The (Other) L-Word, Part 5

Moths are drawn to light … and so are we.

According to the old saying, people can be drawn to things that are harmful to them ‘like a moth to a flame’. But it’s not really flame that moths are drawn to, is it?

They’re drawn to light.

And so are we.

There’s something unavoidably compelling about light, isn’t there?

Aside from the fact it’s really, really useful, light is also an extremely intriguing topic of discussion, contemplation and study.

Yahoo Serious starred in the wacky 1988 pesudo-biopic Young Einstein. (Hello, ’80s, what were you thinking?)

Scientists and philosophers have, over the millennia, struggled to identify what, exactly, light is. Apparently, light today is classified as both a particle and a wave – thanks in large part to a ground-breaking paper written by a young Albert Einstein in 1905.

We’ve known about light since the dawn of humanity, and it’s only in the last century or so that our best and brightest minds have begun to really get a grip on what it is.

Pretty mysterious stuff, apparently.

I’m sure Dr. Sheldon Cooper is quite relieved I’m done talking about quantum physics.

Advanced science is way over my head, so that’s about as deep into quantum physics as I’m prepared to wade. (You’re welcome, Dr. Cooper.) But even here at ground level, the enigmatic nature of light is pretty fascinating.

1988 was also the year that the late, great Jeff Healey’s album, See the Light, came out – so the ’80s clearly weren’t all bad.

For example, we use the phrase ‘see the light‘ often – particularly in Christian circles – but is light itself visible? When we see a sunbeam, for instance, what we’re actually seeing is dust particles illuminated by light coming in the window.

And when we look at a glowing lantern (whether it’s green or any other hue), for instance, are we seeing light itself, or merely seeing the object that light is emanating from, thanks to the light that’s emanating from it?

I’m drawn (like a moth to a light) to this topic from time to time, and find it fairly entertaining and paradigm-pushing in its own right.

But when I put my Faith Goggles on, and I think about light as something powerful and life-giving that doesn’t fit neatly and exclusively into any of the categories humans have created for it, and as something that is itself invisible but makes all things visible, I can’t help but be wowed by the accuracy of the description of God as the Light of the World.

Now, if I could just figure out how to keep my Faith Goggles on all the time…

Light be with you.