if u immediately no the candlelight is fire, then the meal was cooked a long time ago

[Alexandria7]

I honestly think, and this is going to sound bad, but the writers just thought this up because it sounded cool, Jedi like, Confucius like, and seeming to hold deep wisdom when in actuality, it's crap. lol.

I took it to be similar to the philosophy, teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime from the bible. If you know that candlelight is fire then you already know how to cook a meal. (To clarify, I'm not talking 5 star chef cooking, but like cooking a hot dog or whatever to survive.)

Meaning that if you know about ascension (or whatever), then you can ascend, you just have to look inside yourself to do it as the answers are already there.

[lordofseas]

It means that my food is cold. SOMEONE COOK ME FOOD!

[Whatsername]

Shame on the woman that cooked the food shame shame

[Phenom]

I am as deep as a petri dish so I have no idea what this means.

My interpretation would be....oh stuff it too hard. And the footy is on.

[awsed24]

wow! i didnt even realize this thread had come back up! cool!
personally, i like alexandria7's interpretation best. thanks for all the answers!

[Cherriey]

I hadn't puzzled it out too much though when I was attempting to it always gave me the impression that you can't jump ahead. Something to the effect of this: If you immediately know how to do what you need to (ascend) or if the answer is simply given to you (and thus you immediately know it) then the result is not truly earned and should have happened awhile back? Yeah... it all falls apart when I get to the end. *sigh*

[IrishPisano]

it means

if you immediately know the answer to a question, then in reality you have had the means to answer for quite some time

[borealis_aurora]

this is the best interpretation i have found so far:

This is a slightly garbled version of something a monk said in a Stargate episode: ""If you immediately know the candle light is fire, then the meal was cooked a long time ago."

It appears to be reference to a Zen koan - an enigmatic story meant to jog the mind into enlightenment - called Joshu Washes the Bowl, which has the commentary:

It is too clear and so it is hard to see.
A dunce once searched for fire with a lighted lantern.
Had he known what fire was,
He could have cooked his rice much sooner.

In other words, the unenlightened person is like an idiot looking for something he possesses all along, but fails to recognise. The Stargate monk's take on it is that if the person has reached a stage of easily recognising something (some power, knowledge or situation) then they should have long since known how to use it.
Source(s):
Recognizing the Candlelight as Fire: Joshu Washes the Bowl

[timeless one]

If you realize that God is timeless and outside of our decaying Universe, then you can comprehend how he can see your meal being cooked before you were even born, even as he is seeing the death of our sun. To understand creation one must visualize and comprehend a realm where time does not rule.