I once worked with equipment that would melt metal solder using only light energy transferred from a powerful industrial light bulb. The bulb’s rays were captured and focused down onto the end of a fiber optic cable that could flexibly channel the light to a circuit board where heat generated from the light would liquify the solder in a process used to affix electronic parts to the board.
With proper eye protection, it was fascinating to see the light at work melting this soft metal. I was once asked, “How hot is the light beam?” And my answer was, “The light isn’t hot at all if you are a lens or a mirror. The light only creates heat when it is absorbed by something dark.
This, by the way, posed a notable problem for using our light beam because on a typical circuit board the outer surface of the board is coated with a dark green coating called a resist layer. This layer protects traces and prevents solder from running where it isn’t wanted. We had to ask our “soft beam” equipment customers to remove the dark resist from areas where the light would shine because if the light beam even momentarily illuminated the resist, it could cause burn damage to the board and tarnished the metallic surface where solder needed to flow
Principle: If you don’t want to take heat when exposed to light, be pure
Another difficulty was that of preventing the light bulb from destroying itself. To protect people from the blindingly bright bulb, it was enclosed in a metal housing. The problem was that light reflected back to the bulb from the metal enclosure’s walls could cause the bulb to overheat. A simple fix to this was to paint the enclosure walls black so they were non-reflective. This benefitted the bulb and lowered its operating temperature, but after several months of operation, the black pigments in the paint would gradually and totally bleach out until the surface once again became almost as if the dark paint had never been applied, and then it would have to be painted again.
Principle: If we continually stand the presence of intense light, we will eventually be purged of all that is dark and loathsome.
One simply cannot remain in the presence of intense light without being purged. It is no wonder then that it is written that Moses had to be transfigured to endure the presence of God or he would have perished.
That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day. D&C 50:24
The Brightest Light
… This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.
Yesterday, I was in a beautiful room in our local temple that is always full of light, but on this morning, the Sun had crested the nearby mountain, and its invisible rays were streaming into the room from windows high up on the walls. In the center of the room hangs an elegant chandelier from which hang hundreds of pieces of crystal glass, large and small, in artistic beauty. On the opposite walls I counted over a hundred small rainbows accenting that beautiful room in vivid colors.
It struck me that these clear crystals receiving and transforming this largely invisible light into a beautiful spectrum of rich and pleasing colors were doing so with no awareness of their role. They were pure, and so they simply made that glorious light energy visible to all who would see.
Principle: Let us be like crystal, so pure that the Holy Ghost will work miracles through us without our even realizing the work being accomplished
The Spirit needn’t announce to us with the voice of a trumpet that it is about to move us. As we purify ourselves, the Spirit’s light that illuminates our minds and hearts eventually will become such an integral and natural part of our souls that there will be no resistance from second-guessing whether revelation is from the Spirit. The Spirit will increasingly work in and through our purified hearts, transforming both us and those we are with. That is the prayer of my heart.
67 And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. 68 Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will.