1
BURN THE MIDNIGHT CANDLE.
When I was little, my teachers would often tell us to burn the midnight candle. Burning candles was common that time because we had no electric energy. It didn’t have more significance than our bare minds could contain. However now, burning the candle around the midnight is of great significance not only because of the illumination that arrives around the room but also the illuminations that arrives of the mind especially now that we are very accustomed to the electric grid and small rechargeable lamps.
I shared to my students who were preparing for their university matriculation examinations the secrets behind the midnight candle. It seemed hilarious that I was asking them to switch of their bulbs and rather go for the candle choice. We got talking on why our teachers at school would talk especially of the midnight candle. I told them that there was something special about the burning of the “midnight candle”. We could light candles in the evening or even in the early mornings of the day but they stressed the midnight.
Our teachers never thought about this statement they have made through the years. It was transferred from their teachers to them and they did same to us yet they never queried why they were asked to burn the candle at midnight. I got lots of “whys” and then sat down to find an answer to this question.
I am of the opinion that there is so much power in the candle light. Those into mysticism often use the candle light and even churches are known to light the candle light. There is actually some mental illumination that arrives as a result of the use of candles. The candle illumines our soul and opens it to the mental schooling that characterizes studying. Our soul is warmed up by its warmth allowing for a mental assimilation of what we are studying.
The choice of the midnight is necessitated on the quiet ambience that it presents for study as well as the interaction that we have with “hardworking angels” who support the labor of those who study during that time with success. There is no theoretical proof of this but those who have succeeded through life tell us that they do most of the work in the midnight when everyone is asleep.
My students got giggling when I told them angels were actually at work during the midnight to bless those whose candles are lit with success. It doesn’t seem an easy to understand belief but I have come to understand it as somewhat true.
In spiritual terms, it is said that between 11.30pm and 2.30am, the airspace is left open for interaction between the spiritual and the physical. I am not a specialist in this matter but I’ve accepted it as true after trying this out myself.
Those days at the university, I had tried out different reading techniques just so that I could help myself from the drastic position I had found myself. I had failed to develop a reading habit prior to entering into the university but I had to find a way around it soonest else it would be finding me out of school soon. This got me moving from one student to another who I felt had the ability I wanted. I caught up with a friend Amos who made reading through the night his specialty and I first learnt from him the power of the night. Since I caught up with him, I’ve connected with his reading principle. He still reads through the night till today and he promises himself never to stop until he closes his eyes off this side of life.
I have being inspired by the many stories of students who have achieved success by just applying the principle of reading through the midnight.
When I talked of the use of the candle especially to my students, they ask if any other form of light can’t be used. I stress the use of the candle because I am aware any principle being used by those in mysticism has an everyday application too. There is often a conscious awareness that arrives when you make use of the candle. If you try it, you would discover too. You just can’t sleep off while the candle is lit. The thinking is for you to switch off the candle when you get tired. However reading with the candle takes sleep away from your eyes. Is there an experimental proof? I don’t think so. However from my own personal experience, I have observed that keeping the candle lit lights you out of sleep altogether.
My academic performance began to change after I took conscious steps to apply the night along with my friends. Even though at the beginning I was given to sleeping when we went for our night classes, with time I overcame it. There may not be an immediate change once you decide to begin but the change arrives only after a few days. There is a certainty that within a space of three weeks when the habit forms, you have begun to coupe the benefits of the night sacrifice.
Yes, it is actually a sacrifice. I remember that at that time of the night prior to starting the night studying, I was often far asleep snoring off. Soon that time became a time for study and I couldn’t enjoy the benefit of sleep. I had sleep lag at the initial time but success gains began to arrive with improved test scores which made me even more determined to continue in that path of success.
I’m often asked why I remember so much after many years since I left school and I could still teach clearly without looking through any reference. I tell them that I had labored through the night those days at the university. Those things that actually get stock in the night stay for so long. Even though I had the angel’s thing to support my high mental capacity, I naturally know it is the illumination that the night offered that actually got all that knowledge in my brain for so long.
It seems no secret at all burning candles. We burn candles every day and they don’t cost much. However what we are unaware of is the much aid it gives to assimilation. While it may be odd switching off normal light and deciding for candles, using candles gives the aura of being serious. It’s always great creating a serious aura. Students who know how to pass examinations and succeed at school work actually have an aura that just sticks with their classmates and teacher or lecturers that they indeed are successes.