing us toward the next step on our journey.

What can we do to more fully harness light as part of our guidance system?

Everyone asks: “What do I need to do?” It’s the idea of our doing something that puts a wrench in the works. The universe is an example of optimal efficiency, which means we invest nothing and get everything. The individual does no work, yet creation appears. The doing occurs by itself. This is not metaphorical; I am speaking about the law of the universe. This is fact.

What are some examples of such doing occurring by itself?

God’s wisdom—or light—funnels through all living things all the time; all beings have an inseparable connection. Everything in the body, everything in nature and in the universe is naturally self-activating and self-regulating.

Yet even though everything is taken care of, we still think we have to do something. We’ve been conditioned into this way of thinking. Until we uncover the truth, we continue to live our ordinary, hard-working life. But when we understand that all of this is happening by itself, something inside us relaxes and breathes a sigh of relief.

What fuels our desire to act?

We think something is wrong with us or someone else, or that we’ve done something wrong in the past, and so try to fix it. Research shows that most of our responses to life are conditioned. I try to help people go beyond their hardwired reactions to explore the facts.

When someone tells me he’s made a regrettable mistake, I say, “Tell me one part of your body that you control.” He may answer, “I control my thoughts.” I reply, “Are you sure those are your thoughts? You are aware of them after they surface. But did you create them?”

As I keep asking such questions, it becomes obvious that the mistake has nothing to do with him. It’s an illusion that each of us is the god of our reality. The truth is that there is nothing to do because in the greater reality, nothing is wrong.

How has this exploration of light enriched and expanded your life?

It’s allowed me to live without a net. In the circus, tightrope walkers usually have a net in case they fall. We’ve been taught we must create safety, security and predictability. We work, save, plan and pray, trying to ensure our lives are filled with these three “fail safes”; qualities that have never existed on planet Earth. Most of our stress comes from trying to create something that doesn’t exist. It was liberating when I realized that the universe doesn’t work that way.

Deborah Shouse is the author of Connecting in the Land of Dementia. Learn more at DementiaJourney.org.