Anatomy of the Greenflash...Seeking Sacred Moments in Nature

So, nature is all around us. In the countryside, and in cities....we have fengshui in cities...we can construct nature inside our office buildings...fishtanks, palm trees...we can seek out moments of solitude even in the chaos of "the office" environment. We can make a terrarium on our desk, small objects and pieces of nature that take us out, in our minds, to the big scape we dream of...

Greenflash moments are the few, very few most special actual moments we find in nature...

The "greenflash" phenomenon is real...the last actual flash of light that we see in an instant as the sun goes down over the ocean...the last part of the light prism, shinng through the water back at us...this is very rare. You typicaly need a low humidity atmosphere...long visibility...still water...and even then, you need to really watch. Not everybody sees it. It happens very fast, in a split second.

In my own case, I saw one in 1993, on Waikiki Beach in February, when the sun typically goes down early evening, with very, very clear horizons...when I saw it, I was really wanting to see it. I had heard of it. Then, there it was, flash! Green light...gone!

To bring it to you in words and music...the sky was light blue, the sun a big ball of orange...there was a crisp smell of firewood burning from beachfires...somewhere somebody had a boombox playing "Dancing in the Moonlight", (1973, King Harvest)...I was walking on the sand in bare feet, could feel the sand crunching up between my toes...the sun was almost down...I stopped on the sand, watched real hard....sun gone...then, yes...green flash, in a milisecond...did I see it or just want to see it?  I saw it!

This is, of course, a metaphor for all those sacred moments in nature when our spirits soar...it can be any special moment...it could be a peaceful evening in your garden, when you smell the freshness of tomato leaves, basil...sweet citrus blossoms...

But, it is not just the physical. It is what we give to it. It is part us. Without us, who would hear the tree fall in the forest, who would see the greenflash?

It takes our wanting this moment...waiting for it, wanting to see the flash...

All our lives we could live this way for nature, wanting to join with it...or we could live walled in our urban jungle, never emerging to smell, see what is outside.  I can remember the long work days when I couldn't wait to put on my running shoes and get out and run in nature...

The greenflash moments of life are unique for us all. Each of us has a short list of the special ones in our life...

We are, after all, unique in the universe, and the universe and nature speaks uniquely to each of us...but the song of nature is the same...we need to hear that song...we need to sing that song...

One of the biggest gifts to us in this lifetime...the sacred moments from nature to our soul...

It takes effort to go out and get these...but the reward is for our soul...

When we can do it with loved ones, it magnifies the experience....dance in the moonlight....