Photo Credit: Wm. E. Ashton
Does the light of a lamp shine and keep its glow until its fuel is spent? Why shouldn’t your truth, justice, and self-control shine until you are extinguished?”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 12.15
When certain cultures speak of death, a phrase one often hears is that someone’s “light was snuffed out”. The flame that was their spirit burns no more. Great metaphor, really… but that saying has so much more to unpack besides it’s poetic nature, especially if you’re a pagan-spirited person.
See, before the Axial Awakening (see Rev. Missy’s work on the subject) our ancient polytheist ancestors connected the divine “fire” that is the Sun to the same fire on the ground among people; the fire still being divine. There was a time that fire was only ever gifted from the heavens via a thunderbolt striking something dry and brittle. So, the idea of fire-as-divine came along with us throughout many cultures’ journeys.
After the Axial Awakening, the thought process regarding the indwelling of divinity/fire went something like this:
We agree that Fire is divine stuff, and it’s warm when it’s burning and cold when it goes out, just like it is warm in the day, and colder at night when the Sun is gone. Human beings, too, are warm to the touch when they’re alive, but grow cold when they die… therefore, we must have an indwelling Fire that is our life-Fire. Divinity, then, dwells within each of us. Perhaps we are smaller parts of greater divinity, sparks of a greater fire? But can we REALLY subdivide divinity? Fire is fire, after all.
Today, I ask myself, if there is divine Fire burning within me, what kind of light would it be producing? A less-than-virtuous one? Is the inner-lamp what lacks virtue? Is it the lamp oil? Is it the flame itself?
I think not.
Remember the light we shine forth is meant to be filled with virtue. It's the nature of that light. However, we can get in the way of the light. Ego casting its shadow as it obscures the light from shining. Therefore, the light of our words, deeds, and feelings can either brighten the world…
… or its lack can leave us all in the dark.
(See y’all tomorrow)
See, before the Axial Awakening (see Rev. Missy’s work on the subject) our ancient polytheist ancestors connected the divine “fire” that is the Sun to the same fire on the ground among people; the fire still being divine. There was a time that fire was only ever gifted from the heavens via a thunderbolt striking something dry and brittle. So, the idea of fire-as-divine came along with us throughout many cultures’ journeys.
After the Axial Awakening, the thought process regarding the indwelling of divinity/fire went something like this:
We agree that Fire is divine stuff, and it’s warm when it’s burning and cold when it goes out, just like it is warm in the day, and colder at night when the Sun is gone. Human beings, too, are warm to the touch when they’re alive, but grow cold when they die… therefore, we must have an indwelling Fire that is our life-Fire. Divinity, then, dwells within each of us. Perhaps we are smaller parts of greater divinity, sparks of a greater fire? But can we REALLY subdivide divinity? Fire is fire, after all.
Today, I ask myself, if there is divine Fire burning within me, what kind of light would it be producing? A less-than-virtuous one? Is the inner-lamp what lacks virtue? Is it the lamp oil? Is it the flame itself?
I think not.
Remember the light we shine forth is meant to be filled with virtue. It's the nature of that light. However, we can get in the way of the light. Ego casting its shadow as it obscures the light from shining. Therefore, the light of our words, deeds, and feelings can either brighten the world…
… or its lack can leave us all in the dark.
(See y’all tomorrow)
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