“Learning is turning darkness, which is the absence of light, into light. Learning is creation. It is making something out of nothing. Learning grows until it dawns on you.” – Moshe Feldenkrais
from Body Awareness as Healing Therapy: The Case of Nora
There is a Persian folk hero named Mullah Nassr Eddin who is the subject of many stories that illustrate the human condition. In one: One evening, a man noticed Nasruddin Hodja searching the ground under street lamps.
“Why are you looking here, then?”
“Here? I didn’t lose it here. I lost it over by the house.”
The man stopped to help the Hodja look. After several minutes, he said, “Hodja, are you sure you lost it here?”
“A ring, my son, I lost a ring.”
“Hodja, what are you looking for?”
“The light under this street lamp is much better than by the house.”
I grew up in a house where light was an expensive commodity. If we left the lights on in a room, we were fined a dollar. I learned to run up and down the stairs at night and go to the bathroom in the dark so I didn’t have to remember the light. In other words, in order to not have to pay attention to the light switch, I had to learn to pay attention not to smash into doors. At least when I tripped over a doorway, I didn’t get fined. To this day, my husband Ron, who is a photographer obsessed with illuminating everything, is forever turning on overhead lights when he sees me chopping vegetables or reading in the dark. I always protest that I can see just fine. But it is so much better with the light on.
The approach of winter in the Northern Hemisphere has me reflecting (pun intended) on where I might be looking for answers in all the wrong places. The truth is often hiding in the dark, while I shine the light of my attention on distractions and old stories. Instead of holding myself accountable for shining a light on my challenges, I stumble around till I smash into obstacles I should have seen.
To see clearly: what is needed, how I am, what is true, are things I wish deeply for myself and for everyone as the holiday lights go on around the world.
As our eyes are the receptors of light, here is one of my favorite lessons for increasing reception :-).