Monday, December 28, 2009

Points of Light

OK! So maybe it is the copious amounts of “dairy-free eggnog” (just start with 12 parts of rum... and enjoy!) or maybe it is the Festive Season. I don't know what to blame this one on but most people who know me know that I give advice only VERY rarely and then only if somehow coerced into doing it. So this is maybe a one-time break with tradition. Think of it not so much as advice per se but rather the sharing of a revelation that I had over the Holidays.

Most of our universe is covered in darkness. The recent “dark matter” discoveries seem to substantiate that thought. Look up at the night sky sometime. The universe is mostly dark emptiness. But the remarkable thing about all of this darkness is that when we look up at the night sky it is NOT the darkness we see. It is the little points of light. They give us an “orientation”. They help us see more clearly. They give us hope. They confer a sense of “eternity”. How many times have we heard the sentiment that we are probably NOT alone in the universe? Never has the answer been more “obvious” to me than looking up at the night sky. Seeing all those stars out there shining their little hearts out into the darkness (almost literally) gives me the courage to say that it is almost bordering on probabilistically ridiculous to think that we are the ONLY life forms out there in the universe. … And this gives me hope!

The point is that the stars don't know and don't care that they give me hope. But their shining just DOES. We have that choice in our lives. To be points of light or to simply see the “darkness”. There is much of it around us (we may feel that this is particularly true these days but this has been true throughout the ages) and we can easily see nothing but the loneliness of that darkness in our lives. We can take social “averages” and tell ourselves that we are “bright enough” or that “others are darker than us” etc. and so give ourselves the excuse to sink to the level of gray empty darkness that surrounds us and swallows us whole. But if we look at the history books, they are not filled with the vast “emptiness” of “average humanity” They are filled with the “heros”, the “points of light that did something because it was the RIGHT THING TO DO.

The alternative is to think of ourselves as the social equivalent of the stars in the night sky and to do our best to shine without expecting anything to happen as a direct consequence in our lifetime. To seek out the other “points of light” in the darkness and to take comfort in their presence throughout history. To be a part of hope and faith in other human beings in future generations whom we may not yet know. This is a wholesome and positive way to live and by doing this in our own lives and seeking to synergize with others who do so in their own ways in their own lives (think of our “shining” as one wavelength in what will be a whole SPECTRUM through the combination with other “wavelengths”) we can hopefully create a brightness that outshines the darkness and brings hope and faith to countless generations.

There is a need in this world today I believe for such a grass roots “Points-of-Light” movement. We cannot change the way the universe is but through it we can just make the light more memorable than the dark.

Are you with me on this one? Let me know.