The Wonder And Mystery Of Life
Thor H. Asgardson
January 21, 2008
Hamlet:
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 159–167
"Ignis fatuus, called by the vulgar Kit of the Candlestick, is not very rare on our downes about Michaelmass. [These ignes fatui, or Jack-o'- lanthorns, as they are popularly called, are frequently seen in low boggy grounds. In my boyish days I was often terrified by stories of their leading travellers astray, and fascinating them.
J. B.]
Biding in the north lane of Broad Chalke in the harvest time in the twy-light, or scarce that, a point of light, by the hedge, expanded itselfe into a globe of about three inches diameter, or neer four, as boies blow bubbles with soape. It continued but while one could say one, two, three, or four at the most It was about a foot from my horse's eie; and it made him turn his head quick aside from it. It was a pale light as that of a glowe-worme: it may be this is that which they call a blast or blight in the country."
John Aubrey (c.1697), The Natural History of Wiltshire. On p.18 of Britten's 1844 edition.
Once upon a time--about fifteen years ago--in the real world; I had one of the most profound experiences of my life--among quite a few--with which I have been blessed.
After years of contemplation on the event, I have now resolved to bequeath my personal sense of wonderment to an incurious mankind, so that it will be known by future generations, that wonderful and mysterious things are still alive in this modern world; things mankind has imagined down through the ages in fantasy, which have a basis in reality.
There is a pristine world, which has not yet been sullied, nor exiled from our Earth.
I will not create a cult or religion from it, nor shall I set myself up as a prophet or seer--just one lucky fellow, who happened to witness a mystery of nature.
The story is not long, and should not be drawn out in its telling, and so I will reveal the wondrous gift, that was personally given to me, for my eyes only by the spirits of the wood.
I have found from personal experience, that the most exhilirating experiences of life, often are merely brief moments in time, gone almost as soon as they have begun. One shakes one's head to ask: "Did this wondrous event transpire for my own entertainment, and as an instructional event for my spiritual advancement?"
Why was I chosen for delight and life, while others have been chosen for experiences of terror and painful death?
How can I not share this wonder with my fellow humans, knowing full well--and not caring one whit-- that I will be ridiculed and regarded a madman, or attention-getter, for relating what I saw?
And thus it begins...
I was in the land of the California Redwood trees, near the Pacific Ocean. I will not say where my secret place lies, as I would not see it spoiled by crowds, nor trashed by hooligans.
My business was camping in a tent--in a campground--beneath God's natural cathedral of two-thousand-year-old hoary giants of Entland, while waiting to rent a cabin in my seaside paradise.
The sky is so clear there, one can see a trillion stars at night, as the sea lions bark, and the buoys clang away. But on this particular night; the forest was as black and forbidding as a crypt.
It was a darkness so inky; I could not see my hand, as I held it before my face. Such darkness is dangerous, in a forest of panthers and bears, and it is not advisable to wander far, if one lacks a flashlight--as I did--for the wetness and chill of the forest, sinks into the very marrow of one's bones, and perhaps the tent might not be found once again.
Around three A.M.; I felt a sudden urge to micturate -- that's pee, for the uninitiated--and so I parted the flaps of my silken cocoon, to sally forth, into the cold, dank forest in search of relief.
As I began to exit my warm cocoon, on all fours, I immediately noticed approximately twenty strange lights bobbing up and down, in a stand of Redwood trees, roughly fifty yards away, to my right. It was as if a group of people were walking along with lanterns, except the lights were round, and bobbing up and down, about the size of a softball. I would estimate they were nine feet up into the air.
This light gave a marvelous glow to the inky blackness, and seemed to warm up the chilly forest, just by the addition of a strange light, never before seen in my experience. I had experienced the phosphorescent flash of ball lightning--which lights up the darkness of the forest, with a flashbulb poof-- on two prior occasions, and it was nothing like the present phenomenon.
These lights had been described to me by a family member who had seen them before my experience--in a different locale, two hours to the South, by car--with her friend.
I thought her daft at the time, and asked what she had been smoking, to make her so hysterical and theatrical. Now, I became a true believer, as my own turn came to observe the "fairies."
All of a sudden, one of the lights broke away from the group, and slowly flew directly toward me in a meandering pattern, whereupon I quickly retreated into my tent--the same way I came out, on all fours. I felt that I had betrayed myself by not going to meet it, and bathe in its light in communion, for it was intelligently guided and curious about me.
Further, I was astonished that it detected me, and came alone.
The light hovered outside the door to my tent, and flared up to a magnificent brilliance, as if it were one of those huge searchlights employed by used car dealerships--to scintillate across the sky, to attract customers to sales events.
Then it was gone, as soon as it had come, and the forest returned to darkness. My mind has since remained illumined, with a most wondrous experience of life.
Recently, I was telling my new friend Samson Kagonyera--who is a native of Ghana-- about this experience of many years ago. He informed me that the will-o-the-wisp, is quite common in Africa, and that he often sees these lights in his home country.
Samson Kagonyera is a congenial--and very wise--fellow I met at the University of California, San Diego Bookstore. He is a writer of boxing articles, in his native country.
He told me these lights are nature spirits of the woods, and that in his country the lights speak in an unintelligible language, which sounds like an echo throughout the forest. He also told me that often the lights will fade out from view in mid flight, and then reappear on the other side of the line they are traversing. He compared it to the vapor trail of a jet.
Samson also stated that the visitations are never more than a couple of minutes and then they are gone, which had also been my experience.
Due to the flightiness of their transitory nature, one can never actually count the lights, but only guess as to how many there are. As Samson said: "If somebody tells you he saw thirty-nine lights; he is a liar," as they don't stay still long enough to count.
Samson said: "Before they hit the mind; they are gone."
Simon, Alvin and Theodore, say goodnight.
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 159–167
"Ignis fatuus, called by the vulgar Kit of the Candlestick, is not very rare on our downes about Michaelmass. [These ignes fatui, or Jack-o'- lanthorns, as they are popularly called, are frequently seen in low boggy grounds. In my boyish days I was often terrified by stories of their leading travellers astray, and fascinating them.
J. B.]
Biding in the north lane of Broad Chalke in the harvest time in the twy-light, or scarce that, a point of light, by the hedge, expanded itselfe into a globe of about three inches diameter, or neer four, as boies blow bubbles with soape. It continued but while one could say one, two, three, or four at the most It was about a foot from my horse's eie; and it made him turn his head quick aside from it. It was a pale light as that of a glowe-worme: it may be this is that which they call a blast or blight in the country."
John Aubrey (c.1697), The Natural History of Wiltshire. On p.18 of Britten's 1844 edition.
Once upon a time--about fifteen years ago--in the real world; I had one of the most profound experiences of my life--among quite a few--with which I have been blessed.
After years of contemplation on the event, I have now resolved to bequeath my personal sense of wonderment to an incurious mankind, so that it will be known by future generations, that wonderful and mysterious things are still alive in this modern world; things mankind has imagined down through the ages in fantasy, which have a basis in reality.
There is a pristine world, which has not yet been sullied, nor exiled from our Earth.
I will not create a cult or religion from it, nor shall I set myself up as a prophet or seer--just one lucky fellow, who happened to witness a mystery of nature.
The story is not long, and should not be drawn out in its telling, and so I will reveal the wondrous gift, that was personally given to me, for my eyes only by the spirits of the wood.
I have found from personal experience, that the most exhilirating experiences of life, often are merely brief moments in time, gone almost as soon as they have begun. One shakes one's head to ask: "Did this wondrous event transpire for my own entertainment, and as an instructional event for my spiritual advancement?"
Why was I chosen for delight and life, while others have been chosen for experiences of terror and painful death?
How can I not share this wonder with my fellow humans, knowing full well--and not caring one whit-- that I will be ridiculed and regarded a madman, or attention-getter, for relating what I saw?
And thus it begins...
I was in the land of the California Redwood trees, near the Pacific Ocean. I will not say where my secret place lies, as I would not see it spoiled by crowds, nor trashed by hooligans.
My business was camping in a tent--in a campground--beneath God's natural cathedral of two-thousand-year-old hoary giants of Entland, while waiting to rent a cabin in my seaside paradise.
The sky is so clear there, one can see a trillion stars at night, as the sea lions bark, and the buoys clang away. But on this particular night; the forest was as black and forbidding as a crypt.
It was a darkness so inky; I could not see my hand, as I held it before my face. Such darkness is dangerous, in a forest of panthers and bears, and it is not advisable to wander far, if one lacks a flashlight--as I did--for the wetness and chill of the forest, sinks into the very marrow of one's bones, and perhaps the tent might not be found once again.
Around three A.M.; I felt a sudden urge to micturate -- that's pee, for the uninitiated--and so I parted the flaps of my silken cocoon, to sally forth, into the cold, dank forest in search of relief.
As I began to exit my warm cocoon, on all fours, I immediately noticed approximately twenty strange lights bobbing up and down, in a stand of Redwood trees, roughly fifty yards away, to my right. It was as if a group of people were walking along with lanterns, except the lights were round, and bobbing up and down, about the size of a softball. I would estimate they were nine feet up into the air.
This light gave a marvelous glow to the inky blackness, and seemed to warm up the chilly forest, just by the addition of a strange light, never before seen in my experience. I had experienced the phosphorescent flash of ball lightning--which lights up the darkness of the forest, with a flashbulb poof-- on two prior occasions, and it was nothing like the present phenomenon.
These lights had been described to me by a family member who had seen them before my experience--in a different locale, two hours to the South, by car--with her friend.
I thought her daft at the time, and asked what she had been smoking, to make her so hysterical and theatrical. Now, I became a true believer, as my own turn came to observe the "fairies."
All of a sudden, one of the lights broke away from the group, and slowly flew directly toward me in a meandering pattern, whereupon I quickly retreated into my tent--the same way I came out, on all fours. I felt that I had betrayed myself by not going to meet it, and bathe in its light in communion, for it was intelligently guided and curious about me.
Further, I was astonished that it detected me, and came alone.
The light hovered outside the door to my tent, and flared up to a magnificent brilliance, as if it were one of those huge searchlights employed by used car dealerships--to scintillate across the sky, to attract customers to sales events.
Then it was gone, as soon as it had come, and the forest returned to darkness. My mind has since remained illumined, with a most wondrous experience of life.
Recently, I was telling my new friend Samson Kagonyera--who is a native of Ghana-- about this experience of many years ago. He informed me that the will-o-the-wisp, is quite common in Africa, and that he often sees these lights in his home country.
Samson Kagonyera is a congenial--and very wise--fellow I met at the University of California, San Diego Bookstore. He is a writer of boxing articles, in his native country.
He told me these lights are nature spirits of the woods, and that in his country the lights speak in an unintelligible language, which sounds like an echo throughout the forest. He also told me that often the lights will fade out from view in mid flight, and then reappear on the other side of the line they are traversing. He compared it to the vapor trail of a jet.
Samson also stated that the visitations are never more than a couple of minutes and then they are gone, which had also been my experience.
Due to the flightiness of their transitory nature, one can never actually count the lights, but only guess as to how many there are. As Samson said: "If somebody tells you he saw thirty-nine lights; he is a liar," as they don't stay still long enough to count.
Samson said: "Before they hit the mind; they are gone."
Simon, Alvin and Theodore, say goodnight.
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