Light Fantastic!

We see, therefore it be!

But what are we truly seeing?

When Sun comes to budge, and the Moon floats up above, why is it that all escapes from me?

What is this light that reveals the world? Is it truly divine, or is it an act of Nature?

Is it mine to grasp or is it heretic to savor?

Leave me be- what about God? I thought his spirit was a light that never turned off?

How is it that I'm still enveloped in the dark?

Why is it, then, that I can manipulate His art?

Why is it then, that his light ceases to be, when the walls come crumbling down upon me?

Our relationship with light had always been one of reverie. Light gave us reality, for so much as it would reveal. Without light to show us the path, we would hopelessly be blind in the darkness. Light was a fire that burned within the eyes and illuminated all that we cared to look at, for so much as the Greeks were concerned. But if light is a fire that originates from the eyes, why does our vision fail us at nightfall or in caves and in other such dark places; why is there darkness at all- and why don't we get burned whenever we look at things?

I guess we can thank God for imaginative explanations, as their intrinsic magnanimity can never sustain credibility unless proven by human curiosity and the necessity to know the reasons for everything . Imaginative reasons typically provoke equally imaginative questions, such as what happened when Empedocles questioned the fire that burned in our eyes and postulated of the possibility that that fire was only an imitation of something truly much brighter that existed in nature, Such as the Sun- that one thing so bright it hurts to even look at; because whenever that big bright light in the sky is missing from view, nothing seem as luminated, and in fact everything just becomes duller. Wait, if the Sun is gone, everything becomes less bright? Could it be that...Sun...light...eyes...Sun...things... life...see. Sun+light=sunlight??????

Yes wai. And in what way does this and more about light prove true is the fascinating topic of the four part documentary called Light Fantastic brought to us by the brilliant folks of the BBC and their best friend, Cambridge University, presented by the dramatically overbearing and stereotypically bad toothed Simon Shaffer. Light Fantastic takes us back to the beginnings of the theory of light when men such as Empedocles and Euclid were developing the first theories as to the nature and function of light on the distance of objects during their lifetimes on the little island of Sicily, and from there we travel to Egypt to find our "madman" Muslim friend Al-Hasen in a dark lonesome prison, proving Euclid's theory through reflections in his dishes. From there we follow the Christian exploration into the light of God and their need to prove it was His light indeed, but sadly for them, as we see, their own efforts proved treacherous to their cause.
 
The first episode shows us how our intrigue with light's supposed divinity became the foundation for the way in we approach the entire natural world in our quest to discover what we don't already know. The theories, research, and experiments with light by some of the most famous thinkers are taken into context, such as those of Euclid, Friar Bacon, Rene Descartes, and Sir Isaac Newton. But I have yet to watch the last three parts, so who knows what the hell that's about.Watch if your interested, watch to become interested, watch if there is nothing else interesting. At the very least you'll most definitely be enthralled by the imagery if not the information. The whole series is here.  Hope you are enlightened!