In the book "A Christmas Carol" the ghost of Christmas Past has a "light" shining from him, what does the light mean?

Question

anonymous · Answer

It's been a few years since I read it, but could that light be a sort of beacon of information, a place that the Scrooge must look (the past) in order to understand why he is so miserable today? If he continues to live separated from his history, he will remain ignorant and miserable. He (and we) must look to the the past or we will be unable to appreciate what we have now -- and be unable to move into the future -- intelligently (because we are informed about our pasts).