A core memory from my Hebridean childhood is located in winter’s depths. Whilst dashing out to play after our evening meal, running up the garden path, breath frosty on the clear cold air, a glance at the pitch dark sky stopped me dead. A magical swirling dance of colour was washing the Northern sky with translucent radiance. I held my breath, friends forgotten, gazing for a long time at the wonderful display. Gradually, inevitably, it faded and vanished. I remained entranced for a very long time afterwards.
Subsequent adult reading provided a scientific explanation for the phenomenon of the aurora borealis. But science cannot explain the sense of wonder and awe which the Northern Lights have evoked in countless numbers of us since our remote ancestors scanned the skies, seeing the Divine in natural beauty.
This first experience of awe has remained etched on memory. It imprinted on my soul, at a very young age, a deep intuitive sense that there is a sublime mystery at the core of the interplay between light and dark.
Several decades later, my ambition is to witness the Northern Lights again before I die. Perhaps I will, maybe not.
In the meantime, one can access and enjoy many, many film clips of this wonderful natural phenomenon via the internet. This morning on Twitter, thanks to Jeff Faria @PatriotsOfMars, I came across the finest film of the Northern Lights that I have ever seen. It is titled
Polar Spirits: An Epic Northern Lights Time-Lapse Video
Do treat your soul to an uplift by watching this clip. Forget the Measurers and the reductionists for a few minutes. Whatever they may do their best to tell us, there are and always will be sublimely mysterious dimensions to life for which materialist science with all its brilliance can provide only one dimension of the answer…..
Absolutely breathtaking. I’ve never seen the northern lights, and I certainly never have seen a video of them like this. Both the curtain-like quality and the various colors are just – amazing. Thanks for sharing it – it’s safely tucked into my files now for another look or a hundred.
I’ve just come away from leaving a comment on your latest post to find yours on mine!
Yes, the Northern Lights are possibly Mother Nature’s most inspiring heavenly wonder. But then I would say that wouldn’t I, being a person from the North….
The photograph you posted today is marvelous, not least for the stars shining through it all. And I so enjoyed watching this again. Maybe this will be my year to see them!
I’m glad to hear you’re recovering, too. Those things take time. A friend recently told her about something her doctor said: “Repetitive injuries take a good while to develop, so why do you think they should be gone in a fortnight?” So true, so true.
Great to see you!
Many thanks, Linda. Great to hear from you – and if you do see the Northern Lights, DO send me a photo!