The Light in the Darkness

People by the thousands drove unbelievable numbers of miles to put themselves in the path of the darkness of the recent eclipse.  While I saw news reports of folks making the journey, I also met a man after church this past Sunday who was leaving morning worship here in Georgia and driving alone to Arkansas so he could experience this solar phenomena.  It is amazing that people too busy to do the simplest things in their daily routine will drive long distances to stand in darkness for a few minutes.   

As I watched people on their journeys, I wonder if it speaks of our desire to experience the transcendent.  I wonder if the quest is more about standing in a moment filled with an awareness of something greater than self than it is to don a pair of special glasses and peer at the conjunction of sun and moon.  I wonder if the moment of going is not about somehow being connected to the Creator, the creation, and divine mystery which is within this solar pilgrimage.    

Could it be that a phenomena as natural as an eclipse re-awakened the desire within us to experience God in the midst of the Creation?  Could it not speak of a spiritual hunger so deep that it has yet to enter the conscious mind of many of those who peered heavenward?   Could it not be that the seeking of the darkness brought the seekers into the realm where the Light that brought all things into being exist?  (John 1:1-5)  Could it be that the race to the darkness was not a scientific based journey, but a spiritual pilgrimage into holy Mystery?  Who knows?  Maybe standing in the Light within the darkness reconnected some of those watchers with their spiritual roots.