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Hurricane Katrina. Killer beauty.
I was reading a post by Star the other day dealing with the recent volcanic
eruption in the Kiril Islands. And it occurred to me that the whole event
was pretty damn cool.
It is too bad that natural disasters are, well, disasters. Because otherwise
there is just something incredible about the forces of nature. I hate to
admit it, but from a meteorological point of view Hurricane Katrina was
awesome. And there was something amazing about the Indonesian tsunami
also, a power so vast that it could pick up cows or even passenger trains
and transport them for miles. I suppose this is what is normally called
"Olympian detachment." But of course while the view from the summit
might be grand, the view on the ground perhaps is not nearly so.
Thunderstorms have always enthralled me. I don't like rain — or more
precisely I don't like being out in the rain — but I get a wonderful
feeling watching a major thunderstorm move in. The loud clap of thunder.
And then the flash of the lightning, illuminating the landscape. It is
as if Zeus himself really is moving across the sky. And then of course
there are tornados. I originally come from tornado country, the Midwest,
and I sat through a good number of them. Luckily none of them came too
close. Though they frighten me, I always thought that tornados were
like ancient spirits come to life, lost in a land foreign to them and
just as frightened themselves — thus their twisting and their fury.
I have never sat through a major earthquake. But I hear the experience
is not a pleasant one as the whole world seems to fall around you. In
ancient Crete the Snake Goddess was associated with the power of the
earthquake, a dark chthonic presence. While in Greece earthquakes were
associated with the god Poseidon, and in some sources Troy was destroyed
not by fire but by an earthquake.
A good portion of the Earth's geography is covered by volcanos,
especially the Pacific Rim and areas of the Mediterranean. These
volcanos have been responsible for substantial loss of life over the
years. Pliny the Elder was killed during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius
in 79 A.D. while coordinating the rescue of his fellow Romans and —
ever the scientist — making observations of the event in his notebook.
In 1628 B.C.E. a volcano exploded on the Aegean island of Thera
(Santorini), taking off one-third of the island. Luckily in that case
the surrounding citizens had enough warning that they were able to
evacuate. Volcanos became associated with the god Vulcan — thus
vulcanology.
And of course the violence of nature is not limited to our tiny planet.
In just the time it takes us to have a cup of morning coffee, a star
somewhere goes supernova. God only knows what destruction those
cause without us even being aware of it.
I have been having some major problems of late dealing with sadness.
In fact I have been struggling with it back and forth for a long time
now. I think that one of the reasons I was granted this period of Rebirth
with my pacemaker was so that I could deal with sadness — or I should
say deal with the nature of sadness. Never should we become so remote
that we become cold, lifeless zombies and not feel sadness. But I am
also beginning to understand that sadness is really a very localized
phenomenon. Because in the larger scope there is not really pain and
death, but a continuous rebirth that takes place across the Creator's
creation.
Khephera always exists at the heart of Ra. At the heart of everything.
Khephera in the solar disk with
the ba of Ra.
I, too, am awed by the forces of nature. My first memory of a fascination with volcanoes comes from a work of fiction I read as a very young child dealing with the explosion of Krakatau in the mid-1880's. In this book, residents of the island escaped by balloon, with huge amounts of diamonds from beneath the volcano. When the mountain blew, the force of the explosion blew their balloon across the sea.Of course, that's not the way it happened, but to the impressionable mind of a little girl, it was all very thrilling and romantic. I was hooked.I've been (mostly informally) studying the sciences of earth ever since.So cool.I'm sorry you're sad, Edward.:heart:
"…but I always thought that they were like ancient spirits come to life, lost in a land foreign to them and just as frightened themselves…"Now I will never look at the thunderstorms the same way 🙂 This is a beautiful description and I will remember it :happy:
I will imagine angry and confused spirits, expressing their confusion with a rage 😎
Thank you Darko. I am glad if it helped. I really had no idea that something like that could help someone.
Hey, what did you think of Dante's Peak — ???I really liked that one. Well acted, exciting, and one totally kick-ass volcano. :p
:heart::)
Thank you Linda for the good thoughts.I think I've seen the movie 3 times — which is really rare for me bacause I hate repeats.
I normally do not watch repeats either, but there are certain movies that I watch over and over. Usually they are science fiction; however, I have watched Dirty Dancing so many times it is a wonder there are still images on the film. 😆 I know, plebian tastes, but I love the dancing in that movie, and I think the love scene between Patrick and Jennifer is the most sensitive, sweetest, most tender love scene I have ever watched. To me, it is better than his scene in "Ghost" with Demi Moore.
I loved Dante's Peak and I still watch it from time to time. It kept me on the edge of my chair. Please don't be sad Edward. Yes, it is a part of living, but don't get lost in it.
I think the best "love scene" I've ever seen was the first one on the bed in In the Cut with Meg Ryan. That was totally hot — and yet I thought it was so well done too. Campion did an amazing job maintaining a mood in that movie.
Yes, as I mentioned once you can take a friend to the aiport but you can't keep the plane from crashing. I guess my problem is that after the plane does crash I feel such sadness. In spite of the fact that we can't do anything about it."It's all in order." I have thought about that on occasion, more or less the same thing. But you remind me that I need to keep it more in mind.Thank you.
Getting things in perspective is always beneficial. Understanding our smallness in the scheme of things.Our love may be big, but our individual lives are like a grain of sand on the beach. Nature's way of doing things. It's okay. No sadness needed. It's all in order.Doing things as good as we can and at the same time realizing that the world will move just as well, or just as bad, without us may help us fight back that sadness.That's my hope.
Have never been in any natural disasters. Except for some flooding in certain areas after a monsoon storm, Arizona doesn't seem to have them disasters. I did see Mt. St. Helens in it's full beauty six months before it blew itself to bits. Don't care for repeats much either except I've seen the old classic Some Like it Hot probably a dozen times. It always gets me out of the dumps. Seeing Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon dressed as women, and how they act is so funny.
@ Pam MM is great too in that movie. @ StarIt rocks. And it blows too. And (should I say it?) one awesome pyroclastic flow. Drag racing with the PF — you can't beat that for action. Hey come up here and we'll go over to where they filmed it.
"Dante's Peak" rocks! (Pardon the pun. :D)I've seen the movie several times, too. That is one awesome blast!:up:
I'm free this weekend. :p
It's a date.:D
😆