V: VISIBLE LIGHT

Electromagnetic radiation is the ultimate waveform, or mixture of waveforms. It is energy travelling through space at the speed of light. But, electromagnetic radiation is actually a combination of two waves, or fields, one “electric” and one “magnetic”, which travel at right angles to each other, always in phase. Envision energy requiring no matter to be propagated travelling at the fastest speed in the universe in the form of two perpendicular pulses, and you have the wonder that is EMR! (That was easy, right?)

The math of the electromagnetic spectrum bears out the wonder, as the simple multiplication of the frequency of the wave with its wavelength always yields the speed of light. In other words, there is a form of energy travelling through the universe at all times and places that varies in wavelength and frequency but always travels at the same (exactly the same) speed, that of 299 792 458 meter per second. We could say that all the energy travel of the universe shares that speed but is parceled out between various wavelengths and frequencies. Some are higher “energy” and some are lower “energy” but all are the same “substance” shifting up and down a scale of delivery! (Someone has compared it to a piano keyboard and that might be useful: It is all the same tonal product, but the notes definitely differ.)

So, is the whole of the electromagnetic spectrum LIGHT since it moves at the speed of light? That is where the word “visible” comes in to play. Our human eyes only detect the range of wavelengths between 380 and 760 nanometers, which is estimated to be only 2.3% of the whole electromagnetic spectrum on a logarithmic scale, or only 0.0035% on a linear scale! Just below that range, we process infrared radiation as heat, and above it we process ultra-violet radiation as cell damage! But as far as doing that familiar activity we call “seeing”—light, for us, only occurs in that tiny, tiny portion of the whole of the cosmic energy that constantly ricochets around the universe. 99.9965% (if we use the linear scale) of the energy being transmitted at the speed of light is unavailable to our visual perception! Is it still “light”? You be the judge.

Obviously, we have used the genius wired into our humanity to learn to harness these other forms of “light” over the centuries. The low energy radio waves have come alive with music, news and traffic reports in our hands, and their neighbor on the spectrum, microwaves, account for why people don’t spend hours in the kitchen any more. And on the other higher energy end of the spectrum, we scarcely marvel any more at the harnessing of x-rays in the medical profession. Because of technology, the invisible portions of the spectrum are now a part of our daily reality. We outsourced our seeing to machines we built, which in a way counts as seeing on our part! We can now cooperate with energy that is invisible—which should really be cause for marveling.

One of my most unique memories from high school was a fellow student who pretended to see the invisible. Charles greatly relieved our 7th period boredom in “typing” class (it was way before “keyboarding” was a thing). His eccentricities never scared anyone, back in that innocent day. He was unusual on purpose, it seemed, in full grasp of his faculties, and we young hippies of the teenage variety, never poked fun at him but rather enjoyed his version of strangeness. It kind of went with Pink Floyd. Charles often wore a cape to school and he claimed that he could perceive cosmic rays. (Cosmic rays are technically not part of the electromagnetic spectrum because they have mass, while EMR does not, but that doesn’t matter for my point here—I include it only for the sake of good science as well as for the value of knowing random facts for party conversation!)

Charles would sit in front of us while we typed at our primitive IBM Selectrics and periodically (especially on Fridays) declare with a playful gleam in his eye, “there’s another one,” referring, of course to the cosmic rays that only he could perceive. (He enjoyed imagining a super power that had a measure of scientific base—for all I know, he may be a successful science fiction writer somewhere today!) Though Charles’ application was bizarre, the dreamer in me already knew that there were many, many, if you will, invisible rays of light of a real nature beyond the fluorescence of our high school classroom. I laughed with Charles and my friends, but I was on a growing quest of my own to see the unseen realities and rays of truth dancing everywhere! And I myself would wrestle with a life-long temptation to fit in, while what I might see might ultimately cause me stand out.

The obvious point about visible light versus the rest of the spectrum is also the most profound: Just because you can’t see it with your physical eye organ doesn’t mean it isn’t real. We once thought light was only what we can see, but it turns out there is a whole, and very broad, spectrum of energy expression dancing through spacetime at the characteristic speed of light! Our senses are limited, but the expression of light is not. The universe is not hiding from us: it is, rather, calling us to expand our comprehension and powers of perception.

We were created in essence spirit beings. The words “made in the image of God,” that are so glibly are quoted in describing man, remain far too naturally moored in our thinking. Jesus made an essential statement about the nature of His Father, one that can both end and begin debates, when He said simply: GOD IS SPIRIT. So to be made in His image is to have the focus, center and home of our being firmly in that realm beyond the sense apprehension—invisible, immortal, eternal SPIRIT. The whole spectrum of light is ours, whether or not we currently have the outward technology to harness it and cooperate with it. This narrow band of perception that we begin with is not our limit, nor our boundary. There is LIGHT available in all kinds of amazing wavelengths.

Religion, used in the negative sense of the word, limits the spectrum of spiritual light to that which is rationally understandable, rather than allowing God to communicate the whole of His vast spiritual wealth, even when we can’t quite process it with the organs of sense (including the brain). I may, in my “rantings” about spiritual truth, appear as strange as Charles to some. I have never worn a cape, but I feel like each one of these writings is a bit like me saying, “there goes another one…” about the fingerprints of the Eternal through His creation. But I am not pretending to see cosmic rays to get attention or feel special. I have a whole spectrum of light beyond the tiny visible range to point to. I believe you actually have wired into you the capacity to SEE more than your physical eyes can take in—the inner technology necessary to SEE spiritual truth. You don’t even have to build elaborate equipment; rather just develop and discover the latent or atrophied spiritual abilities that are your heritage as a human already. The last great frontier of human existence is not the space out there, but the space within—the land of the Spirit. (And, here’s a hint: The entrance of His words gives LIGHT…. Psalm 119:130)