To Begin Again

Happy Solstice!  Heard my husband say that to someone on the phone today and it made me smile.  We pictured this person's face on the other end of the phone trying to place that one in the context of the "Happy Holidays" we all hear this time of year.  Technically speaking, celebrating the solstice is something that goes back to when humans first started paying attention to the fact that, instead of getting shorter, the days started getting longer again.  Imagine what that must have been like for the first people who realized that the days were growing ever shorter and colder....slowly approaching the end when there will be nothing but cold and darkness.  But then, to have the pendulum slowly swing the other way? Salvation!

How frightening, to have been those first people to make the connection that the days were getting progressively shorter and darker.  I can imagine that there was probably the same sections of society that we have today: a) the doubters - "It's all a myth! This darkness thing doesn't really happen!" b) the extremists "It's dark! We are all going to die!"  c) the deists - "Pray to avoid the vengeance of god!", d) the apathetic - "Who cares that it is dark" and e) the scientist - "Wow!  I wonder why and how can I figure this out?"   All I can say is that I am very happy for the scientists who persevered and figured this mystery out. Can you imagine the news headlines with today's media if we didn't have this understanding of the axial tilt of the planet?

 In the same token, how cool to have been that first person to figure out that, because of how the earth is angled, it changes our seasons and how much light we get each day. Talk about an incredible eureka moment, but chances are very good that the first people who brought the topic up were stoned to death for being heretics to whatever god was most prevalent in the culture at the time. Of course this is all speculation because there is no record of this being written down.  There are however, standing stones and other temples that were presumed to be built in response to this natural phenomenon.  I did a quick search on Google - how is it that we ever survived without this tool? Back when we actually  had to know things or look things up....anyway, did a quick search with the phrase, 'map of the origins of religion' and stumbled upon this cool website. I had a hunch (and it appears to be relatively accurate) that most modern religions developed in areas along the equator.  This makes relative sense, if you think about it.  The equators are the least affected by the solstices and equinox  so the magic of nature is lost on them, hence encouraging them to come up with their own mystical understanding for the universe (which mainly involve humans - i.e. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism)  The northern countries (and the southern too, for that matter) were heavy into nature worship - why?....because it is incredible!  You see first hand everyday how the changes in the axial tilt of the earth in this infinite cosmos can affect very small things - the migration of birds and animals, the growth of plants, insect cycles, weather patterns.....  The sense of wonder contained within our own planet, much less this universe, is staggering.  While there are many friends and family members of mine that practice a formal religion, and I appreciate their beliefs and hope they all celebrate happy holidays, I can honestly say that I myself am caught up in the mystery of all that exists around me - from the smallest atom to the enormity of the universe.  Einstein of course, says it best, " The scientists' religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveal an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection."

Welcome light, come back in, let us start this year again.