Total Eclipse from The Dillard House. Photography by Steve Killian.
Lee and I enjoy the pool at the Dillard House. Photo by Karen Killian.
Ours is a country of absurdity and ignorance. Try as I might, it is hard not to be condescending rather than sympathetic. These were some of the sweet people here for the eclipse. Everyone here was amazed by it. They realized at last that yes they could stare in awe at the Sun and Moon during totality, with no glasses, filters, or fear. As darkness arrived, as a cool breeze arrived, as that wonder in the sky shone forth, we all felt an ecstasy, no other word for it. No photos will convey it. All who saw today's total eclipse here in North Georgia, will always recall it. Philosophy begins in wonder; we all were momentary philosophers today, young, old, all races, all creeds, humbled by sublime celestial beauty. With Darryl Gossett, Karen Killian, Steve Killian, Jacob Killian, Lee, David, and Carl.
As the Moon, this Moonday, leaves the disc of the Sun, leaving us as in a dream state, I am saturated with a sense of eternity. For two and a half minutes we took off the filter glasses, all the cheering and talking stopped, and we felt the bond of sharing a sacred experience of Nature Naturing as Spinoza would say. That image, the Moon, encircled by the Sun's corona will be with me as long as I live. Yes, we shall post photographs, but the holistic holiness is ours and belongs to those of us in the Zone of Totality.
After a gathering in the Killian room, we had a delicious dinner of country ham, fresh lima beans, fried okra ... Then Steve and I whipped out our binoculars and beheld the Milkyway, Scorpio, the big and little dippers, the Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb, and Altair, Jupiter, Saturn, and bright Arcturus. Later, after a soak in the jacuzzi with Karen, under the starry sky, I happened to see Brilliant Venus in the predawn East from our balcony. The bright Sun this morning promises eclipse ecstasy in a few hours.
After a nice long swim in the pool, I tried out my eclipse glasses on the lovely disc of the Sun. The ancients who worshiped the Sun as a God knew a wisdom we have forgotten.
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