Seeing the Light

The small town of Nags Head ensconced in the greater Outer Banks, North Carolina bears a name reflective of the piracy legend of old. It is said that the locals of Outer Banks heard news of the piracy of Blackbeard at sea and decided to try their own clandestine adventure by tying a lantern around the neck off an old horse, otherwise known as a “nag” and lead it along the top of the tallest sand dunes such as Jockey’s Ridge casting the light out to sea. Upon seeing this light from sea, the ship’s captain would assume it to be coming from a ship anchored safely in a harbor and would direct his ship to do likewise. Unfortunately for captain and crew, by following this light as a guide he would beach his ship upon the dangerous shoals. The ship and crew quickly fell prey to these land pirates of Outer Banks who forced the crew to walk the plank, looting and burning the ship whilst making away with the plunder.

These infamous land pirates succeeded because they were counterfeiting something real. They knew that their light would signal ships that there was a safe harbor when in fact they would soon be beached upon land and plundered. In contrast, had the captains known where the real harbor was they would not have been taken in by a counterfeit.

It is the same with religions. Many belief systems are casting out their lights and yet they are only counterfeits of the real. They allure because there is a real, but once accepted as the truth they leave you plundered and lost upon the rocks. One can avoid it all and stay drifting upon the sea of uncertainty, never making landing, always fearful that the light of the harbor is as false as the next one. Or they can learn about how to find the real and avoid the pitfalls of the counterfeits. We can live our lives afraid of being plundered by false hope or we can look past the false for the real and latch ourselves securely to what is real. Once the real is attained the counterfeits are more easily seen for what they are not and any allure they may have had dissipates.