The Properties of Light

A dear friend brought up the subject of optics the other day. He was referring to something he had heard where optics was used in a non-traditional way, i.e. “the optics of a situation.”

Optics is the science that describes the behavior and properties of light and the interaction of light with matter.

I must confess to only having a cursory knowledge of optics, and in that, only of the generally known variety, aka spectacles, micro/telescopes, x-rays, fiber optics, and lasers, etc. I'd never actually thought about optics being a study of light. More than any other application––through the psychological perspective––relating to the role of light in vision, is fascinating to me.

The only reason I've been a mini-student of quantum physics is because of the thinner-than-thin veil distinguishing this realm from other realms. There's something abstruse about living in a totally illusory world, while trusting that if my body comes between a well-shot bullet and its intended target, I'll bleed red, fall to the ground and die. How does one hold both realities––we’re here and nowhere––simultaneously?

I found these equally intriguing, non-scientific quotes from an interesting array of fellow earth travelers from the past... deep past, as from the poet, Alexander Pope. I thought they might add to the fuel your brain must need right about now.

Paul Cezanne, artist (died 1906)- Optics, developing in us through study, teach us to see.

Claude Debussy, composer (died 1918) - Music is the arthmetic of sounds as optics is the geometry of light.

John Trumbull, artist (died 1843) - But optics sharp it needs, I ween, To see what is not to be seen.

Richard Whately, archbishop (died 1863) - In our judgment of human transactions, the law of optics is reversed; we see the most indistinctly the objects which are close around us.

Alexander Pope, poet (died 1744) - The difference is as great between the optics seeing as the objects seen.

So, that got me to thinkin’, as an old friend used to say, what if we began right now to see ourselves differently, through the prism of light from within, where deep Truths lay, in fields of exciting electromagnetism?

In other words, what if you saw you the way God sees you?

You have nothing to lose.