Flicker: Light of a Lantern

The origin for Flicker began with consideration of the concept, "Darkness cannot push out darkness, only light can do that," so poetically placed into action by the example of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. If the resolution to a problem requires a shift in consciousness from the consciousness that created the problem," as poetically presented by Albert Einstein, I wondered what metaphorical and mythic characters would shape such a story, what kind of adventure would they go on, and how would they change and evolve? To my surprise, it was a humble lightning bug who came to speak with me.

I met Flicker first, daydreaming as I often do, in a coffee shop sitting with a cup of mocha in hand (mocha because coffee desires chocolate). That is when one shy and timid lightning bug, yet to understand his own self worth, yet to own the light he literally embodied, introduced himself by the way his light struggled to take hold; he called himself, Flicker.

That day, and most Wednesday mornings and Saturdays, Flicker and I met for a cup of coffee and conversation, where he would share his story, and I would record the storytelling, first with pen to paper, then typewritten, over the next year. If it was an especially delicious section to the story, that coffee would plead to be accompanied by a piece of banana bread; a most perfect pairing for great storytelling and writing.

Flicker was young, the youngest of the Lanterns, the name given to the warrior lightning bugs who used their internal light to forge armor and weaponry with their directed will. In his youth, Flicker was still so unsure of himself, and thus unsteady in his light, yet the dire need for Flicker to stand in his light came way before he felt any readiness. A dark force came to challenge the light, intent to send the world into darkness. In lead of the dark army was a main villain of course, a natural nemesis that would strike fear in anyone (especially me) and especially lightning bugs, so the Roach Lord came to be. The Roach Lord's presence was like a shadow that eclipsed Flicker, unless Flicker found a way to hold strong his light.

(Author musing: I have this fond childhood memory of being outside in the backyard with my brother and watching the lightning bugs glow on and off. Little me, who really does not like bugs, allowed myself to hold a lightning bug, and be mesmerized by its wonder.

In contrast, roaches. Mmmm nnnnnn. Nope. True story. I was sitting on my downstairs couch watching television (and I simply cannot say the next part without saying this apartment was certainly clean) when I spotted a roach ascending the wall to my upstairs bedroom. That was when I lived in Texas, and if everything is bigger in Texas, that too applied to that roach. It was huge! I was like 'oh no, we both can't be living in this home.' I no longer live in Texas.)

. . . anyways, I digressed . . .

What of this opposition? This tension between the light and the dark? Sufi poet and mystic Rumi is quoted for saying, "there is a field between right doing and wrong doing, I'll meet you there." The same truth put again into poetry, "nothing is ever right or wrong except thinking makes it so." A truth within duality. Nothing is ever all good or all bad, so nothing or no-thing is ever all light or all dark. It brought another question to the story. When Flicker and the Roach Lord find each other in the field, does their struggle ever find the space between right doing and wrong doing? To find out, the story itself would have to take on another dimension.

Flicker is not the hero's journey of one who is shiny overthrowing one who is dark by the use of force. Flicker is about an internal journey, asking can we transform a painful place to a peaceful place. There is a word for this. I believe it is called, 'healing.' Yes, that's it. Flicker, in its essence, is a story of healing.

The darkness Flicker faces, it has a familiar face. It is one that we all face. Darkness, I define, as that place which we yet to love ourselves. It is that place where we shut off the light so we won't have to look at what pains us, in hopes if we don't see it we don't feel it. It is that place we deemed unlovable, or inhospitable, so we stopped living there, or stopped occupying the painful space within ourselves. It is about how we feel not at ease in that space, and perhaps disowned that space so far for so long that place became dis-at-eased, and how with courage (and help) we can look anew at our pain for an opportunity to heal. It is the place yearning to be occupied again by our breath and spirit. It is the place waiting to be illuminated.

My first book review, is that of my own novel, "Flicker: Light of a the Lantern." I wrote Flicker in a form that unfolds like an animated movie, where young adults and adults alike will take memorable moments from imagery, and depending on age and life experience, connect with the reader in different ways, just as watching "The Never Ending Story" did for me as a kid, and then when I watched it again as an adult.

What begun as a daydream took over a year of story writing, to understand how to soften the hardships and love the places we consider not (yet) capable of being loved - but soon with a little adventuring.

Happy Reading,

U.B. Light