Eclipse’s power leaves humans awestruck
Across the United States, people of all backgrounds and political persuasions paused Monday to share in the awesomeness of nature. For a few minutes, unity reigned as individuals absorbed the spectacle of a total eclipse — NASA had estimated some 31.6 million people in the United States lived in the path of totality stretching from the Texas border to Maine.
Even here in Santa Fe, where the eclipse was partial — about 73.2% — people could be seen outside, eclipse glasses on, staring into the sky. They wanted to experience the moon blocking the sun, the darkness and the unsettled feeling that comes when the light of day is extinguished, even for a few minutes.
To catch the best experience of the eclipse, many Santa Fe friends and neighbors left town, traveling to ensure they saw a total eclipse, not just a partial one. They flew or drove hundreds of miles so they could watch the world go dark. They stopped in Texas or Illinois or Kentucky or anywhere totality was promised, ready to soak up the three or four minutes of darkness. And they were awestruck in the moment, with lingering effects creating a feeling of unity, say scientists.
“Moments of awe reduce our tendencies to polarize,” said Dacher Keltner, speaking to ABC News. He’s a University of California, Berkeley professor and author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, published in 2023. “Awe really brings out a sense of common humanity.”
In Scientific American, one report (“Eclipse Psychology: When the Sun and Moon Align, So Do We,” April 2) theorized, “Eclipses remind us that we are part of something bigger, that we are connected with something vast.”
To humans increasingly isolated from each other, an eclipse offers an opportunity to connect through an experience greater than ourselves.
Article author Katie Weeman writes, “Once that first domino is tipped, we are all linked into something bigger — and unstoppable. We all experience the momentum and the awe together.”
And, we experience the moment live, not streaming on Facebook or Twitch. We look not at a screen but at the sky. We are not alone in a room but outdoors, with other humans alongside us. We must seize the moment or lose it.
That’s because an eclipse is right here, right now — and then it’s gone. Sure, people will review it on social media or watch television news to see the sun going dark on repeat. They will share their photos and their observations. But an eclipse has to be felt in person.
That experience can be life-changing, according to seasoned eclipse watchers. It also can mean disappointment. Cloud cover in many locations blotted out the best views of the moon covering the sun. Such disappointment is its own lesson, a reminder that nature is hard to predict, making those moments when perfection emerges even more precious. Precious, and rare, because such a total eclipse won’t come around again for another 20 years in the United States.
April 8, 2024, was special. It reminded us of the power of nature, our common humanity and the beauty of being in the moment for once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Now, if all who stood in awe in the darkness will hold on to that feeling. We can use it to tackle common challenges, reach across political divides and remember, always, that we are all humans together, residing on this one planet Earth.
In the shadows, we remember this: What unites us is greater than what divides us. And in Monday’s moments of darkness, that truth was revealed.