Mag 133 — Beings of Light

Four Beings of Light descended into the lush Pearl River Valley from their mountain to experience a summer night. Before long the snows would come and they would be frozen in their high altitude cave, frozen in the exact position they were in when the annual icy winds came. This had been their species' snowga practice for eons: select one perfect night to try out poses in the moonlight.

These blue Beings of Light were sensitive about their appearance, comparing themselves with human inhabitants of the Pearl River Valley region and finding themselves lacking in contour and diversity. Each looked much like the other with their similar baldness, vacant eyes, bright red lips forever pursed as if dreaming of a kiss. They all had shapeless trunks and pillowy limbs and looked like giant babies wandering in dreamland dressed in soft pajamas with gloves and booties and moonbeams sewn in.

The Beings of Light liked to think of themselves as serene. Truth was they had very little personality and, aside from naturally shining from within, they were a bit dull. They bored one another. They were bored with themselves. None ever varied their snowga practice much at all, seeming always to strike poses with sensibilities such as: It is what it is! —or Dude! —or Whatever!

On this summer night in the moonlight, with the Pearl River flowing in expressive tributaries around their feet, before they froze in their snow cave — and with their vacant eyes never truly seeing because they expected what was to be seen would never change — would the Beings of Light miss a change most profound?

One of them had developed the print of a hand on the lower trunk area, between its shapeless pillowy legs. This signified the beginning of a life-changing, planet-saving gift if its evolution was only recognized. It needed lushness and light to develop in summer, snow and ice for preservation in winter. For complete balance among the Beings of Light and humans, river valleys and glaciers, the seasons and all beings who relied upon the seasons, the Beings of Light needed to truly see what was happening to their species. And they could not care about their species alone because if they did not share this gift with other species nothing would matter at all. And they did not have much time.

Written for The Mag: Mag 133 that inspired with the above photo prompt

(Summer Night, 1913, by Albert Bloch).

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the roiling dust and gas up in my head

Google pays tribute today (via its name-logo on the home page) to the 20th Anniversary of Hubble Telescope Launch by NASA. Since Hubble is one of my favorite things in this or out of this world I used the anniversary to stare in awe at some of the images of space it has given us.

The one above is Hubble's sharpest view of the Orion Nebula. Click the link for an even stronger magnification than you will see if you click to enlarge here. From the website (emphasis added):

This dramatic image offers a peek inside a cavern of roiling dust and gas where thousands of stars are forming. The image, taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, represents the sharpest view ever taken of this region, called the Orion Nebula. More than 3,000 stars of various sizes appear in this image. Some of them have never been seen in visible light. These stars reside in a dramatic dust-and-gas landscape of plateaus, mountains, and valleys that are reminiscent of the Grand Canyon.

I had been thinking a lot about the Grand Canyon last week and found this most gorgeous shot. Not surprised by synchronicity much at all anymore, it seems to me this blog post took care of itself.

In my first year of sobriety I attended AA meetings and recall people saying, "I've been up in my head all day...for a week...too much lately..." The phrase didn't mean much to me then (probably because I was all up in my head) but I did get the message: that dwelling in the space between my ears -- and not being present in a moment or with a person -- is a sick, selfish, and senseless way to spend my time. It never has been and never will be all about me, me, me or you, you, you.

So this post is published in order to have it to return to the next time I go up there to dwell on the troubled affairs of my daily life or the worries about my security, my future, my this or my that. It will be here for you too, should you need it later. Because there is so, so much more out there besides us.




Grand Canyon by Sebastien Mamy





"I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that." ~ Rick, in CASABLANCA



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