Let there be light...

"A candle looses none of its light by lighting another candle." ~Unknown
And yet energy is squandered when attempting to light a steal rod, or wet noodle….


Many years ago I worked with two brilliant and wise women. They owned Stereoscope Bakery in Incline Village, Lake Tahoe. The women felt strongly that everyone should know how to bake their own bread, much like Gandhi promoted the looming of cotton to make one’s own clothes. They offered free bread baking classes, as a way of empowering others. Fascinatingly, they found that when the classes were free, people did not honor the gift, show up on time or complete the classes. Later classes were offered with a fee. With that a value was established and the participants were able to learn how to bake their own bread.

I’m not saying that everything should have a price, just that it should have a value. Otherwise it can be “casting pearls before swine.” This is a soul saddening dilemma because the caster of peals, can believe, because the pig has no appreciation for the peals, (gift of self given) that there is no value. It’s hurtful to the soul not to be seen or received. It contributes to low self-esteem. For a sustainable system the wholeness and value of the elements, in this case the resource of self must be respected.

Lighting the candle of those who step forth, holding their candle out to yours is one thing. It is entirely another to drag someone out of an unconscious stupor, dig though their trash, find something potentially flammable, put it in there hand and light it on fire. That never ends well.
Then there are the ones who take heart, ego or imagination hostage, demanding the lighting of the steal rod they are wielding… Good luck with that.

The act of sharing light, fire, knowledge, creativity, passion, does not give the giver say in how the recipient uses, expresses, or extinguishes the light. Attachment drains off energy from the potentially sustainable system of community growth and sharing.

Giving is only half of the circle. The other half is receiving the gift of others. Then there is gratitude for those who came before and lit the way… gratitude is its own magical bridge to new land.

There is a story that each soul upon birth in given the amount of energy needed to blast out of the orbit of the time and situation of which they were born, and into the orbit of the souls destiny. The problem is energy is often caught in the webs of others. Learning to liberate ones energy and still be open to give and receive is its own form of mastery.

Mentors, those who can embody passionate engagement with boundaries can be invaluable here, imprinting by healthy example. Whenever possible choose to work, play, and interact with the realest people you can find. Those for whom you can exchange light, ideas, empathy, compassion, maps, passions and more…