Thunder & Lightning & Awe, Oh My!
October 13th 2006 16:40
Recently, as I was driving from Big Town to Little Town along side the Pacific Ocean, I was witness to a marvelously awesome display of Natures’ beauty and power. The roaring thunder and magnificent bolts of lightning remained fairly constant and active for the duration of my thirty-minute drive. I pulled over to the side of the road several times so that I could more comprehensively absorb what I was experiencing without becoming a distracted hazard of the road.
Besides the powerful splendor, I was struck by how much awe was generated by this skyful display. Quite humbling, actually. My smallness relative to this grandeur.
If I had been a pre-historic individual witnessing this display, what would I think and feel? Without scientific explanation or this mighty phenomenon, would I shudder in fear of this mysterious occurrence? Not ‘knowing’ what this was, how would I absorb such awesome and all-encompassing power?
Such are the meanderings of my mind, wondering this and imagining that. Childlike, I suppose.
Whether a child, a pre-historic, or a member of contemporary culture, how do individuals and collectives organize around mystery? Mystery such as thunder and lightening, for instance, sans scientific rationale. How long can a cognizant person or people co-exist with a mystery prior to attaching ‘
efinition’ and ‘story’ to it? At what point does mystery unexplained become a stress that fetters the quality of life?
Stories seem helpful. Likely for thousands of years, humans have been creating stories to explain away and absorb the uncertainty that comes with mystery. Rituals, myth, religion, and science are all apt venues for such. ‘Writing down the bones’ may be another way by which mystery can be absorbed if not explained by and for an individual.
All of this seems our humanly humble attempt to defuse and dissipate the stress and strain that comes with the ultimate mysteries and uncertainties of life. Oddly, when one becomes myopic in ones’ adherence to the particular story embraced, then more stress ensues when it seems as if another story is seeping and creeping in to what is held as ‘true’.
Sigh…I love a good storm
What Stories Do You Use?
deorre
Besides the powerful splendor, I was struck by how much awe was generated by this skyful display. Quite humbling, actually. My smallness relative to this grandeur.
If I had been a pre-historic individual witnessing this display, what would I think and feel? Without scientific explanation or this mighty phenomenon, would I shudder in fear of this mysterious occurrence? Not ‘knowing’ what this was, how would I absorb such awesome and all-encompassing power?
Such are the meanderings of my mind, wondering this and imagining that. Childlike, I suppose.
Whether a child, a pre-historic, or a member of contemporary culture, how do individuals and collectives organize around mystery? Mystery such as thunder and lightening, for instance, sans scientific rationale. How long can a cognizant person or people co-exist with a mystery prior to attaching ‘
efinition’ and ‘story’ to it? At what point does mystery unexplained become a stress that fetters the quality of life?Stories seem helpful. Likely for thousands of years, humans have been creating stories to explain away and absorb the uncertainty that comes with mystery. Rituals, myth, religion, and science are all apt venues for such. ‘Writing down the bones’ may be another way by which mystery can be absorbed if not explained by and for an individual.
All of this seems our humanly humble attempt to defuse and dissipate the stress and strain that comes with the ultimate mysteries and uncertainties of life. Oddly, when one becomes myopic in ones’ adherence to the particular story embraced, then more stress ensues when it seems as if another story is seeping and creeping in to what is held as ‘true’.
Sigh…I love a good storm
What Stories Do You Use?
deorre
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