Luke Storey: Don’t fight the darkness. Make the light brighter.

As the world grapples with the shift toward social isolation, managing pandemic-related stress, and an uncertain future, we at Wanderlust know that our greatest strengths are the wisdom of our leaders and the power of community.

We have reached out to the lighthouses in our teaching community to share some succinct, actionable insights with our community, as well as to call on us to be bold and envision how this shift can create a better world. Because extraordinary times call for extraordinary leadership. 

What we are fortunate enough to witness and participate in now is a true awakening on the Earth plane of reality. The old systems of oppressive control are spilling out of their concealment due to the nature of, and speed with which information now travels. Even the most ordinary folks can now bear witness to the emperor without its clothes via shared ideas through independent media. But like anytime we’re abruptly shaken into wakefulness, it can be unsettling, if not somewhat jarring to our equilibrium. It’s important to remember that order always follows chaos and vice versa. All life is energy, and energy is in a constant state of flux. The cyclical nature of life follows the cyclical nature of energy, so any experience we now face, including this imminent crisis, will eventually transmute into something new. Through our collective consciousness, intentions, and righteous action, we can impart our highest will to manifest a change toward a positive evolution, rather than regressing to old patterns of negativity and pain.

Consciousness, as manifested by humankind, is forever on an upward trajectory toward God, its ultimate creator. Our choice lies in our ability to maintain inner neutrality from the perspective of our witness consciousness and to know that the world we see is truly an out-picturing of our internal projection of reality. We don’t see the world as it is; we see the world as we see it. Or, as Wayne Dyer simply stated, „when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.“

Through cultivating our capacity for love and truthfulness, we grow in personal power, which is then expressed in the collective. For this reason, we find such profound futility in fighting evil and darkness with anger and hostility. By meeting aggression with aggression, we are sure to run in circles, only to end up back in the original location of our discontent. Equally ineffective is the tendency we humans have to try to exert control and change over our outer circumstances and people around us without changing who we are as individuals. This fact is so plainly illustrated in the brilliantly simple statement ‚be the change you wish to see in the world‘, which has historically and incorrectly credited to Mahatma Gandhi. As accurate and profound as that statement, what he said in fact goes even further to illustrate this universally applicable truth:

„We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our bodies. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.“ –

This same sentiment was powerfully conveyed by the Indian saint Ramana Maharshi when he exclaimed: „There is no point in trying to save the world you think you see because such a world doesn’t even exist.“ Meaning our inner reality is created by our perception of our outer circumstances. The reality we perceive outside of ourselves is colored and created by how we interpret it.

This framework of truth is how I’m able to reconcile much of my discontent with the current state of human affairs, and my grandiose opinions about ‚the way things should be.‘ When I find myself enraged over the grievous crimes perpetrated on the Earth and its inhabitants such as chemtrails, and electrosmog, or the heinous crimes of human trafficking and child abuse so rampant in our society, I must remember that this is all a part of the universal master plan and that from my limited perspective as one single point of consciousness, I can not fully see the big picture and the real purpose of the entire spectrum of human experience. My real and unlimited power lies in my ability to rectify and uplift my thoughts, emotions, and actions by the highest good, and to take responsibility for my healing and integrity.

Our dharma, should we choose it, is to share truth and express love to the best of our knowledge and ability. Within each of us lies the ability to transmute negativity into positivity, if we can systematically uncover and remove the falsehoods that obscure our vision of the ultimate reality, which is God. Just as when clouds are present, it by no means indicates that the sun no longer exists; in the same way, when we are under the spell of our misguided perceptions and negativity, it doesn’t provide proof that God isn’t there. We are faced with the challenge of our ability to see God through the clouds of falsehood and to work diligently to remove the shadows that erode our faith. Through our continued spiritual work, and in the expansion of our ability to surrender to the boundless love and infinite wisdom of our creator, we can clear away the blocks that prevent us from living at peace in the chaotic world in which we find ourselves.

So when it comes to times of unrest and uncertainty like we currently face, my practice is always to remember: Don’t fight the darkness. Make the light brighter.

Luke Storey is a motivational speaker, kundalini yoga and meditation teacher, world-class biohacker, host of The Life Stylist Podcast, and founder of the world’s premier online fashion school for stylists, School of Style which he founded in 2008.