It’s early morning on this second day in the red rock canyons of western Texas. As I sip my coffee, I am contemplating the changing light on the landscape and the erosional remnant of Permian sandstone before me. I noticed this feature yesterday evening on my return hike from deeper in the canyons. I thought that it might make an interesting silhouette with the rising of the Sun.
As the Sun rose, I became fascinated with the evolving skyglow behind the rocks. A light breeze picked up, distracting me for a moment, as it slightly swayed the delicate leaves of the mesquite trees. There was not a cloud in sight. I realized that this would focus the viewer's eyes on the event itself; clouds would have been a distraction.
There is something primal about the rising Sun that speaks to all of us on a fundamental level. It's like the opening scene in the film '2001: A Space Odyssey'. This feeling, I believe, may be a part of our genetic makeup via evolution, on an even deeper level of our core existence, a feeling that over millennia has been witnessed by countless generations of our species. For many of us, this event brings a sense of belonging, a sense of being a part of something greater, not just the beginning promise of a new day; greater than our petty differences and the ensuing struggle to become better as a species than we are now.
