Lightly child, lightly.

~ Live & Learn

sparkler

…We go outside with simple, old-fashioned boxes of sparklers, and give a few sparklers to each child. How magical and otherworldly it is to watch their beautiful round faces lit up by these lights that sparkle for ten to 20 seconds before giving way to the darkness…

It’s easy to see why so many cultures have worshipped the sun. But there is also something beautiful, something humble, about the passing nature of beauty and light in this realm. Something terrestrial and finite, limited and passing. Like the sparklers. It comes on, fluttering, lighting up the face of the beholder and those around for a minute or two, and then gently gives in to the darkness.

What is it about this passing light that so fascinates us? Is it that it reminds us, echoes in us, something of our own finite nature? Are we like this too, coming out of the darkness of nothingness, and then for a moment or two having these brilliant, life-giving, light-giving moments?

The always-lovely Rumi talks about this scattering of light:

We come spinning out of nothingness,

scattering stars like dust.

~  Omid Safi, from “Beauty in a Flash of Light and Life” from On Being, January 7, 2017

 

Notes:

  • Photo: October31th
  • Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”

28 thoughts on “Lightly child, lightly.”

      1. Always loved sparklers as a kid…but it wasn’t till I hit adulthood, when I started buying Roman Candles and having shoot-outs on July 4, that the pyromania set in. It’s irreparable…the pyromania. But relatively harmless… except for that one jacket I so loved and saved for years with nostalgic burn-holes.

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  9. I lovelove sparklers – kids love them and most adults, too. Yikes! I feel a bit shallow, though….I just like them for their firey, momentary beauty – hadn’t really thought much more about them than that.

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  12. I love the meditative quality of your posts….I once took a long long long train trip out to Bic, PQ to a friend’s cottage there, I arrived late at night, to be greeted by all my waiting friends who were waving sparklers. What a great moment. That’s now more than 30 years ago, but hard to forget.

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