Light and Truth

We had a long, somewhat unproductive, discussion on "light and truth" in institute last week. We mostly listened to analogies of why we need spiritual light and truth.

But defining light and truth can become quite the deep topic.

He who recieves light and continues in God will receive more light... D&C 50:24
Whatsoever is truth is light, whatsoever is light is Spirit. D&C 84:45
Light cleaves unto light. D&C 88:40
Heavelny bodies give light unto each other. D&C 88:44
Christ is the true light that is in man. D&C 88:50
That body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. D&C 88:67
Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created. D&C 93:29
All truth is independent... to act for itself. D&C 93:30
The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth. D&C 93:36
Light and truth forsake that evil one. D&C 93:37

So what is light, and what is truth? We know the literal definitions, of course. I'm not asking what it means, but what it is. Light, for example, is scientifically still quite inexplicable. Particles of no mass. Waves in no matter. And yet, our eyes can detect it, interpret it, and it shows us what is there.

One thing I came to decide is that truth is the equivalent of light in the spirit realm. Consider what light does for us in the physical world. Because of it, we know what's all around us. We can see what's behind us, we know what is really here, and we can see what's in front of us. I think truth has the same effect on our spirit. When our spirit recieves truth, it enables us to see what's around us (using time as an axis rather than distance). We know what's behind us in the past, what's really here in the present, and we can know what will be in the future. Truth, like light, enables us to move with confidence in the direction we want to go, and allows us to see what course corrections we need to make to get where we want to go.

The equivalence continues with our dependence on each, and our ability to receive more. Consider if you went blind. Not only would we not know what anything was around us, but we wouldn't know where they were. Now consider if you lost all truth and knew nothing. Same effect. Also, consider living in darkness for a long period of time. Then step into a bright light. It's unbearable. It hurts your eyes. Same with truth. You can only receive it little by little and adjust your eyes as you become accustomed to it. The comparison goes on, but you get the point.

The discussion gets much deeper, but I've yet to really figure anything out. It's not necessary to understand it, but it would sure help put some puzzle pieces in place.