Stargazing

This year my wife gave me a very nice telescope for Christmas. I am not sure what triggered this. I have never asked for one. Yet, I think she knew well my interest in the night sky’s, from all the times she caught me peering out the windows at the moon and stars, or standing outside on the patio in the cold night air gazing up at the thousands of mysteries twinkling above.

I have always been mesmerized by the night sky.From my boyhood camp-outs in Iowa, to sleeping out in the open at 9500 feet on Mt Adams, I have been drawn to the mystery of the universe at night—a never ending expanse studded brilliantly with diamonds and streaming streaks from the tails of comets and meteors.

I have never really studied the night sky, outside just enough to get my boy-scout astronomer badge.. I think I was afraid if I knew too much about it, the mystery and enchantment would disappear. Walt Whitman had the same sentiment.

                                                    When I heard the learn’d astronomer,

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,

When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,

When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,

How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,

Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.                      WALT WHITMAN

My wife gave me the telescope a few days early  to view the winter solstice conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn that made itself easily visible for the first time in eight centuries. It has been called the “Christmas Star”–the story being that this was what the three Magi (astronomers from the East) followed in 1 A.D. in hopes of finding the prophesied new King and World Leader.

These three astronomers from Persia were considered “wise” in that they recognized what others did not–making connections between seemingly incomparable things that most did not see. They were able to interpret the signs in the sky, and they were able to see a leader of a new order in an infant laying in a cow’s trough in a cave. It was how they saw this star that led them to take a journey. The rest of the world saw just another twinkle, if they were even looking up.  I wonder if it was their curiosity about the Universe that made them wise, that put them in the right places at the right times?

Here’s a paradox for you: We have all lived for almost a year in the closed-up tunnel experience of a pandemic where staying home is the order, and human touch has been reduced to the ones you live with, if you live with anyone—all during one of the most active and eruptive Celestial years ever. As our world seemed to abruptly stop, the heavens themselves were exploding with activity. I already mentioned the rare “Christmas Star” on December 21^st. But there was much more this year. The heavens became a popular distraction from the pandemic for star watchers across the globe as multiple new comets were discovered and  put on a show. The Comet Neowise made itself visible this past July even to naked eye sky watchers in a display that was the best in decades. Annual meteor showers such as the Perseids, Taurids and Leonids also impressed in 2020.

I took the telescope out to a cliff in North East Tacoma overlooking the Puget Sound to find the Christmas Star. I made pleasant (but social distanced) conversation with another stargazer who had the same idea.  A group of teenage boys pulled up in their car next to me and hopped out chattering. Seeing my telescope and me peering into the sky, they approached me. They wanted to all take a look in my new telescope. At any other time I would have enjoyed sharing the view with them, but because of Covid, I had to tell them I would prefer not to get that close.They politely hopped back in their car and drove off. Another missed connection opportunity due to Covid.

I hooked up my cell phone with the star-finder app to the telescope and zeroed in on every bright object in my view. The app gave me the name of every object. It was no longer just another  “star”, but it had a name.  I was  looking at ‘Altair’, and ‘Albireo’, ‘Vega’, and ‘Deneb’.  Each one of the billions of heavenly bodies had their own identity, their own life, and their role to play. The heavens danced and sang in celebration, while down here  we waited for the world to heal.

I was wrong. Knowing the names of planets and stars, and where they can be found in the sky, did not remove their mystery. What is it about the heavens then that still mesmerizes human terrestrial creatures. What is it that causes us to pause from our earthly activity and concerns to look up deep into space at things none of us really understand? Those wise men that study the stars still end up at the same place of mystery. As self reflecting creatures, we cannot help but ask “ Where does all this magnificent beauty come from? Where is it going?”,  and most important, “What does it all mean?”  I don’t have the slightest idea. I just know that something shifts inside me whenever I look up, for when I am looking up,  I am not looking down–down at my shoes and how scuffed they are, or at the spot on my shirt, or wondering what the day will bring. I am not thinking about what I think you should or should not be doing. My focus has changed, and so has my perspective. I think if the prophet who 2800 years ago stood outside his tent one night, looked up into the sky, and exclaimed

Lift up your eyes on high

And see who has created these stars,

The One who leads forth their host by number,

He calls them all by name;

Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,

Not one of them is missing.    Isaiah 40:26

It seems that a year of living in a pandemic has affected worldwide our human perspective . Collectively we are focused on this thing and how our lives have changed, and little else. Things that were so important are not. Activities we thought we could not live without, we are.

I see a certain perspective developing in me that I do not like–a perspective that comes from a crisis, tragedy, or a sudden uproot to ones life. It is a perspective of survival that leads to a type of tunnel vision… a reduced perspective. With such a small perspectives comes even smaller living.

The “Wise Men” that followed the star were wise because of how they saw what they saw. They were able to see what others did not. They kept their eyes along the horizon and onto the skies. They looked further down the road for direction. They were able to see connections between dissimilar things others could not. They saw the connection between the star and the coming new order. The Wise know how to separate the chaff from the wheat, the temporal and disappearing from the lasting, to discern between that which is in the long run insignificant and that which is critically important.

They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the east beyond them far
And to the earth it gave great light
And so it continued both day and night
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

And by the light of that same star
Three Wise men came from country far
To seek for a King was their intent
And to follow the star wherever it went
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

This star drew nigh to the northwest
O’er Bethlehem it took its rest
And there it did both stop and stay
Right o’er the place where Jesus lay
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!         THE FIRST NOEL

So much of my life is tied up with how I see what I see. Perception is everything. Vantage point is everything. A person deep in the forest may seem lost, but from the hilltop they can chart their course. Those in recovery know this; “Their whole attitude and outlook on life will change”

A simple practice of looking up at the stars and the moon in the sky is sometimes all it takes to clear my lens and help me see differently.  If the sky is dark and cloudy, there are other ways to gain perspective; try spending time with children, watching them play, or accompany a dying friend through their final adventure. Pay attention to the lonely and alone around you. Visit the sick or imprisoned. Help the poor, the immigrant, the addict. These are also ways to gaze into the heavens, ways that can provide a fresh perspective. There are many ways to jolt our tunnel vision, our self involved perspective, into a view that ultimately comes from gazing up at the Universe, not down at our shoes.

Let us together turn our gaze upwards.The heavens still dance, the moon showers us with grace, and wise men and woman still show us the way.

Kind Regards,

Bob