My Sun Doesn't Rise

Light heralds day, signifying that the night is ending. 

We see the world brighten gradually.  

The sun appears to us as creeping above the horizon in the east.  

But it doesn't really rise.  

It only appears that way.  

It's me that's coming into the sun's view while standing on this spot on the earth.  

Why don't we call it "earth spin" instead of "sunrise"?  

Depending on where we are located, we are moving between 500-700 miles per hour spinning eastward. 

It doesn't feel that way because everything else is moving with us.  But, if the earth were to stop spinning, the atmosphere would continue moving around at about 1,000 miles per hour. Dr. Sten Odenwald tells us that, "as a result, everything not attached to bedrock would pretty much be scoured clean".  

He doesn't believe that this could happen.  

But, he does tell us that it is possible for the earth to slow down gradually.

He says:

"If the process happened gradually over billions of years, the situation would be very different, and it is this possibility which is the most likely as the constant torquing of the Sun and Moon upon the Earth finally reaches it's conclusion. If the rotation period slowed to 1 rotation every 365 days a condition called 'sun synchronous', every spot in the Earth would have permanent daytime or nighttime all year long. This is similar to the situation on the Moon where for 2 weeks the front-side is illuminated by the Sun, and for 2 weeks the back side is illuminated. This situation for the Earth is not the condition of 'stopped' rotation, but it is as close as the laws of physics will let the Earth get." 

 So, earth's spin causes daylight.  

I think we may run the risk of misunderstanding what's actually happening if we don't stop to think about it.  There's a lot more to it, but this is enough for now.

I enjoy seeing the sun when it appears in the morning; it's good to know that it's still out there 93 million miles away doing it's job.

Of Windows and Light

 

Look deep into my eye. 

You are getting very thirsty, no?

Sleepy?
Itchy?
Board with my weirdness?

Well, this is a place to publish musings, so a musing I shall go. 

Just for a while.

Our eyes are amazing and very complex machines. 

Tonight, I'm interested in just a few ideas regarding them.

What are they?

If we live by metaphors, then perhaps they are containers for emotions. Giving examples of word usage to illustrate what eyes might truly mean to us, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson shed light on how we view them: "I could see the fear in his eyes. His eyes were filled with anger. There was passion in her eyes. His eyes displayed his compassion. Love showed in his eyes. Her eyes welled with emotion." (103)

What is 'in' yours?
Or, are they instead windows to your soul? 

As expressive as they can be, I believe you can learn a great deal by looking at them. However, if you look too deeply, the only thing you might learn is how irritated a person can become by being stared at.  

Also, as a warning, vicious dogs will most likely believe you are hostile and attack you if you try to look into their windows deeply (The Dog Whisperer website).

Can we see without them?

Strangely, yes.

“Our findings revealed that blind persons, including those blind from birth, do report classic Near Death Experiences (NDEs) of the kind common to sighted persons; that the great preponderance of blind persons claim to see during NDEs and Out of Body Experiences; and that occasionally claims of visually-based knowledge that could not have been obtained by normal means can be independently corroborated."  

Light exists even if we don't see it, and apparently our sight exists even if we can't use it bodily.  

Interesting to consider.  

Too deep for the moment.  

Let me refocus.

Are there aliens floating in mine?

Maybe.  "Eye floaters" are deposits or condensation in the vitreous jelly of the eye. People use the term eye floaters to describe seeing floating spots within their vision when they look around. Eye floaters may be present in only one eye or both eyes."  I like to think of these little floaties as allies for some purpose.  When in meetings or other moments when whimsy beckons, I admit to making them dance and slide around to my own choreographed imaginings.  My own placid coup.

Not Quite Academic Notes:

Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. "Metaphors We Live By." Illinois: University Of Chicago Press, 103

Medicine.net.  2010. Medicine.net, Inc.

 

Ring, Kenneth Ph.D. and Sharon Cooper, M.A. "Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind: A Study of Apparent Eyeless Vision." Journal of Near-Death Studies, 1997: 1

The Dog Whisperer. 2005.