The Elements and How to Brave Them
As thunder rolls through the chalky skies of Los Angeles, for the first time since oh, I dunno, the Christ, nature’s natural, effortless majesty helps remind us of just how tiny and powerless we really are.
Dreary, n’est-ce pas? Au contraire, mes amis.
It’s this subtle suggestion that should be comforting, not condemning. Put it this way: When we lose sight of the perspective of the world around us, we begin to consider ourselves—as westerns have done so cunningly for thousands of years—as the center of the universe. We simultaneously forgot our actual place in the universe and inject our own reality that this place is ours and created for us. Nature however, is a wonderful woman who helps to wake us from our dream.
The great elements help to hold a mirror to ourselves (only from a really really high up spot). So once that mirror is in place and we collectively gaze.. and gaze.. and gaze.. up to try and meet it’s beautiful reflection, we ask the question, “who’s the fairest one of all?”… Now, if we haven’t gotten so bored to tears waiting for the answer that we say, “eh fuck it, I never liked this mirror anyway”, we’re usually fairly surprised with our answer: “You’re not the fairest one of all. You never have been and you never will be. You, as a people, fight, kill, destroy and all in the name of the smallest differences in the universe.”
Ok, so now I’m sure you’re really cheery after that thought.
Let me leave you with this, however. When nature decides to gently guide us back to our humble human place in this cosmic ocean, whether by torrential rains, earthquakes, tsunamis or something more tender like a gorgeous moon rise, being able to see our little milky way galaxy visible from a mountain side, or listening to a city being blanketed by rain and thunder, we are reminded that the only actual thing we have in this crazy cosmos is each other. We can and try to appreciate all the wonderful, epic gifts that the universe offers us but its that very idea of our own smallness that reassures us, it’s not that big of a deal. If you were mad at somebody, does it really matter that much? Somebody cut you off in traffic, let it go. Somebody broke you’re heart, forgive them. You’re afraid to love someone, open up and tell them you love them because you really might not get another chance to.
So when nature does wake you up ever so softly with something as magical as a thundery Los Angelino morning, and, like a picture in a science text book that’s attempting to give perspective to something, holds the universe up next to your life and asks, “what do you think now?”, remember your place before you respond.
LE FLANEUR
This nebula is called “The Pillars of Creation”. To put this into perspective, longest of the pillars, to the far left, is SEVEN LIGHT YEARS LONG.
Also check out these videos, they’re incredible. And if you don’t know who Carl Sagan, you might want to educate yourself with his teachings.
