Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The Word is Charged . . .

Last Thursday evening (12/14/06), the northern lights were visible in our part of South Dakota. My view was a white mist on the northern horizon, subtle, sustained, and impressive. My response was a misquote* of Hopkins: Nature is charged with the grandeur of God; I also reread (for the first time since the late '80's) Arthur Koestler's "Gravity and the Holy Ghost," an essay about Kepler's rethinking of planetary orbits, including how the astronomer applied religious thought as he sought to explain physical forces.

Once again, as I found myself in an existence or existing in which I "live and move and have my being," like some sort of spontaneous digital camera, text became tool, a natural technology for recording events.
______

*the correct reading is The world is charged with the grandeur of God.