A week ago, I stepped out into the bitter January cold about an hour before midnight with my daughter. We wanted to watch the Earth cast its shadow over the moon and create a most wonderful Blood Moon eclipse. I also wanted to photograph the whole event.
It really was a most wonderful experience. We not only watched the interplay of two celestial bodies but being a very cloudless night, we could also see a ton of stars and even hints of the planet Jupiter.
An even cursory immersion into the realm of astronomy makes one realize how insignificant we humans are in the grand scheme of things. We are but dots in this wide, ever-expanding universe and staring into the heavens that night, as the Earth’s shadow marched across the Moon’s surface, our smallness did not escape me.
Thus, it was not only a night of infinite beauty, a beauty that helped to chase away a heaviness brought on by a difficult weekend at work but also one of life lessons.
The first lesson had to do with adversity.
The word “eclipse” may come from the Greek word “ekleipein” meaning “to omit, to fail” or from the amalgamation of the words “ex” and “leipein” meaning “ to leave”.
So an “eclipse” is not only “the total or partial obscuring of one celestial body by another” but the word can also be used to describe the “falling into obscurity or decline”.
The event was in a way a metaphor for when adversity threatens to force us into obscurity and decline.
The eclipse started by the shadow of the Earth steadily creeping across and over the moon. During this phase, the moon appeared to be composed of a dark and a light side. Though it made it look incomplete and imperfect, it gave it a certain beauty and uniqueness that reminded me of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism, but I digress.
The shadow of the Earth creeping steadily across the moon reminded me of the times in our lives when adversity creeps in. Like the shadow of the Earth, adversity sometimes steadfastly moves into and then over our lives until it totally envelops our total existence; until it eclipses us and shuts out the joy and light that filled our day.
Whether we like it or not, adversity and problems are part of life. They are as part of life as the air we breathe. They show up in our lives not to make us just suffer but like M. Scott Peck wrote in his wonderful book, “The Road Less Travelled”, “It is only because of problems we grow mentally and spiritually”.
Problems force us to rise to the occasion, tapping into wells of unknown courage, creativity, and resourcefulness to survive. At the height of adversity, when our lives are totally eclipsed by problems, if we tap into our inner well of strength, we are changed for the better.
When the Moon was finally covered by the shadow of the Earth, it changed color. It gained a beautiful red color due to scattering of sunlight trying to reach it.
It is in the same way that we change when we stand up to adversity. We become stronger, wiser and smarter. We glow in our own version of “redness”.
The experience also reinforced a fact I have always known – that nothing good comes easy. The only way I could capture the images I got was because I ventured out into the bitter cold around midnight. If I had preferred the comfort of my bed and stayed indoors, there was no way I would have been able to observe and capture the images I got.
Nothing in life comes easy! The best things in life may be free but they do not come without toil. Life never gives anything great away for free. She always asks for sweat equity. There is no way around it.
On a night where the beauty of our universe impressed upon me our smallness as humans, lightened the heavy load on my heart, afforded me quality time with my daughter and amazing images of a beautiful eclipse, nature also reenforced important lessons.
In a way, the two lessons are tied together. Adversity helps to bring out the excellent in us whereas our search for the good often has to go through adversity, which if we surmount, not only leads us to the good but also bring out the excellent in us.
Like Benjamin Franklin said, “That which hurts, also instructs.”