Tag Archive for 'light'

Susan Waters-Eller: “Light”

carla published on August 14, 2010 in zeitgeist. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

Good morning, SuperForesters! Our talented guest-blogger, Susan Waters-Eller, has just sent in this wonderful essay which discusses the concept of “light” and how it can help us transcend a lot of conflict and struggle on this planet, especially between the world’s religions. It’s quite the fascinating read, and I’m sure you’ll find it just as “enlightening” as I did.

In the course of my search for imagery that might assist a more comprehensive understanding of our spiritual nature it occurred to me that the image of light is associated with the all-encompassing universal intelligence in most if not all religions. Arguments between different faiths overlook this shared central image and I wondered why didn’t we see beyond the human-like god with its warring dualities to the inclusive light beyond it. A conversation with Kris Hjelli the night before he died pointed to the answer.

He was very concerned by all the problems created by our anthropocentrism. The human mindset of being separate and better than the planet and everything on it was for him the root of the problem in our ecological dilemma. That humans think that only humans are important leads to disrespect and disregard for everything else and encourages an underlying selfishness. This started me thinking about whether the anthropocentric mindset might be behind our inability to go beyond human-like images of the divine. By putting an emphasis on the human image, it becomes other and separate. The Image molds the viewpoint and the viewpoint leads us to see a multitude of individual separate beings with a separate god outside of ourselves. Arguments break out around which separate supreme entity and codified book is the right one and none of that feels very spiritually focused.

The image that encompasses all of the separate views and is part of many references to the Infinite Intelligence is the image of Light. It’s a part of mystical experience in all faiths. It’s always been present, but our focus on what’s human kept us on the level of distinctions. Perhaps Islam’s distrust of images had to do with their focus on what is manifest, on what can be seen. But since imagery is so important to understanding, a better image may be necessary to get us to a place that includes us all. Since light includes and envelops all that is around it, it makes sense to go back to Light. After all it was there in Genesis, in the Clear Light of Buddhism, in the radiance of the saints. Darkness is ignorance, inability to see clearly. The metaphor of increasing our light makes the pursuit of learning a spiritual path, since it moves toward greater light. Knowledge illuminates.

Beyond the religious image of light, light has long been a central metaphor for intelligence. We bring a new issue to light, we cast light on a problem, something is seen in a different light. The light in the heart enables us to see our deepest meanings. A person might be referred to as bright, a prophet called a light to the world. When I say a person is full of light, it’s not so much a particular quality I’m feeling, but an outward directed interest, a lively curiosity that connects to what’s seen. We feel it as a level of attention and are more fully in the light in someone’s attentive gaze. The light of receptive attention feels like love. Words of love can betray. Responsive, accepting attention IS love. It doesn’t just represent it. We always have the choice to offer that to others, to be Light. We are drawn to the Light because it offers greater awareness. What we see becomes known in a deeper way than what we hear or read. Envisioning something in relation to our existing inner model is the only way we can integrate our accumulating perceptions into our worldview. We all have these associations with light. It’s been so close we couldn’t see it. We couldn’t see beyond the human intermediary.

What is all encompassing suits me better. Learning, meeting people with different backgrounds and views, seeing and experiencing different places, all increase my light. It’s something we could head toward together.

Pretty amazing, no? If you have any questions or comments for Susan, please be sure to write in the comment section below. And if you’d like to read more of her work, be sure to visit her blog, Seeing Meaning. Love and thanks to Susan for the share!

Thursday’s Inspiration Information — Evans Wadongo

aaron published on March 11, 2010 in build, technology and zeitgeist. 7 Comments Tags: , , , , .

“We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own. ” ~Ben Sweetland

140 years ago, Thomas Edison sat in his industrial research lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey conducting experiments on what was to become his greatest invention — the lightbulb.  Such a simple historical fact seems awfully trivial to us tech-babies living in a world of 3G internet connectivity with the power to tweet our deepest (or more often than not, superficial) reflections and inventions from the day…  Or better yet remotely activate the tivo on our 52″ HD television from half a planet away.

We are a culture moving so warp-speed fast down the superhighway of technology towards better living, that often we forget to stop and smell the electrically flashing roses.  Take a moment to pause from your multi-web browser surfing, turn-off the ipod blasting your favorite streaming podcast in the background.  In fact, turn off the microwave heating your morning coffee, and the lights on your vanity mirror.  Better yet turn off all the lights in your house.  Sit here for a moment in the darkness, and imagine what your life would be like without all the insta-ammenities of modern electricity.  Then reach for that light switch and thank your lucky stars.

The late great comedian George Carlin once joked: “When Thomas Edison worked late into the night on the electric light, he had to do it by gas lamp or candle. I’m sure it made the work seem that much more urgent.” At the very first public demonstration of his incandescent lightbulb, Edison himself famously remarked: “We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.”

The irony and the truth is that in this modern day and age, when most of us take such astounding miracles as electricity and light for granted, it is not the rich at all who still burn candles… but rather the poorest poor. There are many places in the world where people survive without any electricity, quite simply because they don’t have the means or resources to power a simple lightbulb.  Places like Kenya, where many villagers cook and study by the smoke and light of kerosene and torch.

Now if you’ve ever lit a kerosene lamp or read by the flickering light of small fire, you know how quickly the romantic appeal of this smoky, smelly, eye-burning experience fades away.  Now imagine sharing that one flickering lamp with your entire family.  Imagine trying to finish your homework while fighting with your siblings for the last sphere of light.  Imagine doing this night after night, the smoke burning lungs and eyes.  The money so desperately needed for not nearly enough food to feed the family, all going to the high price of fuel and firewood.  The importance of Edison’s invention, something as simple as a single light, can shine such a huge difference in improving people’s lives.

This basic idea struck Kenyan University student Evans Wadongo one day while experimenting with christmas lights in his dorm like… for lack of a better word… a lightbulb.  Evans decided then and there that he would construct a cheap, utilitarian solar-powered lantern that could be used by any villager to light their home.  With the help of a local artisan, he designed the MwangaBora — Swahili for “good light”.

Since the creation of his first MwangaBora, Evans Wadongo has dedicated his life to handbuilding and distributing these solar lamps to rural families throughout Kenya.  At 23 years old, he has already delivered over 10,000 of these lamps… And all free of charge.

The youngest of four children, Wadongo grew up in a home that stressed education, but relied on kerosene and firelight.  Years of exposure to smoke has left Evans with eyesight problems.  But more then this, he understands how many young people drop out of school for reasons as simple as lack of light.  As he says:

“I couldn’t compete effectively with other kids who had access to lighting.  In every home in the village it was the same. Many children drop out of school for these reasons … so they remain poor for the rest of their life. All along I was asking myself if there is anything that can be done to improve this situation.”

Wadongo employs a small staff of volunteers who make a sustainable living off the small donations they receive to help pay for supplies and man hours.  Wadongo himself works full-time with no pay, often eating only one meal a day so more money can go toward the project.  The lamps are made almost entirely from recycled materials (recovered scrap metal, reused solar panels), with only the rechargeable batteries and wiring bought wholesale from China.

An idea so simple, implementing an invention so basic, and yet creating an impact of luminous proportions.  Yet another example of how even the smallest things can spread so much light and love.  And yet another everyday person, full of passion and heart, who is making a difference in the lives of his local community on a grand scale.

Just like that first electric flicker in Edison’s lightbulb, all change needs is a tiny spark.  Thank you Evans Wadongo for being a lighthouse of inspiration, for lighting that spark.

(Much love to CNN Heroes for the link and the continuing wonderful showcase of positivity)

“Where there is much light (&trash) the shadow is deep”

taylor published on December 8, 2008 in art and zeitgeist. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .




Tim Noble & Sue Webster, two lovely, London based artists in LOVE create magnificent shadow art from trash. A pile of seemingly ugly rubbish is meticulously arranged by the duo and back lit to create glorious scenes of simple lovely human existence.

LOVE,

TV

Field of Light

julius published on November 19, 2008 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

If you happen to be around Cornwall, England this winter you should visit The Eden Project. It’s a building complex featuring marvelous architecture but as it happens to be the project isn’t about architecture at all. No, it’s a place where biomes were recreated. So there’s a tropical rain forest building you can visit where they tried to recreate a rain forest. The underlying message is to show what we, humanity, can achieve with a positive attitude towards doing things on behalf of the environment. It’s a very exciting venue and if you happen to visit it, please let us know.

But this post isn’t about The Eden Project. This post is about a project that is hosted at The Eden Project; Field Of Light by Bruce Munro, who designs “creative lighting solutions”. The Field Of Light is placed at the roof of the visitor’s center which happens to be covered with grass. It, in fact, really is a ‘field of light’, created by 6000 acrylic tubes covered with a glass bulb and filled with optic fibers. All the tubes are placed on an area that measures 60 x 20 meters and the total amount of optic fiber cable that was used equals 24 kilometers (approximately 14.9 miles). It looks like this.


It should be noted that this photograph was taken from way up above. But how does the project work? As you can see in the picture it looks like there are certain networks of colors. In the center of every ‘network’ Munro placed a projector that projects light at the ends of the optic fiber cables. Those cables ‘carry’ the light through themselves (that’s the excellent characteristic of optic fiber cable) and end up in the bulbs. This is what Field of Light looks like from up close.


Funny enough Munro got his idea while he was driving in the Australian desert. As he says himself:

The field of light was originally conceived fifteen years ago during a trip through central Australia. The red desert had an incredible feeling of energy; ideas seemed to radiate from it along with the heat.

Field of Light is on display at The Eden Project until spring 2009.

-jdh

GreenPIX

julius published on July 28, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

With the Olympic Games coming up China almost reaches the headlines daily. Most of the time because of pollution and such things. However, thanks to a couple of bright New York architects this harmful trend can be put to a halt.


They designed a brilliant media appliance called GreenPIX (short for GreenPixel). The system stores solar energy while the sun is shining, and when darkness comes in there’s illumination (like in the picture).
It’s also called the zero energy media wall. Currently one of the first ‘walls’ is installed in Bejing, not far away from the site where the Games will be held (it’s actually shown in the picture).
I hear you think, “what is the use of something like that?”. For starters it’s a nice piece of art, and furthermore it offers possibilities for the future. Imagine Times Square running on the sun, with not a single solar cell visible.
And at last, such an awesome piece of sustainable technology is inspiration for anyone brainstorming about being green.

-jdh