Broken Light

Our Souls Are Glass Spheres | An Analogy

I love this analogy that symbolically represents our souls and the impact of our decisions in life. We are "Glass Spheres" with a capacity to emanate Light.

We enter life in this perfect form. Totally unscathed and unmarred.

We experience the pain and brutality of this world. We make confused decisions, act in selfishness, are swayed by ungodly influences.

We search, seek and wrestle to find truth and connect with our living God.

He heals us. Light refracts and bends in beautiful ways as it passes through us. 

Notice that the glass is still beautiful no matter the stage. It also always has the ability to refract light. However we are the ones who experience the pain (sharpness) and scattered isolation when we are in that stage of separation and disconnectedness. 

What do you think?

Background

Since I was a kid I've been interested in light and dark. Flashlights, bonfires, projectors, the sun (etc.) all captured my curiosity in a big way. I got my college degree from an art school in Florida. In one of the classes, I remember having some great exploratory thinking. It was called "Digital Art". The professor was big into video games and had an interest in crossing the world of gaming into philosophy. He tasked us to come up with a video game that investigated deeper themes of humanity. It stoked some pondering for me.

Around the same time, I had experienced a rebirth in Christ and felt like a new creature. My mind went to the principles I had been learning from the gospel. I thought, "What would it be like to see the world through the eyes of God? How would He see us?".

Spheres & Light

I began developing my game. I knew that I wanted it to be about our decisions and the impact they have on us and the people around us. I imagined people as spheres. Spheres are simple. They have a definitive boundary around them that constitutes their form. I had also heard the phrase "...in my sphere" and had that in mind.

In the game, each sphere was colorless. They did however range from black to white. The black represented negative emotion and behavior: fear, shame, pride, hate, and so on. It was darkness. The white represented positive emotion and behavior with faith, hope, and love at the core. That was light. 

While the game was never fully realized, the ultimate goal was to learn how to add more light to our spheres, and to help other spheres do the same.

Broken VS. Whole | Glass

Back in 2015 when I was going through a heartbreaking divorce, I had this side-by-side image that kept sneaking back into my mind. on the left was a pile of shattered glass and on the right was a figure made of glass that was broken, yet still whole. The former seemed to be a representation of my life before I committed to live like God exists. The latter, my life after trying.

During that painful time, I sought out God and He bound up my wounds. He did not take them away. He bound them up. I was broken yet whole.

He guided me to healing. Part of that healing came in the form of therapy, being around my family, and through connecting with my new love, Chels.

God healed my wounds and the scars that remain are beautiful. They refract uniquely the light God has filled me with.

Your scars are unique to you. They are indicative of the trust God has in your resilience and your capacity to refract light into the darkness.

If you're curious to make your own cracked glass sphere, you can check out this little tutorial here.