I'm a long time subscriber to the elephant and the blind men view of God and religion, believing that there are many aspects of the truth that can all seem conflicting yet all be right. (Perhaps a good reason to use parables?)
Anyway, my family attends an Ethical Society and interestingly enough, a candle lighting ceremony almost identical to the one done on Easter vigil in the Catholic church was done as part of the "Winter Celebration / Solstice / Xmas surragate."
There was talk of fire images and ceremonies from the past. As I sat there, for some reason, after thinking of Deist ideas, the idea of God as the First Fire occurred to me. The first candle was the source of all the fires that followed, but had no control or perhaps even knowledge of the fires that sprung from it.
I could also imagine that a First Fire with some sort of consciousness would perhaps like the idea of multiplying and spreading.
Again, probably just another little porthole out onto the sea of Truth I got to peek out. I'm sure someone here has reference to a better way of saying the same thing by a wiser one than me.
Thoughts?