Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

Planets align so that we can see the magic around us

12/22/2020

0 Comments

 
A social media post I saw somewhere this week seemed to put it best: “Sometimes the planets align so we can better see the magic.” 
I’m not sure what my wife, a grown son and I were looking for Monday evening as we drove miles from the Wasatch Front toward the clearer skies and cleaner views of the southwestern sky. But as we pulled off the road near Grantsville, it was clear we were not alone.
A long line of parked cars stretched along the frontage road, with people standing or leaning against the frames of their vehicles, binoculars and cameras in hand, watching quietly in the gloaming. Our gaze was firmly fixed on two planets whose overlapping presented what looked like a powerful star. But the people seemed to be looking for more than that.
A lot has been said in recent weeks about things that seem fitting for the end of what most people consider a year of radical adjustment. Utah’s monolith was speculated to be a sign of the times. Even though it obviously was manmade and probably erected long before 2020, it was easy to wistfully imagine it as a message of sorts from some alien beings who might be controlling, or at least watching, our struggles.
In May, scientists discovered a black hole only about 1,000 light years from earth. That seemed an appropriately eerie, life-sucking source that played into our fears during the first few weeks of a pandemic many people were grasping to understand.
Modern humans are not so different from their ancestors when it comes to searching the skies for signs. But we may be different from them in that we often miss the magic around us.
The great conjunction of Juptier and Saturn on Monday was no surprise, of course. Even without the pandemic and a year of social unrest and political petulance, it still would have happened exactly on the winter solstice and four days before Christmas. It still would have been the first truly visible overlap of the two shiny planets since 1226. 
We might still have gathered silently in cars by the side of the road, or in parks and back yards, to see it. We still might have viewed it as a reminder of the hope of this season; a hope that speaks of a power far greater than anything we can imagine, who put the wonders of the sky in motion and yet cares about us each by name.
It still might have lent an important bit of perspective to a season that, despite its religious undertones, seems to be increasingly more about gadgets and possessions than the birth of a baby who gave selflessly so we might live.
Last year, Americans charged an average of $1,325 during the Christmas holidays, according to a survey by MagnifyMoney. Most people said they wouldn’t have those bills paid off by the end of January. 
Many of those presents probably were part of the digital revolution — a cultural shift that has brought people instant access to much of the world’s knowledge, while often keeping them far from the things that matter most.
Too often, we sit, stand, or even walk with our noses pointing downward toward a screen, while the miracle of the universe dances above us and the world on which we stand spins through a cosmos even the brightest among us can’t fully explain.
Writing for The Atlantic this week, Marina Koren said people are hardwired to seek meaning from celestial bodies. “In moments of crisis and anxiety, the urge to find explanations everywhere is particularly strong,” she wrote.
I suppose there is truth to that, although it isn’t necessary to wait for a crisis to feel the awe of a clear night sky, or to catch the magic in how planets and stars, billions of them, align.
All it takes is a few minutes on a frosty December night with our eyes heavenward, instead of toward the ground. Suddenly, our angers and pet peeves seem flimsy. Suddenly, we see ourselves as less than a tiny speck in an incomprehensibly vast cosmos. Suddenly, we begin wondering whether we matter, then soon realize we can hardly afford to believe otherwise.
That may have been the biggest gift of Monday’s great conjunction. Those who were looking for something more may have been jarred back to earth, so to speak, and toward a perspective much larger than themselves. 
In that sense, the alignment of two distant planets was indeed a great Christmas event.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.