Editorial January 21, 1911 Issue

ILLUMINATION

Annie M. Knott

All through the Scriptures light is presented as a symbol of the divine manifestation, from the flat, "Let there be light," up to the statement in the Apocalypse that the city of God had no need of sun or moon, "for the glory of God did lighten it." Mrs. Eddy says, "immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of God: first, in light; second, in reflection" (Science and Health, p. 503). Christ Jesus said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Light and life have indeed seemed to be practically synonymous; nothing grows in darkness, hence light and life are seen to be inseparable. The awakening of spiritual consciousness has in many instances been signalized by a sense of light so vivid that even the physical senses acknowledged its presence, many such cases being recorded in the Bible and in the experiences of some men and women of modern times. In the case of St. Paul the light of Truth came to him with such power that he was blinded and "fell to the earth;" but his sense of Soul was "restored" by the ministrations of a faithful follower of Christ, and to him there came the light which "shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

Physical science has never been able to tell us what light is. The most that has been attempted by physicists is to describe some of the properties of light as cognized materially, modern discoveries having set aside many long-accepted theories; but all this is of little consequence to the one who understands that God is Life and the source of all light. The blind man does not see the objects around him, because he is not conscious of the light; yet it is there all the time. In the same way, one may be blind to spiritual realities and deem them absent because he cannot perceive them. One's greatest need may seem to be health, yet health in so far as it is real is the consciousness of life in God, or rather of God as the only real Life, and this Life can never be absent even for a moment, else would the universe become a dead thing.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

THE REDEMPTIVE IDEA