Thought Paper: Bible Quotes

I choose the following quotes from the Bible because for me they exemplify the complexities which we deal with when we discuss our spirituality. There are many ways in which we try to rationalize and give meaning to our life and those before us. I found it very interesting that in the early chapters of the Bible the use of light was to symbolize the idea of creation. Even then the early authors realized that there was a special connection between us and light, or energy. They understood that using light and dark they were able to express the ultimate duality of nature that exists, life and death. In most of the text, light symbolizes that which is alive and dark to represents death. The Old Testament focuses on the body or nature.
Later, in the New Testament, light is used to express the God qualities that one should try to realize and manifest. Luke 33 makes it clearest for me. Once a person has experienced the light they can no longer hide it but must share it with the world. It is to this meaning I most identify myself with the use of light as a metaphysical symbol. Luke expresses himself vividly with the metaphor of light and the presence or knowledge of God. It provides an eloquent teaching in a very simple, concise message.
Even thought light is used as a physical and spiritual metaphor, I believe it influences people more when they are trying to connect with God by using it in a spiritually enlightened context. Before this paper I had never really considered light as a tool for the body and the mind even though I meditate best with a candle lit room. So now I try to use the physical energy of the light as a connector, a reminder, of the spiritual connection I have with God, both physical and spiritual.

Quotations that I used

Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.
16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth,
18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
Luke 11
33 "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.
34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness.
35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.
36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you."
Luke 11
8 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
Proverbs 6:23
23 For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,
Proverbs 15:30
30 The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart: and a good report maketh the bones fat.