The Rising Light

For many of us, this time of year is when we celebrate life's triumph over death. Rebirth, renewal, resurrection. The passing of the last traces of winter, the fullest bloom of spring. For some of us these stories have more specific, embodied meanings beyond the ebb and flow of the natural world. Themes of protection, guardianship, and sacrifice. He is Risen. “Hristos a Înviat. Adevărat a Înviat.” The Earth is no longer a sepulchre. No longer a tomb. The axis of reality itself has shifted. Through grace – divine love, essentially – mankind is no longer bound to time and space in quite the same way. Many become One. The place of the skull, called Golgotha in a certain tongue, is no longer the site of mere ruination. Instead, our minds become something more. A place of crossing and transformation. A holy light linking earth and heaven, a flame carried through faith into each homestead. Men might argue over the details of these beautiful stories, endlessly warring over the so-called truth of this or that version of their favoured legend. But I would hope we can all at least agree on the fact that, regardless of our own private beliefs, denominations or rituals, for many of us this is a time of new life, new light, and new opportunities. I can only speak for myself. But I've seen what can happen to human beings who are denied the sustenance of stories, the comfort of communities and the joy of shared celebrations. Given enough time, a dark, fallen psyche is always the eventual result. Warring with our fellow humans over the minutia of each faith is a fool's errand, believe me. Beauty, truth and good character are often lost in such pointless wars. But believing in nothing at all is even worse. I'm not asking men to become theists if they truly believe that doing so is to choose fable over truth, fiction over fact. But I am encouraging them to at least be open-minded. Sensitive to the wonders of Creation at work all around them. I would suggest our knowledge of physics is neither complete nor infallible, that the binary of religion versus science is a false one based on incorrect axioms and incomplete data. Men need both, don't they? Soul and sobriety? Imagination and reason? Perhaps a certain playwright was correct when he suggested there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy. I have always believed in the human heart's capacity for love, imagination and connection. I hope you do too, my friend. As someone I love dearly recently explained to me, “Inimile noastre se înalță prin dragoste. Și iubirea e magia cea mai înaltă dintre toate.”