Now, being that all awareness; the awareness of pleasure and desire, of insight, comprehension, interest and emotions, as well as the awareness of all the other faculties, such as seeing, hearing, smelling etc., have their source in the quintessential self of the soul, we must say that it, in itself, is aware. This is the awareness of the soul of itself, that is, the self-knowledge and consciousness of the soul. This is the essential light of the soul. It is similar to light, because the property of light is to reveal the reality of what is. For instance, a person may be standing in a dark room in front of a deep pit. Because it is dark, he does not recognize the danger he is in. He does not recognize the reality of what is. The moment the light is switched on, he immediately sees the pit, recognizes the danger and steps back.
Now, though this self awareness is the essential light of the soul, it is not the actual essence of the soul, just as a ray of light is not the luminary itself. Rather, the property of light is that it reveals the luminary from which it emanates. In the same way, this essential light of the soul is a revelation of the essence from which it emanates. Nonetheless, it is not outside of the self, but is, rather, the revelation of the self to the self.
