In order to see the true essence of anything, to see and understand the often times subtle dimensions of any object, be it a person, a problem, an idea or a journey, there has to be a source of illumination.  I wrote a children’s story once about a culture whose understanding of the world depended on different groups who were given the power of a color to help their world understand the truth of the world as expressed through that color.  I think I broke up the range of colors into areas like science, art, history, religion etc.  But to truly understand something…all the groups had to shine their light at the same time, creating a light so white that the true essence of “the object” could be seen in its fullest.  The truth could be seen only with all the colors.  Of course in every story there is an antagonist…and that was one person who began to pit the color groups against each other and…long story short, everything started to fall apart and no one could see anything but their own color.  I know, my metaphors were not real subtle, and I’m not sure I even have a copy of the story anymore, but I think the point I wanted to make is that the brightest light, combines all colors to dissipate the dark.

Face it, all of us have unique perspectives on how we live in this world, we all “color” things in our own way.  And we are also limited by that unique perspective, because we haven’t walked in any body else’s shoes but our own.  Listening to others and combining our individual “colors” can achieve a greater light.  Like trying to explain the color purple to someone who is color blind, it isn’t easy.  It demands that we have the trust necessary to let someone show us to the best of their ability what the experience of a new color can be.  It’s also frightening because adding a new color to our personal spectrum will change the way we see everything from that moment on.  When I embraced Christianity as my faith, that is what happened to me.  Nothing ever looked the same again.  But with the wisdom of many of my teachers, I never negated the beauty of the color spectrum.  Individually, they have their own worth, but are so much more illumination when combined.

Jesus used light all the time in his teachings…and those are the teachings that challenge my perspective on the world every day.  Faith, hope, love, peace, forgiveness, honor, sacrifice…etc, are the mechanical behaviors I practice as a means to keep the brightness that illuminate my world, and let me tell you I fail at it every day.  It will never be enough to simply know that idea intellectually.  Our bodies and souls must be the prism that combines all the colors together into the purest light, and that only happens through the sanctity of grace…a grace that is freely given to all, and experienced uniquely by everyone like the delicate hues in the rainbow.  We are all essential.  We are all different. We all add substance and dimension to our world.