"The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple." --Psalm 119:130

"Keep on moving to the first rays of dawn": I've been thinking about light a lot lately. Darkness so often becomes the descriptor of negative loneliness and despair, while light holds promise of warmth and illumination. When I see friends posting online about their pain, I find I offer words about light: "Even if you feel you are in complete darkness, you are not alone. Call out and the lights of your life will answer."

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

--John, 1:5

It is so essential that we surround those who perceive themselves to be in darkness; and to be ready to steady their falls; and to reach out to them when the stumble; and if they call out we must be prepared to answer with loving kindness, peace, and compassion...

"Keeping it on 'til the day stays strong": I call my father sometimes when I perceive myself surrounded by darkness. My father reminds me that the sun is shining. He tells me that it will come up again tomorrow. He explains to me that that the sun is important for us, both physically and metaphorically. He suggests that even when it is cloudy or rainy—and when I cannot see the sun—that it is still there, shining on something. The sun can blind if we look into it directly, but nourishes us when we allow it to shine upon us. The sun is life. The sun helps growth. The sun is constant. Thank you, sun. Thank you, dad...

I like the sun in its transitioning moments, morning and evening. Long shadows provoke me and provide me with opportunities to learn.

The sun, above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

--William Wordsworth, The Tables Turned

The morning sun—often cool and yet still warm on our face in the dampness chill of dawn—offers hope, a quiet reflective time to prepare for the day. The evening sun often brings a warm melancholy with it—another quiet reflective time accompanied by gratitude or perhaps some regret. It is good to hold on to the gratitude and leave the regrets with the passing of the day...

"Runnin 'til the night time blazes on": We are one week from the darkest time of the year; people have begun lighting their homes with twinkling lights like stars, and towns have begun lighting their streets and central places with "holiday" lighting. I love the little lights all about!

We light candles in windows to indicate that someone's home... waiting; we light lamps in high places to guide people home. In the home a warm fire casts a glow on the hearth and perhaps on the hearts those who gather around it in their togetherness. There by the soft mesmerizing light there might be conversation, laughter, or quiet reflection. The light in the window beacons to the stranger on the road, or to the one who is late to the gathering. It is a time of year to come together and hold those we care for close to us. It is a time when we must protect our most precious relationships from the darkness...

Lighting the night is an ancient practice. From the Germanic druids lighting their forrest trees at the solstice, to Maccabeans experiencing miracles of lamp light to light sacred spaces. "For Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, a lamp offering carries the wish to attain buddhahood and the aspiration to recognize the clear light at the time of death, thereby experiencing liberation in that moment. In this way lamp offerings are associated with transitions in one's life." (https://www.kagyu.org/ktd/monastery/butterlamps_preview.php)

If you wish for sublime realization, offer hundreds of lights.

--Root Tantra of Chakrasamvara

I wish for sublime realization. I yearn for acceptance of the truth, even when that which I seek is not pleasant. Desire for illumination drives me; my attachments and desires bind me. Such a catch-22.   

Back in 1992 I lived in a Burmese Buddhist monastery/guest house located about 1 km from the enlightenment spot of Siddhartha Gautama—the Buddha—while I earned a semester's credit worth of comparative Buddhist studies, cultural anthropology, and Hindi. Four months in India and Nepal changed my life. I found a language for my perceptions of the world. I found a practice that made sense to my intellect. I found a way to put my intellect in its place.

One evening I had the opportunity to spend an evening with hundreds of friends and strangers, each lighting hundreds of lamps with the hopes of collectively lighting a million lights. What a night! There was a celebratory energy amidst the quiet reflective act of using wax-wick-sticks to light butter lamp after butter lamp in the courtyards surrounding the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya. The light cast upon our faces as the sun went down, and the warmth from the lamps on our skin as the pleasant cool of the Indian night arrived, was calming, peaceful, wonderful. The darkness never arrived that night. Not even a little bit. The lights of thousands of lamps lit the crowd who shared a similar purpose, each individual lost in a collective effort...

"All along I keep singing my song": Each year I try to find a theme of light for our Christmas-time holiday card. I have offered an Celtic proverb each year: "May the blessing of light be on you—light without and light within." And I have included a blessing each year as well: "May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home. May good and faithful friends be yours, wherever you may roam. May peace and plenty bless your world with joy that long endures. May all life's passing seasons bring the best to you and yours!"

This year I switched it up a little, removing the blessing and including the following instead:

There is always light to show the way; especially on the darkest nights, stars in heaven shine their brightest. May the sun shine warmly for you this coming year, and on those cold crisp nights, when the moon is new, may the stars about you light your way.

-me

I hope light in all its forms finds its way to you, the reader. Blessings, peace & compassion...

Keep on moving to the first rays of dawn
Keeping it on 'til the day stays strong
Runnin 'til the night time blazes on
All along I keep singing my song
--Matisyahu, Sunshine