Darkness & Light: The Philosophical Path of an Eclectic Pagan

Letter XV: The Love of Light

 My friends, it is time that I address you in the aspects of light. Light is often something that has been often overlooked in our life, but yet it continues to stump scientists to this day. We see and feel light in nearly every single moment of our day, but yet we have no understanding or grasp of it.

Light, as we might understand it, might be one of the rare elements that is both a particle and a wave. It has both properties of particles and a wave, confusing and compelling scientists to explore more to the wonder of what light is. But the basic fact of light is that it is everywhere. It is nearly impossible to isolate light, because it refracts nearly everywhere that it can. But that becomes the beauty of light... that it is not isolated.

Anytime you can see light, that means that it is not only reflecting off of some object into your eye, but elsewhere too. When we see the light from the sun that brightens the day, we see the sunlight come directly from the sun and also onto the objects that are around us, but we only perceive the sunlight from the specific position of space and time; we only see it from the small area of our eyes. But the truth of the matter is that the light from the sun is refracting everywhere around us, not just through our eyes. The light refracting off of the green grass, the blue sky, the red book, the black crow... that light is everywhere where that light can travel.

To take a more broad look, the light from the stars that we see in the night sky... how are we able to see that light? That specific light, traveling possibly millions of light years, is just now being received by us here on earth. Light from galaxies, nearly infinitely times bigger than Earth, we are able to perceive through our tiny slice of space and time. But we often forget that light, from that specific galaxy, can also be perceived millions of light years away in the opposite direction as well, along with pretty much any direction that is feasible to see the light from that galaxy. This light is also a continual beam, with the light from this galaxy never ceasing until the galaxy itself ends, and even then, the amount of time that the light takes to reach us, we may never know if that galaxy still exists or not in the current time that we are perceiving it. But we acknowledge its existence at one time, because we can see the light that comes from it. That light, although only taken for a second and perceived by only that one second, there is no reason to believe that light would cease simply because we stop gazing upon it. The same source that is causing many people to see it in the vast night sky is still producing light, even if no one is gazing upon it.

Think about it, my friends. You are able to see light, not necessarily specifically to your position, but the fact that the light you're seeing from the many different objects around you can be seen from different directions. How is this possible? Because light is abundant. Light is everywhere in which it is not blocked nor too distant. I can see the sun when neither the earth nor clouds are blocking it, and I can see this same sun whether I am in the Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere. I can see this same sun, although at a different size, theoretically from anywhere in the solar system. I might even be able to see the sun from another nearby solar system, just like how we are able to see stars very much outside of our own solar system. The light that radiates from our sun, when unhindered, goes in every possible direction. It goes as far as it can go, and it stretches beyond even our very small and limited perception of it.

This simple but profound realization of light has led me to conclude, my friends, that light is the example of what God is to us. Just how we have our own individual perception to the light that is around us in that specific space and time, much of that light can be observed in nearly countless different spaces and times. Right now, I am perceiving light at this specific space and time, and until all the light ceases, each passing moment of time, I am perceiving a different particle and wave of light that is coming from the same continual source. While the sun is the source of this physical light, I believe that God is the source of all metaphysical light, and unless there is something blocking our perception from this source, we can always see and experience this light, since the source of God is limitless. It is not only specific to who we are, but it is endlessly abundant in all directions. Light is everywhere, reflecting off of everything that it comes in contact with. It is not based on our very small and limited perception of light, but is far greater than such perception. Light, in all retrospect, represents God in the physical world in the sense that it is not only both a particle and a wave, but also provides heat and is endlessly abundant, regardless of individual perspective.

I, myself, have a hard time trying to figure out the great mystery of life through my simple and thoughtful observation. But that is the beauty of it... Something so daily and routine is indeed probably one of the greatest mysteries of life. That is what I love the most: There is only so much I can figure out myself, and the rest I just leave to wonder and awe. What a beautiful world we live in, and what a beautiful world that was created for us.

- Janis the Seeker