Down to the Light

The earth above, the goal below, upside down, away we go.

It is like swimming through too much water to reach the bottom of a pool when you can barely swim, trying to go down to the light.

Sometimes someone has dropped their goggles down there, or someone’s ring or earring is glinting against the pool liner down there, and you just have to try to cut into the water with your arms, head, and momentum. The earth is above you, but below you, at the bottom of the pool, is the light. “Go into the light,” someone might say in a movie about a worldview I don’t believe in. Or they might quote a poem about not going gently.

To me, the light isn’t about heaven. It’s about what you risk and why you risk it. You can feel dragged down by enormous pressure as you try to do what will make your heart less heavy.