Welcome to The Light, your quiet hour of reflection.
Archaeologists are reminding us that power was not always concentrated in the hands of one. Early civilizations often organized themselves with surprising equality, and it was only when surplus wealth appeared that strongmen emerged to claim it. The hoarding of riches, it seems, was the seed of dominion.
That tension between community and control finds a curious echo in the Nevada desert, where a group of Christian evangelists say they were removed from Burning Man after sharing their faith with hundreds of attendees. Organizers say the group violated privacy agreements. Two visions of sacred space, each with its own understanding of what belonging requires.
And in the quieter corridors of theological conversation, Wayne Jacobsen, co-creator of the beloved novel The Shack, has revealed that an early draft of the book embraced universalism, the idea that all souls are ultimately reconciled. He declined to continue unless that belief was removed. What we choose to leave out of our stories shapes them just as profoundly as what we leave in.
That is this hour's reflection. Carry the light gently.
