The Science of Light and Reflection

As I started my meditation this morning, I asked for a “clearly lighted path.” As many are these days, I have been navigating some challenges searching for “the” path to take into my “future.”

As I write this, I realize how much I have neglected the teachings of my prior article, “And The River Flows…” Finding joy in each day, as I shared in this article, is a process of simply allowing the moment to be as it is and fully take it in. Speaking of “paths” and “future” contradicts this process. However, for the sake of learning more and as a means to share what was shared with me in meditation, I will proceed.

To explore the concept of a clearly lit path, the science of light and its reflection is pertinent. I immediately rose from my meditation to more fully understand the physics of light and reflection. Without boring you with the details, light travels as a waveform. When a waveform of one density hits another of a different density, reflection and refraction occur, for example, water and light.

Close your eyes and remember the way in which sunlight, or moonlight, dances on water. The rippling of the water’s movement causes the light to appear as millions of sparkling diamonds.

Now consider that each of us is like one of those sparkles, always moving from moment to moment, connected in some way to all others in the universe like molecules in a vast ocean. When the light happens to hit upon us, we sparkle. In the next moment, the light may or may not find us, but we can be certain that soon, due to our own movement, the light will find us again, and we will shine.

Take this a couple of steps further. The light is always there. We, as an ocean, are connected as one. When the light shines on one molecule of water or one person, it is also “ours.” It is the beauty of the whole that is ours. Each sparkle on the water’s surface is an expression of beauty that is connected to us and is ours to enjoy.

When we fully encompass this idea, there is a warmth that radiates from our own microcosm of self to all others who form the ocean of humanity, regardless of the forms and beliefs that each self-microcosm expresses. This warmth is love. This warmth is God.

What better than to recognize that the light of love, the light of God always finds us no matter where we move along our “path?” What could be better than understanding that although we may not, as individuals, always recognize another person’s moment as a sparkling diamond, we can be certain that each moment contains millions of sparkles on the ocean of humanity. We can be certain that in each moment we are connected to that sparkle and have only to “remember” our connectedness to share in that warmth.

Our paths are ablaze in light at all times. It is only when we lose our memory of connectedness that we forget how free we are to enjoy each moment of the sparkle.

Take today to reflect on this concept. Close your eyes, and deeply breathe in the idea of light dancing on water. Feel the inner sense of light, warmth and love. It is always there for us to find and enjoy.