Summer and the secrets of light

Now in summer we experience the longest days of sunlight in the year, which are the brightest and most intense

If we observe the light over the course of a day, we quickly realize that it is a constantly changing phenomenon. The light is not only intangible and therefore ‘incomprehensible’, but also its intensity, colour and expression are constantly changing and revealing themselves anew.

This is particularly noticeable in the morning and evening, at sunrise and sunset. The pictures below show the summit of Monte Caré Alto, at 3465 m, whichis the highest and most significant mountain in the southern part of the Adamello group. Within a short time, the grey limestone rock takes on a wide variety of colours under the influence of the rising sun.

I chose this beautiful and striking peak because it can be seen directly from the grounds of the Naone ecological and spiritual project..

So what exactly is light?

To get closer to the actualcore, the essence of light, it is certainly easy to understand that the memorized knowledge about its nature as a wave within an electromagnetic spectrum or as a stream of quantum objects, is not really helpful.

To help us understand these concepts, Heinz Grill gives us a soul exercise. I would like to briefly outline this exercise here; the original can be found in the text “Exercises for the Soul.”

How can the phenomena of ‘light’ be characterized?

„The inner or hidden meaning […] develops slowly and vividly through an effort to characterize it on various levels“.

It is therefore the activity of characterization itself, with which one can get closer to the concept or phenomenon. 

In order to come to your own impressions and subtle soul-feelings, you can proceed imaginatively and ask questions. What impressions can be gathered when attempting to describe the concept of ‘light’? How do we experience light? Do we experience light “in itself” or in connection with phenomena in the world, in nature, on physical objects?

What is the relationship between darkness and light? Or between brightness and light – is there a correlation here? Light and sunlight? How do light and colour relate to each other?

What adjectives can be found to describe different states or qualities of light?

These questions can be used as examples for an approach, which can be further formed and shaped individually.

Is the light harsh, pale, soft, mild, full? Vivid, dimensional connecting, dull, exhausted, dreary? Playing with a wide variety of adjectives used concretely or metaphorically brings us closer to the diverse manifestations of ‘light’, which was initially taken as a pure concept.

An impression that can perhaps be gained from the first part of the exercise shows that ‘light’ is not only physically intangible, but also subject to constant dynamics in terms of its quality and radiance.  

Light can be experienced as constantly changing and modulating throughout the course of a day.

Heinz Grill describes these further steps: exploring the laws behind the concept and, in the further course of the exercise, to create the idea of the ideal, harmonious, connecting light in thought. 

This abridged version of a soul exercise by Heinz Grill is intended to outline a possible approach, for example, to natural phenomena.

Context, background, and a more comprehensive formulation can be found in the book “Exercises for the Soul, The development of a rich feeling life and the acquisition of first supersensory Insights to knowledge,” Synergia-Verlag, 2022.

Text and image: Lilly Zahara, 07.07.2025

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