Which is permanent... ...................................... Light..............or...................................... Dark.
It is very common to the understanding of a human mind to think of things in terms of opposites. The interaction of light and darkness causes color. Light can travel 186 thousand miles in one second. Dark travels at exactly the same speed. Darkness and light equally depend on one another for their existence. With no light, no eyes can see. Too much light can blind the eyes. As for permanence, if all light was to cease, it would be dark, but no one would see it.
Your options suggest only a subject/object possibility. Perceptions are entirely subject/object or this-or-that. What is permanent is awareness or consciousness which holds the concepts you mention - dark and light - equally, without choosing. These concepts are held in absolute equanimity by consciousness and it is the function of authentic contemplation (not the willful kind) which cancels out the duality you are suggesting. It is not you, the chooser, who impersonally contemplates. In common worldly experience of this phenomena, it does not matter how it is described. This or that is equally valid so long as a personal ignorance is the encompassing paradigm.
It is an analogy - and one which can only be called a proposition of faith. In the Tao Te Ching, darkness is associated with the Tao itself, and just as darkness overpowers light, just as water wears away mountains, the Tao is the eternal and ultimate force. In the traditions of Judaism and Islam and Christianity, however, light is associated with goodness, with God. John uses light and love almost interchangably - and that's where it really becomes a matter of faith. The central proposition of Christianity is that suffering, self-giving Love will overcome in the final analysis. The facts all point to the great Truth that power always overcomes Love, everytime it is tried; that violence and strength always win out. But the faith of God's people is that in the end Love will have the final word, Love will overcome hate and violence and strength. The faith of God's people is that - in spite of all evidence - light will overcome darkness. That's not such a bad thing to believe, in a poetic way. Peace to you.
Ah the chicken or the egg, which was it that came first? Ah, but what really is permanence? We have much to learn, yes? Light is existence, it is viewable, it can be sensed and it exerts energy and warmth. It is existence, itself. Rare is the argument that refutes this. Dark is said to be the absence of light, therefore its existence is non. However the ethers seem to be teaming with darkness everywhere there is not light. So does it, by law of nature, exist? Indeed, it does. But how would a blind person, being blind their entire life, describe such a thing? To us who can 'see' with our eyes things such as light and dark believe they only 'see' darkness. However they will tell you what they 'see' by what they receive through the senses they use in place of sight. They can describe instances whereby 'light' and 'darkness' are felt and understood. But it is not through the perception that we sightseeing humans have. Thus both appear to exist. And just as sound cannot exist without silence, light cannot be without darkness to help light know it is light. And of course, vis a vis. To say that one or the other is permanence is to only demonstrate the limited capacity we have in relations to this particular life and universe. For ultimately, we know not what was before the existence of the universe we now know, nor do we know what will happen after the universe's existence expires. And ultimately it will expire as all things in the world of physicality are temporal. Let the excitement begin... Blessings
In Heaven light is understood thus......... Revelation 21v23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. So light is not surrounded by dark nor is darkness disintegrated by it......the Light is permanent.
