THE GUIDING LIGHT

          I have long been taken by the theme of light and darkness, a theme that runs throughout all of nature, of creation, and in ourselves. Be it day or night, brilliance or gloom, clarity or obscurity, the alternating powers of darkness and light seem to be a part of most all that we perceive – and some of what we don’t.

I’ve long sensed the positive and the uplifting forces associated with light and, conversely, the negative, often sinking and depressive feelings often associated with darkness. Light and dark seem almost to be two sides of the same coin.

We speak of a bright new day, of a bright future, of bright and sunny dispositions, auras, and possibilities. But is there a dark positive? A bright negative? A silver lining hidden in every cloud? Just asking… Light and darkness, in my experience, are more often than not found together; one seems to follow the other in due course. Ironically, these opposites seem to exist together in nature, are often perceived together or in succession, and mingled and entwined with each other. Almost by definition, we perceive darkness and light by the absence of one or the other. Whether perceived by one of the five senses or, more intuitively, by the mind, darkness and light run as central and continuing elements throughout our lives in one way or another.

We sometimes seek or hope for a “guiding light” in the midst of problems and difficulties, of crisis, confusion and despair. That light, that “glimmer of hope” we view as a good thing, a positive force, the cousin of optimism and hope for the future. Most of us appreciate the “bright light of reason,” seeing the “light at the end of the tunnel,” and nights lit by the “brilliance of the stars.” Our language is full of other allusions to light. We “see the light” or seek to “shed light on” those dark, sometimes inscrutable, mysteries in “light” of new evidence. At last, we see or view an old subject in a “new light.” Ordinary language is full of allusions to light in one form or another.

The realities of darkness and light run throughout our messy lives, lived out in an often puzzling and murky world all too often fraught with darkness and despair. Will any kind of “guiding light” help us navigate the messiness of life? Religion? Our individual intuitions? AI, with its rapidly advancing codes and algorithms?

This is not a political piece, and I am not a political pundit. Whatever your political stripe, however, what is clear to me that America is today heading down a dark path – one that could set us back decades if not a century and more. Robust speech and debate, freedom of the press and the media, of public broadcasting, are giving way to darkness, intimidation, and fears of authoritarian rule. What we have known as fundamental rights and freedoms, the likes of Due Process and the rule of law – fundamentals that have marked our identity as a nation since its beginning – have now fallen under a shadow of darkness and cloud. America’s bright beacons of liberty and hope, beckoning to a wider world beyond our shores and welcoming all, are today going dark and shutting down. What does this all mean?

So let there be light! And with the hope that the forces of light will prevail in a too often dark and messy world, I offer the following verse:

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THE GUIDING LIGHT

As the world turns from dawn to dusk
And each day brings its night and musk,
Dims all things bright in daytime sight
And darkness covers light so bright.

Yet also is the waking life
When all things show in radiant light
But night’s sleep dims our sense to know
What in daytime show their brilliant glow. 

But comes a cloud, the night and the fog
It mires our senses in shade and bog
The lights go out, the path grows narrow,
We know not when or whether we’re harrowed.

Let us thank our gods for breaking day,
It brings new light -- enlightened ways
And count our lucky stars that say:
We rise and live, in the world we stay.

Yet runs in our bloods a sadder tending
When light gives way to fog and foreboding. 
Ideas new and minds so bright
Give way to fears, to frights, and the depth of night. 

But where darkness reigns in daily lives
Errors and Ignorance delight to hide,
Let us avoid the edge of night,
For Skill and Brilliance love the light.

Let us hope and pray with all our might
That tomorrow’s sun rise with promise and light,
That it rise over freedom and the rule of law
That the new day brings the hope we foresaw.

Let us hope and act for brighter days,
Days that feed on hope, fairways.
That sun may rise, not sink below our gaze,
That ideas bright and progressive will fill the haze.

And let us look to that guiding light,
That we not all live on the edge of night,
Let’s hope, pray and work for freedom’s way,
That the guiding light may carry the day.

So, gather we all, let us work for the better
We’re all in this soupy mess together😊
So far that little candle sheds its light . . . 
Let’s hope for a future long and bright. 

Let there be light!