Lighthouse

Thomas Kinkade - The Light of Peace (canvas reproduction) 1996

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches"
-Benjamin Franklin

The light of a lighthouse, a tall structure on a treacherous beach, illuminates and lets navigators and captains see the shore ahead of them, even if it is obscured by fog or darkness. The light here gives people actual physical vision. The light of a church is only metaphoric.

"You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light."
-Psalms: 18:28

Both lighthouses and churches are beacons. One for boats to navigate the coastline, the other for people navigate life. An easy analogy can be made that a church functions much like a lighthouse in this way (by guiding people). [as example you may read this excerpt from the Concord Pastor blog from Oct. 17, 2007] I think this is a slippery and challenging comparison. I believe I can shed light on this subject because light and spirit have been of high interest for me for quite some time.

Adam Farcus - Of the Light series (wood, glass, metal, plastic, and lights) 2001?

Light is the symbol for guiding, in religious beliefs, creeds, and morals; unless you count the light bulbs and candles in the church - which are at least for illumination and at most live as the same metaphor as a 'guiding light.' As I said the conflation of Franklin's quote for the dogmas of the church is a complicated issue. Franklin clearly was not intending his quote to be used to promote the ideals of any religion as he was also quoted as saying, "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." (Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758) and " The bell calls others to Church, but itself never minds the sermon." (Poor Richard's Almanack, 1754).

But this "lighthouse" quote is also slippery because it references a clear and historic symbol of the Christian faith - light as divine presence. I'm left stuck between these two ideals. It is often hard for me to side with extremes in arguments, and that is evident here. I think that there is almost always a middle-ground/gray area between two conflicting ideas. In this instance there are parts of each side of this dichotomy that I identify with. I am not a full rationalist (as Benjamin Franklin has defined himself) and I am not a devout (or even slight) believer in any religion. I think that my faith in this matter lays somewhere between - in a space mixed between the natural phenomena and science of light on one hand and the symbolic power that such light can connote.