What's Going on With the World? Light Exposes Everything (Part 2)

"Things refuse to be mismanaged for too long."

Photo by Tschernjawski Sergej on Unsplash

Hi friends,

This is post 2 in a series that explores what’s going on with the world right now. You can find part 1 here.

Today, I want to explore the effects of light on our perception and experience of the world. It’s kinda fun to start writing an article that talks about light on the day of a Solar Eclipse… even if we’re not experiencing totality here in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area.

How about you? How are you spending eclipse day?

Before we get started, I want to correct something I wrote in my last article, where I briefly mentioned the rising mortality rate in the US. I have since found out that this not due to increases in death, but changes in data collection (which is great news!). You can find an in-depth explanation in this article here.

(Side note: when I wrote the article, I got the intuition to fact-check that statement and back it up with a link to a source. I was eager to get my article out and thought that it was such a minor point in my article that I didn’t need to.

Well, this is a great reminder that fact-checking things does matter, and that I’m better off listening to my intuition. My apologies for misstating things.)

More light than ever

On this planet, we have more light than ever. I mean that both metaphorically and literally.

Literal light

Ever since we have mastered electricity, we have been lighting up the night. You can see this effect—which is sometimes called light pollution—on pictures such as this one:

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

In our area—which is close to Washington, DC—it is never really dark at night. I only noticed that it never gets dark here during a major power outage, when close to 100,000 houses lost electricity.

Suddenly, it was pitch black. The stars were visible. The sidewalk… not so much.

I wrote about my experience here, in case you’re interested.

All this light has a huge impact on our wellbeing, work life, and environment. However, there is something that’s even more important right now:

Metaphorical/metaphysical light

If we think about light as awareness or consciousness, then it’s fair to say that we also have more metaphorical/metaphysical light on this planet than ever before.

We are aware of things that happen on the other side of the planet, often right away. In an age where cell phones record better videos than high-end cameras of the past, where everyone can start a blog, and where whistle-blowers can become cultural heroes, it’s hard for people in power to hide something for too long.

That is, of course, a very good thing.

However, there is a downside to it: Unless we are conscious of what’s happening, all this awareness of how power is getting abused can make us feel pretty bad about the state of the world.

Let’s talk about…

The impact of more light on our wellbeing

Imagine you are entering a dark room. You can’t make out much of anything.

Your fingers find a light dimmer on the wall. You are slowly increasing the light in the room. Gradually, you can make out what the room looks like. There seem to be piles of stuff everywhere but in the soft light, it doesn’t look too bad.

As you continue to increase the light, the chaos becomes more and more obvious.

Eventually, you make your way to the window and open the black-out blinds. Bright sunlight streams into the room, highlighting every speck of dust.

You now realize that this room is a mess and hasn’t been cleaned in months.

That’s when you remember that you have guests coming over in a few minutes.

You grab the piles of stuff and put them out of sight—under the bed, in the closet, etc. You grab a broom and sweep the dust underneath the bed.

With a sigh of relief, you sit down on the (now somewhat cleaner) floor.

Suddenly, you feel pressure in your head. You close your eyes in pain. When the pain subsides, you notice that you can see—with your eyes closed. Not only that, but you can also see the chaos you stuffed into the closet and the piles of dust under the bed.

Congratulations, you have X-ray vision!

In my (not yet X-ray) view of the situation, that’s a good analogy for what’s happening right now.

We are becoming much more aware of everything that’s not in alignment. Everything that’s not regenerative, or well-intentioned, or truthful.

And, because our “vision” gets better and better, we are developing more of a bullshit detector. This detector alerts us if someone is just stuffing messy piles of clothes under the bed to make things look nicer, without actually doing the work required to put things in order.

Power abuses have been around for a long, long time—and often, they have been tolerated and accepted as a fact of life. Well, no more of that!

It’s like more and more people are developing an acute allergy against abuse of power, and we need less and less of that allergen to set off our sensitivity.

We now (rightfully) get upset when elections don’t seem fair… when in the not-too-distant past, most people wouldn’t even assume that they have a right to choose who makes decisions for them.

We now (rightfully) get upset when people abuse their power… instead of assuming that “might makes right.”

We now (rightfully) get upset when people get oppressed or discriminated against… instead of assuming that that’s just the natural order of things.

All of these are signs that our awareness and consciousness (our “light”, if you want to call it that) is increasing. That’s why we can now sniff power abuses from many miles away.

And it’s not very pleasant to see how many things are not yet in alignment with our new awareness. How much work there is to do to (metaphorically) clean up house.

Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash

If you are feeling especially upset about things going on in the world right now, it’s probably not because the world has objectively gotten worse. (I’m sure many people who lived in 1944—a mere 80 years ago—would love to trade places with us.)

It’s more likely due to us becoming painfully aware of all the things that are not in alignment with our current level of consciousness and awareness—our belief that everyone deserves respect, equal treatment, and a life with peace and prosperity.

The case for hope

It’s my belief that we will get much closer to that ideal in our lifetime.

As Theodore Parker, an American Transcendentalist, Unitarian minister, and abolitionist, put it in the 19th century (emphasis added):

“Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the right. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.

Things refuse to be mismanaged long.”

Parker correctly predicted the abolition of slavery by pointing towards a moral universe that bends towards justice.

I’m sure he would have been extremely happy to see this idea gaining more awareness thanks to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as President Barack Obama.

What I love about his metaphor of a moral universe that bends towards justice is that it encourages hope.

Parker, who hid people who had escaped from slavery in his house, didn’t live to see the full abolition of slavery. He died in 1860—five years before the ratification and proclamation of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United Constitution.

However, I hope he died hopeful that the moral universe would deliver.

And that’s the value of hope. Even if something is not quite there yet, hope can change our perception of a situation.

Guided meditation for hope: bathing in the river of hope

If you would like to increase your hopefulness, you might like to check out my guided meditation for hope.

In this meditation, we delve deeply into myth. Fair warning: after listening to this, you might never look at water, vultures, or Pandora's box the same way... I hope you will join us for a bath in the river of hope!

Simply find a quiet and safe space, get into a comfortable position, and enjoy the journey. Because YouTube sometimes inserts ads into videos, I recommend using an ad blocker. If you prefer reading to listening, you can find the translation of this meditation on my website here.

When you're done, you can find more information about the imagery and myth below! (I recommend that you go through the meditation before you check out the additional information.)

Warmly,
Louise

Imagery and myth in this meditation

In this guided meditation for hope, I mention a few things that may have you wonder if I'm being a bit too... hopeful. So, let’s look into those.

Pandora's box is a jar and contains the spirit of hope???

Yes. What we think of as a box these days is a mistranslation. It was actually a large jar (πίθος pithos) in Greek. In terms of the spirit of hope who got trapped in the box, I also didn't make this up. The spirit is called Elpis (which is commonly translated as hope). In his poem Works and Days, ancient Greek poet Hesiod described it as follows:

"Only Hope was left within her unbreakable house, she remained under the lip of the jar, and did not fly away. Before [she could], Pandora replaced the lid of the jar. This was the will of aegis-bearing Zeus the Cloudgatherer."

In other words, it was Zeus being Zeus...

Vultures as a positive sign??

During this meditation, I mention that vultures were seen as a positive sign in Ancient Egypt (contrary to the negative association we often have with vultures). There are many sources that confirm this.

For instance, Brooke Byrd writes:

"The vulture held a very high place of honor in ancient Egypt."

Brooke Byry also mentions that the vulture was strongly tied to both royalty and maternity.

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