The fire of the Self

I was sitting alone at a birthday party watching a bonfire burn as the crowd of friends present were fully immersed in their banter. I am notoriously a recluse and often find myself reading peoples books or turning to my own books when I am in social situations, not always but anyone who knows me will know that this happens a lot! In this situation, it was the bonfire that caught my interest and I began pondering the mystery of fire and why ancient traditions of spiritual and shamanic thought held the fire so sacred.

Sometimes it doesn't take much more than watching something to begin to unravel its potential and mystery and if you allow it to speak to you, you'd be surprised what they can tell you.

What was instantly obvious to me was that I was literally watching the fact of impermanence in a very raw and simple way. In essence, the flame was revealing the truth of reality which is constant change. I also noted that the flame is unbiased and will consume anything and everything that It is hot enough to consume, It has no preference and no bias. It is cruel, hot and uncomfortable and yet and the same time it is a source of comfort, warmth, and helps provide sustenance in the form of cooked food.
In my particular spiritual tradition, the sacred fire is honoured and fed by yogis and Vaishnavas daily as a means of turning to and paying homage to the truth. Truth is the concept of constant, unchanging, independent fact and ultimately indicates the supreme emblem of reality called Bhagavan or the supreme personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna.

Since it is ignorance of the truth which is the primary cause of suffering, negative action, and worldly strife, shining the flame of truth in the world causes a shift in the karmic balance towards purification, peace, and satisfaction.

The fire illuminates the world and is present in three ways, the sun, the moon, and fire itself. These three are considered the light of truth manifest in three different ways but both the sun and moon have their essence in the fire, which is more pervading than the former two light manifestations.

The fire is akin to our very own self, the truth of life, the truth of the impermanence of the containers of fire, the substrate or fuel for the self/Fire.
The fire although when it is put out is never truly gone as we know that fire continues to exist in its potential within all matter.
Similarly, when someone dies we see the flame of life go out in their eyes, yet we know that fire has only returned to its potential state before re-igniting in another place.
I believe that if we developed a deeper relationship with fire and returned the fire to centre for social and spiritual development based on awareness of truth and beauty, our communities will quickly overcome the chaos and uncertainty of modern life.
The ancients sat around the fire, tended the fire, fed the fire, told stories in front of the fire and passed down the tradition of caring for fire. This is essentially the motivation to keep Truth and knowledge in the centre of life.
We should know the fire so well that we recognize ourselves in its light for it is the light of the sun, moon, and fire that we know the world at all, just like our very own self who is the basis of all of our life's experiences and potentials.
Fire is akin to the self, the truth of life, the beauty of impermanence, and the shelter of all.