The Solar Eclipse is Monday, Here's What I'm Thinking About
Beauty remains, even in misfortune
The ancient Greeks had a term for wonders like the upcoming solar eclipse: Extasis. They used this word to describe a heavenly experience that allows one to pause for a second and chill.
I live in Austin, Texas, so I’ll be on the path of totality. As long as it doesn’t rain (which it might), I should get a neat view around 1:30 pm on Monday.
Monday at 1:30 pm, right in the middle of the workday. A perfect time for an exasis, wouldn’t you agree?
When we’re supposed to be anxious about deadlines or responding to emails we received over lunch, here’s this rare experience to bathe in the enormity of it all. A moment to realize just how inconsequential those emails are.
I sound like a hippy right now, but it’s important to remember these things.
That we’re small in the grand scheme of the universe.
There’s so much out of our control (like most things).
There’s beauty out there that we couldn’t touch even if we tried.
We remember that our time here is finite. “I count my time in dog years,” goes the Maggie Rogers lyric. “Swimming in sevens, slow dancing in seconds.”
Someone who can think long-term like that doesn’t pity themself with short-term dramas.
Everyone will get that feeling on Monday. How could you not? The trick is digging up a little Exstasis each day.
In the mundane. In the boring. In routine.
From neighborhood walks.
From old trees.
From birds chirping.
From bike rides.
From morning city streets.
“Beauty remains, even in misfortune,” Anne Frank wrote in her diary. “If you just look for it, you discover more and more happiness and regain your balance.”
I have a rule for life that I write in my journal at the start of each year. The rule reads, “Regarde!” French for “look!”
The saying comes from the beloved French writer Colette. “Regard” was her catchphrase—a PSA to anyone who cared to listen.
Regarde le chat.
Regarde le chien.
Regardez l’ocean!
Regarde les abres!
Look up. Regard all the great things in front of you.
Less worrying. More regarding.
Colette died in Paris during the summer of 1954. She looked outside her hospital window and noticed a thunderstorm approaching. The storm covered the streets of St. Germain in a dark blanket, and the rain started falling.
Then she spoke her last words.
You guessed it.
“Regarde.”
We are driving to Montreal to see it there. Fingers crossed we have good weather.
Cal, thank you for your essay. It is very important to feel the beauty, but it can be done much more easy if we are in our bodies and less in our minds. When we work office jobs, we are in the minds a lot. When we exercise, dance, walk, have sex, etc. we are in our bodies. This simple transition helps to transition pretty quick. A good sleep is a major factory in feeling more beauty in the world. Good luck in your writing journey.