light

Light and darkness are the fundamental moral binary of scripture — God separates them at creation, John's Gospel makes this cosmic ('the light shines in the darkness'), and apocalyptic literature resolves them.

Light as divine symbol appears universally: the divine fire of Zoroastrianism, the light of God's glory (kabod), the nur of Allah, the Buddha's radiant dharma, Taoist luminosity of the Tao. Light is humanity's shared metaphor for transcendence.

Light (ohr, phos) and darkness (choshech, skotos) are the primal moral opposites of scripture — God's first creative act separates them. John's Gospel frames all of history as the battle between the light that darkness cannot overcome.

Jesus declares 'I am the light of the world' (John 8:12); the Quran names Allah as An-Nur (The Light); the Buddha's dharma is expressed as radiant illumination. Light is humanity's universal metaphor for the transcendent source.

English 'light,' Sanskrit deva (shining one), Latin lux, Greek leukos — all derive from PIE *lewk- (to shine). The universal metaphor of divine radiance as spiritual illumination rests on this shared root linking light, fire, and deity.

Divine glory (kabod/doxa) is consistently expressed as radiant light — the cloud of glory, the Transfiguration, the New Jerusalem needing no sun because God's glory illuminates it.