Meditation on White Smoke

In the Catholic Peace Weekly newspaper, a science teacher offers a meditation on fire in his Faith and Science Column, with an interesting conclusion we can apply to our lives.

In Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humans. Humans who used fire developed civilization and advanced culture, elevating humanity to a different level of existence.

So, when did humans first start using fire? Scholars estimate that humans first used fire that was ignited naturally by lightning or volcanoes during the Paleolithic Age, when Homo erectus lived about 1.4 million years ago. Fire was crucial in helping primitive humans, ruled by nature, overcome nature and gain an advantage over other animals. 

Fire played a significant role in not only the way of life but also the advancement of civilization, such as by dispelling the darkness of night, increasing human activity time, and reducing the physical energy required for digestion by cooking meals.

In “Sapiens,” Yuval Harari said, “Humans could control their infinite potential by taming fire.” The Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, which was achieved by humans domesticating fire, was a representative event in which the steam engine used the combustion reaction of coal. Combustion is a chemical reaction in which a substance rapidly combines with oxygen, producing light and heat. The traditional fuels humans used to obtain light and heat were organic substances such as wood or straw. 

Modern fuels such as petroleum, natural gas (LNG), and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are composed of carbon and hydrogen. When sufficient oxygen is supplied during the combustion process, complete combustion occurs, and the elements in the fuel produce carbon dioxide and water (water vapor), generating nearly transparent or white smoke. However, when the amount of oxygen is insufficient or the temperature is low during combustion, incomplete combustion occurs, generating carbon monoxide, and the carbon in the fuel is released into the air in the form of fine particles, generating soot and black smoke.

Since smoke is visible from a distance, it was used to convey messages before the development of wired and wireless communication. When a major national incident occurred, such as an enemy invasion, a signal was sent to a distant place using smoke or light. 

Just as people in the past paid attention to the smoke rising from beacon towers, people all over the world paid attention to the color of the smoke coming out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican right after the conclave. It is known that in the past, when a pope was elected, white smoke was created by completely burning ballot papers in a stove, and when a pope was not elected, black smoke was created by incomplete combustion of damp straw. Since the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, chemicals have been used to make the smoke color clearer.

Just as we produce white smoke right after the Conclave, we must light the hearth of our conscience in our daily lives and completely burn all our hypocrisy, impiety, negligence, distrust, and hatred toward others to produce white smoke. We must ask God to prevent our wrong thoughts and actions from being incompletely burned within us and producing black smoke.