ESSAY: The Lovely Summer Begins/Transit of Venus

Celestial Delights Aplenty

The blessings of having grandchildren are many; but who knew that astronomy and physics would present themselves for my tardy consideration?  In my own long-ago childhood in the rural Midwest( seems like yesterday) we were guided to attend the natural world, waiting on the northern lights, an eclipse viewed through candle-smoked window glass, The Milky Way every summer night, picking out the easiest constellations, watching to see if the North Star would move after all, the impossibly luminous October moonrise. How far off I sat and wondered.  

 Now an insistent child clamors for information about almost everything, and I have time; the inclination to listen, arriving late in life, leads me to a thoughtful response.  And so we go to see the annular eclipse, the Transit of Venus, the unusually large moon.  They open the universe to him and to me, a second latency period settling upon me like Harry Potter’s invisible cloak.

Annular Eclipse

In May we went to Canyon de Chelly Arizona, and on a high bluff overlooking that quintessential Western canyon, watched a full eclipse.  The late afternoon sunlight assumed a subtle pale golden gray tone, as the shadows lengthened across the warm sandstone. 

How time did seem exactly perfect - we sentient conscious beings aligned with it rather than running it ourselves.  Waiting, watching, slow time, easy time, inexorable processes - my realization and experience of them, too.

Transit of Venus 

If the event of the eclipse was not enough, a few weeks later an unusual passage of Venus in front of the sun’s face occurred.  This time Max and I made a special trip together.  At the Griffith Park Observatory we joined thousands of Angelenos to watch the arcing slow journey of the tiny black speck.  How delightful it was to see him come to understanding, climbing the stepstools to peer into the telescopes, asking the assistants questions.  

The God Particle

Now news comes that a existence of transitory atomic particle has been further proved.  A $10 billion linear accelerator has been used to perform an experiment that the Higgs-Bosun particle performs as hypothesized - it accretes matter as it moves through space, possibly explaining how mass and matter came to visible form as planets, stars, and galaxies.

So now I attend to celestial news to share with the little eager manchild in my life. We draw pictures of galaxies, read books about black holes, look at the full moon through my large bird-sighting scope (works as well as a small telescope), talk about what it would like if we could see The Big Bang, and whether there is a God or if God caused the Big Bang.  

Fulfillment

To be fully filled, to the brim, and above the brim.  A word from the glossary of ancient spirituality, sought by the early mystics.  St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi, fulfilled, without doubt.  Joseph, the fulfilled parent, The Blessed Innocents, a fulfillment of blood.  St. Thomas Aquinas, pierced by longing, fulfilled in death to eternal life.  Now, fulfillment is grotesque - a conclusion after Amazon and FedEx whisk your order to your front porch, the last event in a chain of aquisition: desire-seek-anticipate-buy-use-novelty exhaustion-throw away.   

Think of the gifts of God - Miriam got a baby, perfect and destined, to delight in.  The lilies of the field, loaves of bread, 10 rules to live by, a promised land delivered, a lost lamb found.