Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house;
Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
So, Christ is the Light (Example) to the whole world, and His followers are like little lights, to be examples to the people in their area? That thought coincides with the Hymn, Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy, in which God is symbolized as a lighthouse, probably on a hill near the ocean, and we are, symbolically, the lower lights along the shore.
I like this idea, of us being little lights, after the image of the Light, though admittedly nowhere near as bright or powerful, but that concept was shattered by a quote I found in a General Conference talk.
In October 1991, Ted E. Brewerton said, "We can be like a mirror and direct light even into dark places. We are not the sources of light; nevertheless, through us light can be reflected to others." [Link]
I guess my pride is taking issue with that. See, I feel like I generate a little bit of spiritual light. Sometimes, I feel like I generate a very little bit of light. But I'd like to think that at least part of that light is mine. If you ever feel like you gain a little bit of spiritual light from this blog, that light must have come from my direction. Either I generated that light, or I reflected it from somewhere else, from God.
Is Jesus Christ a source of spiritual light? If He is, and we're supposed to become like Him, we're supposed to become sources of light, too. But Brewerton said we're not sources; We're reflections. Are we supposed to become sources? Another possibility is that Jesus Christ isn't a source of light, either, but a reflection of Heavenly Father's light. Does that mean Heavenly Father is a source of spiritual light, or is He a reflection, too? Where does His light come from?
I'd rather think of it as fire. Fire is a source of light. If Jesus Christ was holding a lit torch, He could use it to light candles for us to hold, so we could shine the light, too. In that case, Jesus would have gotten the fire for his torch from God, who symbolically has a huge bonfire going right now. Whether He got His fire originally from someone else or sparked the fire Himself doesn't matter too much. As long as He keeps his fire burning, it's His fire, not a reflection of someone else's. And my little candle that was lit by Jesus' torch? It's mine.
Maybe both analogies are wrong, or maybe the truth lies somewhere between the two ideas. Maybe we're supposed to reflect the light of Christ like mirrors until we somehow get our own lights. Maybe I'm taking the analogy too literally, and I need to step back and recall what the light represents: Knowledge and/or Wisdom.
We can't really create knowledge. We can find it, maybe, or have it given to us, and then we can share it with others. Can we be our own sources of wisdom? Can we gain wisdom on our own? Yeah, kind of, maybe. If somebody does something stupid and realizes that it was a stupid thing to do, he found out that it was a bad idea, not because anyone told him, but because he learned it himself by experience.
On the other hand, I disagree with what the Buddhist pamphlet said about wisdom needing to come from within. If someone you trust tells you that something's a bad idea, you know it's a bad idea, so you may be wise enough not to do it, even if you don't personally understand why it's a bad idea. You didn't get that wisdom yourself, but you still have it.
But what do knowledge and wisdom have to do with light? They can offer guidance, and show you things. That might be about it. I think I'm going to have to study this some more before I blog again tomorrow. Maybe I'll have an answer for you by then.
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