A Meditation on Light

The nature of Light. Living with depression.

Recently I was told

Walk in the Light.

We are illusion,

A vast emptiness.

Trillions of sun cast neutrinos

Pass through us 

Every second.

Walk in the Light

I was told.

Marvel at the illusion.

It’s all a matter of frequency 

My friend.

Light is not reflected,

It is absorbed then emitted again.

Our entire world of emptiness 

Is designed to do this.

I see you.

Do you see me?

Walk in the Light

I was told.

How does Love arise

From our vast emptiness

And where does it go?

How does Fear and Sadness arise

From my vast emptiness 

And why will it not go?

Walk in the Light

I was told.

Entirely shade

Are my lanes.

Black are my rooms.

I emit no Light.

I am invisible in my darkness.

No one sees me.

I walk not in the Light.

Reviews

[redd Brick Keshner]

Hey, Michael. The ritual by star shine appears to have run its course. And WC seems to be up and running again. Perhaps the light absorbed is herein emitted again more fully🕊️🙏🏻

[Pallavi]

And this brings me to the question what is Light?
And are we really the vast emptiness?

Great writing!

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thank you Pallavi, I have long taken an interest in particle physics and quantum mechanics. Sometimes it creeps into my writing. In the sense of the huge space within each atom composing our bodies, yes we are a vast emptiness.

[Pallavi]

True in this aspect!

[Jansy]

Michael, hello

This poem quietly explodes. The way you take the immensity of the cosmos, the neutrinos, the light being absorbed and emitted, and turn it inward to map the invisible weight of depression is stunning. “Walk in the Light, I was told” lands like advice bouncing around an empty galaxy, and somehow it’s both heartbreaking and beautiful. You’ve made emptiness feel intimate, and darkness feel seen. I keep thinking about it long after reading.

James☆

[Michael Sun Bear]

Well….thanks for reading, and especially thank you for the very thoughtful review. I thought many readers would take the mix of science and mood to be weird; I am glad it worked for some of my readers.

[Jansy]

Weird works, doesn’t it? I think that’s the magic, when science waltzes with mood and the cosmos hums in minor key, something unexpected and beautiful clicks.

[Thomas W Case]

Brilliant work, my friend. You bring this to life.

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thank you Thomas.

[RomaJ]

It’s like being caught between physics and prayer. The idea of light not merely reflecting but transforming, absorbed and re-emitted, mirrors the human struggle to find meaning in suffering. I was especially moved by how you turn a scientific truth into an emotional landscape, where light becomes both promise and absence.

The repetition of “Walk in the Light” carries such poignancy. It begins as guidance, but by the end, it feels like an echo fading into solitude.

There’s a raw honesty in “I emit no Light,” a recognition that depression is not the absence of worth, but the dimming of perception. This is deeply introspective and beautiful in its truth.
..Roma

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thank you for the very thoughtful review. In following your reviews I have realized how much negative stuff I have written lately. I hope you will dip into earlier, happier stuff. MSB