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As a maxim, "Mind the Light" is shorthand for a constellation of related notions.
First, what is "the Light"? As a member of the Religious Society of Friends, my meaning includes the Quaker sense: Quakers bear witness to an Inward Light in all people, perhaps in all creatures. In this sense, the Light is linked to God's presence and action within.
Some would associate the Inward Light with conscience, and that association is warranted. The way I would put it is that the conscience is our organ for sensing the Light; it is responsive to the Inward Light in the same way that our eyes receive and respond to the outward light.
Years ago, I found this quote by Howard Brinton which sketches the contrast between conscience and the Light, while acknowledging their functional correspondece in practice:
Though conscience is an imperfect instrument for transmitting the Light, its claims are absolute and must always be obeyed, for conscience gives us the highest knowledge of the Light that we have at any one time. Because clearer and clearer knowledge may be progressively attained as the virtue of obedience grows, Friends have never declared any doctrine to be a final and unalterable creed.
– Howard Brinton
What he doesn't say, which deserves at least as much attention as their correspondence, is that any distortions in our conscience lead to distortions in our apprehension of the Light and its guidance. Brinton asserts a progressive clarifying of conscience that grows in tandem with our obedience to the Light's demands.
I would say that it takes more than blind obedience: the conscience is best nurtured in conversation with wisdom literature and with a society of friends who hold their understandings and their conduct accountable to the truth as they best apprehend it. Without those, misapprehensions of the Light may easily grow more distorted together with increasing certainty and zeal.
I would be remiss to leave out another religious sense of "the Light" that early Friends took seriously. In the Gospel of John, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (Jn. 8:12). Historically, Quakers have understood the Inward Light not only as a spiritual or moral illumination without intelligence or will, but as a _personal_ presense: A knower who beholds us, each and all of us, in our true natures and conditions; a knower both human and Divine.
Beyond the religious meaning, "the Light" is also an epistemic metaphor. It has to do with how we know we know what we know (if anything). Because darkness conceals reality from us and light reveals it, "the Light" is a metaphor for our entire apparatus for discovering truth in the fabric of our experience, and creating knowledge out of the chaos of information.
If there is a Light, so what? What implication does that have for us? For me?
My maxim is to _Mind_ the Light. That is, pay attention to it. Concern oneself with it. Care for it. It's the same sense as "minding" one's manners, or saying "I don't mind". When one minds the Light, one bears it in mind, keeps it close to one's awareness and holds one's choices up to it.
What that means to me is setting aside time every day to "keep watch". That is, silently observe the Light and what it may show me: In my inner life, in stressful situations and conflicts, in my routine choices, and in my creative work.
If this sounds like mindfulness meditation or similar practices, I won't deny the similarity.
Even after decades of practice, I find myself fiendishly vulnerable to distracting thoughts during these vigils, even if the period is only five minutes. One thing that helps me detatch myself from distracting thoughts is reading a short passage, usually out loud, of some text that reminds me of my intention to consent to the Light. Lately, I've been working my way through the pastoral letters of George Fox, but many other writings have served me in this way.
I could say more, but this feels like a good stopping point. That is what I mean when I remind myself to Mind the Light.
~gaptooth
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title: Mind the Light
author: Gaptooth
editor: neovim v0.4.4
published: 2021-05-04
modified: 2021-05-04
---