Shadows and Light

Stones and Feathers

A shadow cast by stone is no darker than that cast by a feather

If your mission is to stop light, you don’t need muscle.

Now, remember that photons are very small, so you need to plug any hole or fissure that might let them through. But for this you don’t need thick, or heavy. The flimsiest black paper will do just as well as an iron and concrete building. The dropped tail feather will do as well as a stone.

This struck me squarely one morning while walking along the Pacific. The sun was just rising and casting her long, slanting rays almost horizontally with the ground. Even small pebbles (happily visible in this light) cast long shadows. And then, a dropped tail feather, settling at an angle, casting a shadow just as dark as those of the many pebbles.

And I saw that just looking at the shadow, and not at all at what cast it, at that which stopped the light, I had no way of telling who or what the light-blocker was.

Hm, I thought, that’s interesting. I wonder if this might mean something, something profound, I mean. Might it hide some deeper meaning as it were.

Nothing came immediately to mind. Shadow is just the absence of light. So, when a shadow falls on you, there’s no way of telling friend or foe, fight or flee, thick or thin, benevolent or malevolent: it’s just a light-stopper of some size or other, that’s all.

I’m still looking for the deeper meaning, if any.

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© Wolfstuff