Saturday, Jan. 29, 2005 - 11:26 p.m.
If Einstein was correct, then we are all creatures of light.
His iconic Mass-Energy Equivalence Equation E=MC^2 implies that our bodies, though described by mass, are at the same time literally beams of mass-less light waiting to be set free. But where on the wall of our bodies is that light switch located?
Einstein never believed in a theological Christian or Jewish God. But he did believe in an astrophysical pattern of creation, an omniscient God who laid out the track of the stars and likely created man.
If E=MC^2 is true, it is possible that God created man using light. He sweeps out his hand to collect different colors, intensities and wavelengths, and with that fistful of light, he squeezes. When he opens his palm, there is a shapen lump of finite mass, unique and with the potential for terrible beauty.
That is why we are attracted to light, that is why every human will look at a fireworks display with inexplicable wonder, as if every time was the first. The white center of the explosion in a black sky, the arcing showers of orange, purple, green points, the disappearing trails that quickly fade cold. These all resonate with a deep, embedded memory in each of us.
We can almost form the words on our lips if we knew what we were witnessing exactly: I was light before.
