Thursday, July 8, 2021

As a philosophical and spiritual concept, Light is unambiguous, It symbolizes awareness, understanding, and compassion. Consider this passage, for example, from the First Epistle of John (ch. 2 KJV):

He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
Notice also in this passage that darkness is a metaphor for the absence o light: the absence of awareness, the absence of understanding, the absence of compassion. We could argue that hate is a positive force like love. But I believe we would lose that argument. What we call hate is rooted in the self-centered indifference to the pain and suffering of others. It is the condition that prevails in the absence of awareness, understanding, and love, in much the same way that darkness is the way we experience the absence of light or that cold the way we experience the absence of warmth.