“What is to give light must endure burning.”

Let me offer a fact that doubles as a huge perspective shift - Darkness is simply the absence of light. Darkness itself isn’t a thing. There’s nothing that creates darkness. Even a black hole in space - it has such a strong gravitational pull that it prevents reflected light from being visible to us.  

What this does is it helps us really grasp what’s in our control about creating a less dark, brighter life. And that’s to allow more light into our lives.

With that in mind, I want to share a powerful Victor Frankl quote that really contextualizes what it means to produce more light. Rather than being at the mercy of the scary, sullen, despairing, hopelessness of darkness, we can understand what’s required of us to produce more light in the world. And that lesson from Frankl is “What is to give light must endure burning.”

Dropping some more physics into this, it is physically impossible for something to produce light without producing heat. This means that heat is a requirement for light, which means there will always be a burn associated with bringing light to the world. 

This is literal of course, but the same rings true for how we abstractly create positivity. We must be willing to endure the criticism of others. We must accept that there is pain on the journey as we experience the setbacks and challenges that make us most prepared to give light.

Ed Mylett often says that our hardships, insecurities, mistakes, and shortcomings are what most qualify us to be of service to others, to be the light others need. But that light doesn't brighten the darkness without experiencing the burn that comes with it.

So instead of taking any kind of burning as a sign that we’re doing things wrong, we can change our perspective and see it as a necessary ingredient for what’s to come next. And as long as we stay deeply immersed in the process and persevere through the discomfort of the burn, the more we create the potential for light.

And why is that? “What is to give light must endure burning.”