Light without current sounds like magic to me. I am not ready to believe this statement. My hero, Tesla, was able to light bulbs without wires but I believe there was still a current involved. The EMF (which I believe is measured in volts) needs to be much higher than the typical 120 volts, though. I think what you call a ballast is really a step up transformer to produce the required thousands of volts needed to push electrons (current or amps) from one end of the tube to the other (or to the earth).