Punctum Saliens

Polarized sunglasses work by letting through light that is aligned in only one direction. This acts to reduce the number of photons getting through and therefore reduce the intensity of the light. Polarized sunglasses work very well to reduce the intensity of light being reflected off (and therefore polarized by) a lake or highway. Polarized sunglasses also work very well to reduce the intensity of God and that’s exactly what religion does. As Carl Jung said, “One of the main functions of formalized religion is to protect people against a direct experience of God.” After all, Moses could only see the fleeting arse end of God without being instantly killed and just that tiny peek was enough to make him glow.

Another interesting aspect of this analogy is the effect of holding two polarized lenses with one in front of the other and then rotate one of them 90°. What happens? Everything goes black! This is because the first lens is letting light through that is only vertically polarized whereas the second is letting light through that is only horizontally polarized (or vice-versa). The result is nothing gets past them both — they are mutually exclusive. Kind of like Christianity and Islam, for example. The trick is to realize that they are both looking at the same sun but have selected different aspects of that sun while the other aspects have been removed for our own protection.