Fall Light

October 5, 2018 Alissa Martin

I sit here, sipping a ginger lemon tea and noticing the way the light plays off the wall as it streams in through the window. The cats are both nearby, curled up on chairs.

Next week, I’ll be moving to a new home, so I’m enjoying my last moments in this space. I’ve been here since June house and cat-sitting.

While noticing the light, the cats and the view from the nearby window, I remembered something I read last week. It was an interview shared by Daily Good (a website and newsletter that shares news that inspires). The whole interview was very inspirational. What was brought to mind was this piece…

This is a project done by the physicist, Arthur Zajonc. He and his friend designed a science exhibit, in which one views a region of space that’s filled with light. They’d taken special care to ensure that light does not illuminate any interior objects or surfaces in the box. Within the box there’s only pure light, and lots of it. The question that they had is, what does one see? How does light look when left entirely to itself? So, the projector sends a brilliant light through optical elements into the box, and when they went over to the view port and looked in, they saw absolute darkness. Although the box is filled with light, they saw nothing but the blackness of empty space. Now, on the outside of the box, there’s a handle connected to a wand that can move into and out of the box’s interior. And when the wand moves into the dark space, it becomes brilliantly lit on one side. So, the space is clearly not empty. It’s filled with light. Yet, without an object on which the light can fall, one sees only darkness. They say light itself is always invisible. We see only things, only objects, not light.

A Conversation with Michael Penn, PhD: On Hopelessness and Hope

We don’t see light unless there is something for it to illuminate.

As we also can’t know light without dark. Everything is interwoven. Yoga. Unity.

May you feel connected,

Alissa