A Deceptive Beauty
„Through a defect in the sense of sight, the light of the candle will appear not as simple light, but as a circle of colors that dazzles the eye.”From Rishon LeYafo, 45
If you need glasses and look at the light of a candle without them, you will not see a flame but a colorful circle that dazzles the eye. Precisely the defect makes the light more beautiful, more colorful, more alluring. Rav Kook explains that there is here a parable for our lives: there are things in the world that appear to us dazzling and wondrous because our perception does not yet see clearly. Sometimes what excites us is not a great light, but a distortion of the light. And further in the passage Rav Kook clarifies – a deceptive light is preferable to total darkness, yet it is still important to remember that sometimes what appears dazzling on the outside appears so because we have blurred our vision.
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.