I am now way up north near the Canadian border in a small town called Ely MN. You may have heard of Ely, for it was just voted the best little town in America to live and raise a family. Thanks to the generosity of my friends George and Mary Kay, I have been coming to Ely for the past several years and enjoy one of the truly best parts of being here...a richly warm and glowing sunset over White Iron Lake.
Each time I sit on the dock and watch this sunset I am reminded about how small we really are here on planet Earth. This is not a melancholy awareness of how infantisimal we are, but rather, an acute awareness of just how much universe there really is out there, and a real clear reminder of my place within it. Just when I think that my problems are collosal and that there is a near-catastrophe in everything that happens to me that I don't like, I see this sunset in my mind and get grounded very fast.
There are an estimated 100 billion stars in our universe spread out over 100 billion light years of distance, and scientists are just now getting a good handle on how these stars are formed on the frontier of that universe. They are able to "see" these stars form and quickly die and measure the radiation that emanates from the star's death. When I look out over the lake at the setting of our sun - a moderately sized star that is about half way through its life - I can't help but think of the certainty that there is some other galaxy out there that holds within it the same kind of conditions on planets similar to our own. In other words, I see in our star's setting over the horizon the glimmer of reality that someone, somewhere is watching their own star set over their horizon. With this awareness I find a kinship with creatures that may be very much like we humans who exist in their world very much the way I exist in mine - one of 6 billion people spinning through the heavens.
Of course, only a few years ago - really a blink in the scheme of things - I was ripping and running my way through the lives of other people in this world and could never appreciate the value of a setting sun. Sure, when you smoke certain drugs you get that "insight" that only seems to come from the altered consciousness the drugs induce in you. But, a sunset points out very nicely how that fraudulent insight was nothing compared to the insight about our life on Earth that can come from watching a sunset clean and sober. This experience today is so much more vibrant and real, so much more meaningful than any that can be generated by alcohol and other drugs. Today I am able to see myself as a part of some greater whole, some greater and ever-expanding entity that exists in our universe that can provide peace of mind. Some people call that Higher Power, and others call it God that is touched when you experience these things this way. Regardless what it is called, to be able to experience this means that I will not be tearing through other people's lives today like a tornado through a trailer park. No, instead, I will be peacefully sharing my thoughts and feelings about cosmic events that bind me with others who are also riding this planet.
No...my problems don't amount to much more than a hill of beans as Bogart told Bergman before she boarded that plane. Put into its proper place, my world gets to glow like that sun setting over the hills. Some people have called that serenity. And, so would I.
All the best, Roger W.
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