The Eternal Light

There is within the stream of Celtic spirituality the belief that the eternal light mentioned in the first words of Genesis is the light that gives light to the sun, the moon, the stars, and the light in the eyes of living creatures.  This eternal light is invisible and was shining before the beginning.  It is a light that emanates from the very essence of God and without this eternal and invisible light there is no light.  It is the light that is invisible; yet, it can be seen and is in everything.  It is the light that shines in the darkness and relentlessly penetrates it.  No darkness can overcome it and, in fact, it is the light which always overcomes any darkness.  (Genesis 1:1-3,  John 1:1-5)

Nothing that was created in the beginning and nothing that is even now coming into being has been created apart from this eternal and invisible light (John 1:3).  From the realm of the invisible, it brings all things into visibility.  As those who have been created by the Creator, we, too, bear the mark and imprint of His hand.  The eternal light which shines and speaks of the essence of the Creator has touched us at the moment of our conception and continues to shine in us enabling us to bear the essence of the Creator within our souls.  The book of Genesis speaks of all of creation, including men and women, as a part of the creation which the Creator declared to be not just good, but very good.  (Genesis 1:31)

The idea that humanity was fundamentally tainted instead of fundamentally good came into existence in the fourth century.  Augustine was the one who developed the doctrine of original sin which, of course, is based on three sections of Scripture (Genesis 3, Psalm 51:5, and Romans 5:1-12) and is still taught in churches both Roman Catholic and Protestant.  This fundamental difference between Roman Catholicism and the emerging Celtic Church led to the Synod at Whitby in 664 which pushed the Celtic tradition into near obscurity. The Celtic tradition did not deny the presence of sin, but neither did it deny that men and women were born with the essence of the eternal light within them.