Christmas Lights on the Susquehanna

The other day my husband and I were sitting by the Susquehanna and the most amazing thing happened.

As the water flowed gently by us it suddenly became permeated with flashing white Christmas lights. I asked my husband  what in the world they were. And he answered that there must have been a light breeze that made the water ripple and catch glints of sunlight.

The river quieted and the lights disappeared. But then another light breeze blew by and and again the water was flashing what looked like white Christmas lights.

This happened several times and made me think that older civilizations were quite sensible in seeing a magic in nature, which we have forgotten, enveloped as we are in scientific explanations.

Lightning bugs, for example, could easily be explained as fairies in a midsummer night’s dream

But magic and reality may not be at odds.

Rational explanations of natural phenomena do not invalidate their otherworldly origins.

Lucretius argues in De Rerum Natura that if there was not a scientific cause and effect, apples and oranges could grow on the same tree because there would no no physical laws governing propagation. And he says that men could spring  full-grown from the sea because their genesis would follow no laws.

Ironically, then, in a scientific epic which purports to show the hollowness of religion, he actually proves a higher power governing the world.

Just because we can explain the chemical reactions which go into the ingredients of making a cake does not mean that those reactions are not part of a divinely ordered universe.

Think of that the next time you are enjoying a chocolate cake.

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