They installed motion sensor lights in our basement parking.
It is a beautiful thing- saves a lot of electricity.
As you move towards your
car, the lights flicker on, and turn off after a while..
The first day they did so, I enjoyed my walk to the car in
my parking spot (furthest from the gate- of course!!) , an interesting
thought occurred to me. Suppose I was afraid of the dark – of the unknown.. I’d
never venture out towards my car because it would be too dark. And I’d never
get to it, because it will always stay too dark. It is my action – my movement –
that causes the lights to switch on. If I walk, the path lights up. If I do not
walk, it stays dark. Is that not a lot how life is?
A big part of the plan, if there is any, is unknown to us.
Life is a series of unknowns- and can be pretty scary. But when you know where
your goal is, and when you have the conviction of moving towards it despite the
dark – it is then that the lights switch on. It is our action- our
determination to move on despite the darkness- that creates the light. We are
the harbingers of light, and if we decide to wait for the whole path to be
lighted before moving on- we might have to wait forever.
Those who do not walk to the unknown have a perfectly
legitimate explanation- did it not stay dark forever? Were they not right by
deciding not to walk into that abyss? It never lighted, afterall !!
Of course it never
lighted- because you never walked.. The unknown will stay unknown – and frightening-
unless you look at it in the eye and are prepared to meet and greet it like an
old acquaintance. For it is at that point of time that the fearsome unknown turns
in to an old acquaintance.
An ancient Sanskrit hymn says –“ Tamso ma jyotir gamay”, translated
loosely as “ May I move from darkness to light”. It is a major paradigm shift to realize, that
the lamp we want to walk towards, is us ourselves. And I have my motion sensor basement lights to
thank for it.
