{"id":9512,"date":"2017-08-01T05:46:45","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T09:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newvinegrowing.wordpress.com\/?p=9512"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:37:57","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:37:57","slug":"go-to-the-light-be-the-light-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/go-to-the-light-be-the-light-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Go to the light. Be the light. Now."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s a common near-death experience where people describe <a href=\"http:\/\/www.near-death.com\/science\/research\/tunnel.html\">seeing a bright light at the end of a tunnel<\/a>.<br \/>\nHearing about that end-of-life light often makes me think of the medium in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0084516\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1980s movie Poltergeist<\/a>\u00a0trying to bring a little girl back from the spirit world. The light represents the other side, the ghostly world that&#8217;s not our physical plane.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Go into the Light!\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i4Dc-J_mD7c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nRecently when I was <a href=\"https:\/\/newvinegrowing.wordpress.com\/2014\/09\/06\/getting-started-meditating-making-time-for-myself\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">meditating<\/a> with my eyes closed in a dark room, I saw a white light that got brighter and brighter. Eventually it felt like I was staring at the sun.<br \/>\nFor a second, I worried I was dying. I mean, I was seeing a bright light that clearly wasn&#8217;t there &#8230;<br \/>\nBut then I had a different kind of flash, as a powerful thought hit me.<br \/>\nSo many people describe seeing a bright white light when they&#8217;re dying because it&#8217;s the first time they stopped to notice it. That light is always there, trying to glow into our lives, but we&#8217;re too busy with our distractions and pursuits to notice. Until it&#8217;s too late.<br \/>\nI paused to meditate and saw that the light was there, right now.<br \/>\nGo to the light, my heart said. BE the light.<br \/>\nWhat is the light? I&#8217;m still mulling that. It&#8217;s esoteric even to me.<br \/>\nI grew up going to Catholic church every Sunday and was confirmed Episcopalian, but when I started Googling &#8220;Be the light,&#8221; I was surprised to find all manner of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?biw=1283&amp;bih=662&amp;tbm=shop&amp;q=%22be+the+light%22&amp;oq=%22be+the+light%22&amp;gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l3.6586.10067.0.10393.2.2.0.0.0.0.92.169.2.2.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.2.168.qT-r1wBv78k#spd=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">T-shirts, wall hangings and jewelry mentioning a Gospel passage<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3 class=\"passage-display\"><span class=\"passage-display-bcv\">Matthew 5:14-16<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span id=\"en-NIV-23249\" class=\"text Matt-5-14\"><span class=\"woj\"><sup class=\"versenum\">14\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cYou are the light of the world.\u00a0A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NIV-23250\" class=\"text Matt-5-15\"><span class=\"woj\"><sup class=\"versenum\">15\u00a0<\/sup>Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<span id=\"en-NIV-23251\" class=\"text Matt-5-16\"><span class=\"woj\"><sup class=\"versenum\">16\u00a0<\/sup>In the same way, let your light shine before others,\u00a0that they may see your good deeds\u00a0and glorify\u00a0your Father in heaven.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t recall the Matthew story until I re-read it. That&#8217;s essentially what it felt like this light was telling me: Shine my light into the world, be a light in the world. Don&#8217;t wait until it&#8217;s too late.<br \/>\nI want to keep pondering what it means.\u00a0To remind myself,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.etsy.com\/listing\/472185523\/bethelight-necklace-hand-stamped?ga_search_query=be+the+light&amp;ref=shop_items_search_2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> I commissioned a necklace with two pendants.<\/a><br \/>\nOne says &#8220;go to the light&#8221; and the other says &#8220;be the light.&#8221; It hangs near my heart.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9559\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9559\" style=\"width: 575px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-9559\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/go-to-the-light-necklace.jpg\" alt=\"Be the light necklace\" width=\"575\" height=\"767\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/go-to-the-light-necklace.jpg 2448w, https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/go-to-the-light-necklace-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/go-to-the-light-necklace-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/go-to-the-light-necklace-370x493.jpg 370w, https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/go-to-the-light-necklace-770x1027.jpg 770w, https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/go-to-the-light-necklace-600x800.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 575px) 100vw, 575px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9559\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I ordered this custom necklace from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.etsy.com\/listing\/472185523\/bethelight-necklace-hand-stamped?ref=shop_home_active_17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BodhiNyx on Etsy<\/a> to remember my insight: Go to the light now and be the light.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently when I was meditating with my eyes closed in a dark room, I saw a white light that got brighter and brighter. Eventually it felt like I was staring at the sun.<br \/>\nLooking at this make-believe light prompted an insight: So many people describe seeing a bright white light when they\u2019re dying because it\u2019s the first time they stopped to notice it. That light is always there, trying to glow into our lives, but we\u2019re too busy with our distractions and pursuits to notice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[58],"tags":[259,1026,1339,1740,1741],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Go to the light. Be the light. Now. - Newvine Growing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/go-to-the-light-be-the-light-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Go to the light. Be the light. Now. - Newvine Growing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently when I was meditating with my eyes closed in a dark room, I saw a white light that got brighter and brighter. Eventually it felt like I was staring at the sun. Looking at this make-believe light prompted an insight: So many people describe seeing a bright white light when they\u2019re dying because it\u2019s the first time they stopped to notice it. 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