When we look at the great mythologies and religions of the world, and when we ask ourselves what symbol—out of all the possible symbols that there are—is the greatest, most ubiquitous, and certainly the most accessible and easy to understand, which one would it be? The answer, unequivocally, I think, is light.
Light features in all religions and mythologies; indeed, often the sun is worshipped as a god. But if we take the two religions closest to us in the West, Judaism and Christianity, we find at the very start of the Hebrew scriptures that it is light that God first creates—light that shines in the darkness (Genesis 1). And if we go to the Christian scriptures, we find its embodiment saying, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5). Christ identifies himself not merely as light, but as the light.
