NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera’s satellite image
of the solar eclipse over North America on Apriil 8, 2024.

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You are the universe experiencing itself. ~ Alan Watts
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Steve Hartman and his family traveled to northern VT to view the eclipse. They shared some of their thoughts of their experience in a segment of On the Road Again on CBS news last Friday, April 12, 2024. The segment is called On The Road to catch a glimpse of the eclipse. I was struck by how similar the message they offered was to what I wrote in last week’s email, Elegance and Mystery.

“….At this point the shadow had traveled across most of the country. We talked about that. How it traveled through red states and blue, how it fell on faces of all colors, stirred souls of all creeds. And about how by the time it reached us [in VT], more than 30 million Americans who, just moments before, seemed so different would all [come] together under the same exact [sun and moon].”

Then his three progeny briefly added their words: 

“Like the country comes together and we all find it amazing.” |
“Look around us, look at all of the similarities.”
“A moment that unites us all was pretty cool to see.”

Hartman adds, “We decided that that unity was almost as inspiring as the event itself. 

“Of course, within seconds, the heavens returned us to our own devices. But our wish is that, at the end of this wondrous week, a ray of that harmony remains….”

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Since then I have seen several articles about the eclipse and human unity. One by Poppy Hanson, Opinions Editor for the Lawrence University school newspaper, The Hill News, is entitled Unity Under the Eclipse: A Moment of Profound Wonder. Here’s the concluding paragraph:

“I truly think this eclipse was one of the greatest moments of my life. It’s not something that I’ll ever forget. I even got a T-shirt, a cup, and a poster to commemorate it. But the materialistic side doesn’t matter. Sure, those things will surely be in my life longer than the three minutes I spent staring at the sky, but those three minutes are so much more than something that can be captured on a shirt or a poster. It reminded me of my place in the universe as well as the unifying power of such an amazing event. The combination of the people around me and the sight of these celestial bodies moving in tandem brought me to a place I hope I can relive for years to come.”

The impact of the eclipse continues and grows….

Total and Annular Solar Eclipses between 2021 and 2030