The above passage is from the gospel of John 1: 5. Indeed, this is one of those scriptural passages which many people need to spend more time contemplating and pondering upon, for within this sentence is the type of enlightenment which will direct humankind out of its ignorance and corresponding darkness -- into the Light and corresponding Enlightenment, instead.
The very first thing that many a person gets wrong, is that when they see themselves in a mirror, of which, the presence that reflects back to them, is physical, therefore they logically deduce that they are physical beings. No doubt, humans are physical, but they are so much that that, and in the recognition that nothing physical, is eternal, there has to be something of far more significance that human beings consist of, rather than simply being physical beings, and for those that unremittingly search for that something beyond physicality, they will find it.
All those that will not expend the time or devote the necessary energy to trying to figure out who and what they really are, will, of a certainty be working with a severe handicap in understanding best what they should or should not be doing. Of course, even those that know what they should be doing, don’t necessarily progress to where they ought to be, because humans have been gifted with free will, and therefore, of their own volition they can make decisions, even repeatedly, which will not augur well for their being, whatsoever. So then, those that cannot and will not see the Light so that they will thus eventually comprehend that Light, that is shining continuously around them, are clearly in a darkness of their own making.
It is a mistake to overcomplicate life, for what we get out of life is what we put into it, and when our efforts are spent in futile or non-productive pursuits, then the end result for each one of us is going to be unsatisfactory. The Light that each one of us needs to pursue, is freely and readily available to all, but whenever we have closed our minds so effectively, that we never even recognize that we can avail ourselves of that Light, of which that Light will thereby dispel all darkness, we have done so to our detriment and harm.
So too, there are those others that have an inkling of what life is about, and so while not completely cognizant of that Light, which will fully eradicate that ignorance, they are still able to at least let some of that Light, come to the fore. But, the thing is, unlike many a pursuit that we devote our time and energies upon, which may take years of groundwork to get to where we ought to be, those that understand the power that is at their volition, recognize that in a blink of an eye, we can see that Light that shineth if we pursue such with sincerity of purpose; and those that comprehend then the meaning and power of that Light, will for the very first time become aware that we need not ever again be in darkness, for that eternal Light brings clarity, comfort, and beneficence to us..