Looks like Reindeer

Fascinated by this story about the reindeer that can see in the Ultra Violet. Which explains many things - not least why you never see a reindeer that's not wearing sunglasses in nightclubs. And makes me wonder whether it was fluorescence, not bio-luminescence, that gave Rudolf his famous nose.

This would also give some theological chancers the chance to come up with an utterly strained analogy with spiritual blindness and sight. So it would be a shame to miss it. There's a running motif in the Gospels about light and dark; about seeing and blindness. It's like an invisible kind of spiritual light that shines, that only those that can see it, can see. Which would explain the tedious and futile debates about the existence (or not) of God. We can just see something that others can't - the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.

People can bang on about lack of scientific evidence, and we just won't care because they can't see the spiritual light. What's clear and obvious to you and me, believing friends- is opaque and invisible to them. In a way it's not their fault - any more than Rudolf should criticise us for being unable to see in a darkened sun-tan booth. Although as it happens reindeer are actually incredibly judgemental, and hate and despise us for what they see as our shortcomings - i.e. having a reduced visible spectrum and not likin' lichen. And they don't half leave a nasty smell in sun-tan booths.

Young Keith, who has his scientific moments, has called this "spiritual light" that I am describing the "Light of Infinity", by analogy with the light that breaks in at the last moment in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. This seems very sensible to me, as clearly this kind of spiritual vision sees all things in the light of the End of Times. Which, by another dodgy analogy, gives me the impression that the problem with certain End Days enthusiasts is that they are using a spiritual telescope (i.e. the world of Apocalyptic) and haven't understood that telescopes make things look closer than they really are.

What is less wise on Young Keith's part is that he has decided he now needs to create a Light of Infinity detector, to prove that it exists. I tried to explain to Keith that if I thought he could create an experiment to prove or disprove the existence of the Light of Infinity, I'd have never thought up the concept. But he just looked confused and went off to get another diode.