The Switch:
What makes the Light unexpectedly come on? Also what makes it suddenly go off?
Let us delve into the world of switches both within and without!
You and I are using switches dozens of times each and every day.
We use mainly light switches at home, at work, in our cars, vans and so on.
Switches are integral parts of our lives and we cannot imagine properly functioning without them.
If switches all of a sudden went on strike, we would be in a huge pickle: how could we cook a meal in a pitch black kitchen for example?
If my PC`s switch would give up on me now, how could I carry on writing this article? If your mobile phone or laptop etc would have a faulty on/off switch, how would you manage your Life until you have it sorted or just bought a new one?
We are used to our switches, that allow us to see in the dark, to give us the myriad of information we need to get through a day.
We are not just used to them, we are in fact dependant on them!
Switches usually are either full on or full off. They are mostly for electrical purposes such as light switches or some electric appliance switches.
However, when we need an adjustable dim light, or a ceiling air fan, a dim switch is the one we need. With a dim switch, we can adjust it to exactly the kind of brightness/ shade of darkness or in the case of an air fan the speed of air flow we want.
Switches therefore serve us well and we need them 24/7/365.
Yet it is not these kind of switches I want to talk about here. Something much more fascinating at least in my opinion:
Our internal hidden switches.
Has it ever happened to you, that there was a sudden and unexplainable shift inside you? One minute you were still the person you have always been, and a minute later you became a completely new version of yourself? As if a lightening had struck you out of blue skies!
Reason? None! Zilch! Nada!
I would not be surprised if every single reader here on Medium would say yes… there was and not just one but quite a few. I had quite a few, when an inner invisible switch was flipped from off to on…changing the name of the game completely!
There can be switches mentally, switches emotionally or switches spiritually speaking. I am sure there are many many more in the etheric and other limitless dimensions. In fact most likely the entire Universe is full of switches that trigger off cosmic events, such as the birth of new stars and galaxies. Also their deaths and subsequent formations of black holes.
Inside our very bodies there must be innumerable switches the go on and off at their optimal time and sequence to keep our health in perfect balance.
Going to sleep must be due to a switch of some sort, so is suddenly waking up in the morning. Some of us can wake up lets say at 6AM on the beat without an alarm clock. An inner switch that knows the time gets switched on as if by magic right at 6.00 and not a minute later!
You might be one of these who can wake up according to your inner body clock that switches you on!
I think this would fall in the category of a mental switch.
Some people who have had a spiritual or religious conversion( and I am one of these) would have experienced an instantaneous realisation of being loved by God.
It is such an all consuming current of awakening, that it blows all the fuses within us. Even the entire fuse box melts away when this much Divine Love suddenly strikes us.
It literally wipes our slate of everything within us clean and we find ourselves zeroed down by a power much greater than ourselves.
All we can do is to give in to it, melt with it, and allow the current to carry us to where it wants to. The famous song by the Beatles comes to mind:
Let it be… let it be…let it be!
I would call these a spiritual or a religious switch.
So what about when we fall in Love?
One moment you are your well known, trusted version, going about your daily business…and the next moment your entire Life is standing on its head!
What had happened? Something must have happened for that much of a seismic shift from nothing to everything!
Actually the more I think about it, the more parallels I see between this literal Human Love and a religious experience of Divine Love.
In fact I can see a similar parallel with us loving our pets and other animals too. Its the enigmatic power of Love, that seemingly came from nowhere and now is here with harp, bells and whistles… invading our strongholds!
Its an avalanche of emotions, a runaway train, completely out of control!
What had been switched? Who and what had touched the switch anyway?
Did 2 Universes collide and blended into one? Did 2 destinies suddenly connect and became complete in one another as in Yin & Yang?
Is this the typical case when 2+2 makes 5?
For Love does just that: it breaks down the walls of our lives that we had built up to protect ourselves.
Love is like a wrecking ball; it gives us the answer first and only later on asks: by the way…what was the question?
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It is all encompassing and all consuming, full on like a blazing forest fire!
Love knows no dim switches, nor would it tolerate one in its vicinity.
How about Life then? Is there a switch for the arrival of Life?
From nothing, to everything… Life is suddenly here with trumpets blast!
A new baby is born and everything changes. Perhaps a previously self centred couple all of a sudden melt away from their newly found Love of their baby. The ME…that had ruled supreme so far is finished once and for all! What a mighty shift that parenthood brings about from one minute to another!
Looking at Death on the other hand; what separates Life from Death?
Is it just the lack of a heart beat, the lack of breathing?
Is it the departure of the Soul from the body to another realm?
Can there be a greater contrast than the one between Life and Death?
Could this huge transformation happen without a switch turning Life off?
Or is it that an even greater version of Life outshines this earthly form of it?
Like a tiny torch light outshone by a powerful spot light on a theatre stage?
I often thought that we actually don`t know ourselves at all.
I still think this and the more I think about it the more obvious it becomes why: I blame this on the unpredictability of our inner switch.
If and when that switch does its thing again ( and it had done it many many times in the past for me), all of a sudden we can be travelling towards a completely new direction. We don`t recognise ourselves any more!
In this sense, we can never know what we are going to do next. ( On the other hand, we cannot simply blame everything on the switch either).
Many years ago, completely out of the blue I became a vegan due to a spiritual awakening. It happened during a charismatic Christian prayer evening at a friend`s house. We were watching a film about the Life of St Francis of Assisi. Something had switched inside my Soul, to be honest I still don`t know exactly what. All I knew, and I knew it straight away, that something had changed: I went in as a carnivore and came out as a Vegan!
My wife had nearly fainted when I told her that from then on I will abstain from meat, fish and dairy. She had been trying to turn me into a vegetarian for over 10 years, with zero success.
Nothing would work on me, regardless of which angle she was trying. Well, I can only tell you, I am the least likely vegan for I have never liked vegetables but always have loved meat and fish!
Now, I am a happy Vegan who lives on fruits and vegetables and I think I am eating better food now than I have ever eaten before. None of these may make any sense I know. I do realize this may sound complete and utter nuts, but it works for me, and I love it! That is what Love does to you!!!
I have been spiritually, emotionally as well as compassionately switched!
There are millions of us out there who have had similar instantaneous conversions of some kind. Criminals who became `saints`, non believers believers.
From having been full of apathy to full of empathy.
From having been careless to most caring.
From mean to generous, from self centred to selfless.
From harmful to harmless, from merciless to merciful.
From full of revenge to full of forgiveness.
From full of pride to full of humility.
From full of hatred to full of Love!
From full of evil to full of the Divine!
In all these and more, there have been one thing that made the difference:
The Switch!
Conclusion:
There is a price for everything in Life. Somebody will have to pay it.
There`s a price to pay if the switch is OFF and there is a price to pay if the switch is ON!
May I advocate for the latter for this simple reason:
While we`re here, we should be FULLY ON in every sense of the word.
Only being FULLY ON can we make a difference for ourselves, for humanity, for our planet`s ecology including all that lives!
To be fully alive, we must be FULLY ON!
Being on a LOW dim switch or being OFF is missing the point completely!
It would be a complete waste of Life, missing out on everything good and noble. It would be an insult to the beautiful concept of being alive!
Please don`t miss out on your RAISON D’ ETRE & the JOIS DE VIVRE!
