Whether it is daytime, and we are basking in the glory of the sun, or we are turning on lights within our home to illuminate our surroundings as evening and nighttime approach, light has become a fundamental necessity for us human beings to function. But aside from being a necessity for us to carry out our daily tasks, light holds a very powerful spiritual meaning.
In the spiritual realm, light represents all things good and beneficial. While it holds different meanings, the most common meaning is that it represents the divine, a higher power, and the ultimate enlightenment. Light is all things pure, and it’s always triumphant in the battle against darkness.
Let us take a deeper look at light and what it represents, not just in this world, but in the spiritual world too.
The Deeper Spiritual Meaning
In almost all beliefs and all aspects of these beliefs and life, there is thought to be a constant battle between good and evil. Stemming from religious beliefs, it has been established that God is represented by light and that the devil is represented by darkness.
It’s a battle that has begun before time and will continue to the end of time. Through this battle, there is a constant fight for dominance over the earth and over humans who are the inhabitants of the earth. But the battle is always won with light in the darkness.
The spiritual battle between good and evil can also be seen in the physical. Light is known to always overcome the darkness. Even in the darkest room, the slightest bit of light can allow the eyes to quickly adapt and see, albeit just the immediate surroundings, but this slightest bit of light can override even the most all-consuming darkness.
Light in the Dark
Light has an illuminating effect that allows not just itself to be seen, but also its immediate surroundings to be seen. Light has the ability to extend its force and its power and makes everything it touches visible. Once the eye has seen the appeal and the beauty of light, it rarely wants to experience the darkness.
The spiritual meaning of light does not end with its representation of God, but just as light rays touch everything near to it, light also represents other divine elements including spirits and angels.
Light symbolizes love as can be seen with a unifying candle being lit at matrimony ceremonies, and it can symbolize wisdom, education, and knowledge, with many educational institutes likening knowledge to light, or a flame burning in the darkness.
It has also been seen that light represents hope. In many cases, people speak about ‘a light at the end of the tunnel,’ which means that despite the darkness and the difficult circumstances that one may be facing, there is hope still to come.
When people have experienced near-death experiences, they have reported seeing a great, bright light. It is unknown if this light represents the divine and them heading towards the afterlife, or if this light represents a continued life on earth, but light has come to closely represent both life and the afterlife.
A Representation of Pure Goodness
Throughout history, light, and its symbolism, has never been associated with anything negative. It is always universally known that light holds innate goodness. Perhaps it is that in its basic nature, light shares its effects with everything surrounding it, or that it makes the unpleasantness of darkness disappear. Light is always sought out and pursued.
In a spiritual interpretation, and even in the literal interpretation, light is presumed to be the most natural form of existence. Darkness, however, is not natural and is only made possible by the absence of light. Even in the nighttime, the moon and stars provide some sort of light to shelter us from unnatural darkness.
Light in the Physical
With its strong spiritual representations, light also holds immense importance in the physical world. Every living creature on earth is dependent on light for survival. While our greatest source of natural light is the sun, humans have worked increasingly hard to recreate light within their homes.
Humans have created the possibility for us to experience light even when its dark. Most of the world is so dependent on the synthetic light we have created that even during power outages or when we face interruptions in power supply, we are thrust into great distress with there not being any light.
But aside from being a necessity for us to see and experience things, at our most basic and fundamental makeup, we have an innate clock that is guided by the hours of the day that are light. Our internal circadian rhythm is an internal clock that every human being is born with.
Our circadian clock helps us differentiate day from night because our bodies know that when it is dark, it is time for rest. In darkness, we are not meant to be productive, and rather the times when we are meant to be active is when there is light shining.
Our basic human structure and inclination is to be active and productive during light hours. Additionally, when it is dark outside, our body has a physiological response to release a hormone, called melatonin, which encourages our body to rest and sleep when it is dark.
At our most basic form, humans are designed to move towards the light, like a moth to the flame.
Conclusion
Knowing the spiritual meaning of light and its strong correlation to goodness, we should all strive to be the light in the lives of those we meet. Being a constant from the dawn of time, it is likely that light will continue to represent all the good that the divine and the physical have to offer.
