Some of these accounts have even compared it all to a spiritual experience, and it's hard to see it any other way. Mother Nature can put on quite an amazing show if we stop, look, and listen to the majesty that surrounds us everywhere.
Anyhow, my experience with the eclipse (this time) was this: I put on my Clark Planetarium-approved sunglasses (yay, six eyes!) over my regular glasses and watched the eclipse from a patio chair in the backyard. Though I was not a witness in the path of totality, it was nevertheless a beautiful sight:
(No, the sky didn't turn this dark here; the background is black because the photo was taken from under the retina-protecting safety glasses.)
A photo can't really capture it. But it was beautiful. Here in North Salt Lake, the sky at 11 a.m. darkened to the point it normally would look at about 7:00 or 7:30 p.m. at this time of year. It was a bit surreal. I think there's really something to all of this astronomy stuff.
The Incas, whose descendants I lived among and served in Peru, worshipped the Sun. They also had a lot of weird traditions and sacrificed human beings, but they were onto something in their adoration of that celestial body that provides us all with light, heat, photosynthesis, and countless other wonders. Today, Peru's unit of currency (you'll thank me when/if this is ever on "Jeopardy!") is the sol, which is Spanish for "Sun."
For me, it all points to our Creator. Like Alma testifying before Korihor, it makes me want to proclaim:
"All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator" (Alma 30:44).
With this eclipse, I feel like He basically dropped the mic.
I didn't know you had a blog. I may be back to read more.
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