Afraid Of The Light Bulb

The other day, I went to the Thomas Edison Museum in Fort Myers, Florida.  It was a magical moment to me, because Thomas Edison has always been a hero of mine since childhood.  I was always taken in by his ability to see beyond the box and think outside the box, even when his teachers in school didn't think he was very bright.

As a young kid, I was often bored in school.  No, I'm not comparing myself to Thomas Edison but it didn't challenge me and I often felt like that is what Thomas Edison went through with his teachers.  Most teachers wanted to give us busy work, but few could really explain the material in a way that captivated my mind.  As a result, my mind would wander and daydream constantly.

Getting back to the purpose of this blog post, I am often amazed at just how humans hold back from things they do not know.  They become too afraid of something different outside the normal range of thinking.  Humans do this all the time, holding on to beliefs and opinions as evidence of the only truth in their life. While it is great to have principles and things you believe in, allowing yourself to be blinded by them is not helpful to the human experience.


In the story that was told to us while on tour at the museum, Thomas Edison had invited people from the area to see his new invention, the light bulb.  No one knew what a light bulb was much less most of them had never heard of it.  The only thing people knew about electricity was lightening storms that they considered to be very dangerous.  When Thomas Edison offered to light the entire area up with his new invention, the city people said, no thank you!  They were afraid of it.

It took another 11 years before they finally installed a lighting system in the area.  The people were so afraid of it that they wanted nothing to do with light bulbs.  Can you imagine waiting for 11 years to have lights that weren't candles or lanterns?

Today, it is hard to imagine that anyone would be afraid of a light bulb, but yet in our modern times, there are plenty of things that we are afraid of in our life. All one has to do is open their eyes for a moment and look beyond their belief system to see it.  We all do it in one form or another and if we are honest with ourselves, we will see that. 

People get so wrapped up in what they think they know is true, that they miss the human experience of evolving in awareness and possibility.  Being afraid does not make you an enlightened person.  It only makes you a person with many limitations.  Only by evolving into awareness and learning to embrace your fears, will you ever find out the possibility and potential in the world around you.

I urge anyone reading this to not limit life by your beliefs, but allow your fears to shed light to you to open up to possibility.  Don't be afraid of the light bulb in your life because  you don't know what it is.  Come to know and understand the light bulb first, before you choose to oppose it.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 6/25/13 by Don Shetterly

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