Have you heard of that song,”Total Eclipse of the Heart?” It was a song from the 1970’s by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler which hit all types of milestones again on playlists promulgated to mark the Solar Eclipse which just happened in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
A solar eclipse happens when the moon is directly in front of the sun. In this case, the eclipse was called a total eclipse because for a few minutes, the moon completely blocked out the suns rays to those in the viewing area as it passed the sun. It is an eerie dark too, the type of dark that since time immemorial drove our ancestors wild. Apparently, nothing has changed.
Or has it? Our ancestors were humbled before such great changes occurring in their daily lives like an eclipse. They were even frightened and offered sacrifices to their pagan gods to appease those gods and beg them to end the unnatural effect of having the sun blotted out in the middle of the day.
We think better of that these days after having determined the scientific explanation for what is happening. We have viewing parties because we now think of eclipses as fun events. We create desserts like donuts covered with big black oreo-like cookies to depict that celestial event. We bite into those desserts just as the zone of totality hits us. Or, we toast the eclipse and one another with total eclipse margaritas. Some toast with an eclipse detox drink. We are no longer afraid of natural phenomena because we have conquered the universe with our scientific investigations into such events. Right?
Maybe not. It seems that people go way overboard these days when an event like an eclipse happens. Millions of travelers descended upon the areas where the total eclipse was predicted to descend. Niagara Falls, Canada had to declare a state of emergency to get additional help from their government in order to get more funds and personnel to handle the huge crowds expected to descend upon the city. That happened all over.
This overzealous reaction to a solar eclipse looked more like it was a neo-pagan religious service than anything else. I imagined seeing our ancestors gathering before a great statue, mountain or a grove of trees before the event and it looked a lot like the viewing parties that just occurred. If you have given up your Judeo-Christian worship days, why not replace them with the worship of celestial events the way our ancestors did? Is that what just happened? Well, it looked like that to me.
Did the natural reticence or fear that our ancestors had at such events actually save them from being blinded by looking at the sun at such times? The internet was all a flutter after the eclipse with people describing eye pain, and solar eclipse sickness. Maybe those who went before us did not yet know their creator but, they understood that powers far beyond their understandings existed. Many people today feel as if there is no God, and that science will eventually explain everything.
The big way we celebrate could also be a huge pretense to cover up people’s real discomfort on an unconscious level. That’s right we desire to be in control but, we are not. We want to get the job we want, but we don’t. We want to control our bodies and health but unfortunately things happen. It feels good to think wow, I am not afraid of these colossal celestial bodies. I know just what’s going on and I’m in control. But we are not in control of the laws of the universe. God is. The sun could do something we don’t expect or a large comet could hit the earth and bam.
Does the solar eclipse portent end times approaching? I had been asked this questions for weeks leading up to the recent solar eclipse. It started with friends from Manhattan and Westchester County, New York. One such friend wondered if there was a connection among a number of worldwide happenings. Ron* is a Medical Doctor with a practice in New York City. A man thoroughly ensconced every day in the world of science. I was a little bit surprised when he asked me that question.
But, just like all of us, Ron has a soul which looks for the spiritual answers to life’s questions too. He had been given a first hand account of all that happened during the recent 7.8 earthquake in Taiwan by one of his work colleagues who has family in the area. Then, Ron got a jolt of his own right there in New York City when a 4.8 quake shook his apartment. It was not a feeling that he liked. His cat has stayed in the closet ever since.
Ron, put the spiritual two’s and two’s together and he had some thoughts on a possible eschatological sum. He asked me if the quickening of events is a portent of the biblical end times. That’s a good question. To start with I read him a portion of the Gospel according to Matthew 24:3-15:
3.And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4.And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5.For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6.And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7.For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8.All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9.Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10.And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11.And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12.And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13.But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto the nations; and then shall the end come.
15.When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readers, let him understand:)
Ron reflected and accessed the current world situation and was able to articulate his thoughts on why events seem to be lining up with the above passage. Since we ended with Daniel, which is an Old Testament reference he quite naturally asked me how prophecy from that part of the Bible meshed with the New Testament teachings on the topic. My answer was that one can not fully understand the meaning of prophecy in the New Testament without fully understanding the prophecies of the Old Testament because the New Testament teachings rest squarely upon its’ shoulders. Ron was open to learning more.
Throughout his life, Ron, a longtime atheist was one of the people that looked to science as the omnipotent, omnipresent source of his inspiration, not the God of Abraham, Issaac and Jacob. I never saw him to be a man who would think to pray to Jesus for the answers either. I surmised that although reared in a Jewish home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, his families’ beliefs in the previously mentioned God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac had waned.
But, something happened last fall that shook him to his spiritual core. His brother Jake*, also a doctor, had felt called to go to Israel to use his skill as a doctor in the aftermath of the massacre of October 7th. Ron has been struggling to understand the meaning of it all. He does know that since October 7th, his life as a Jew in New York has changed dramatically. Amid the new reality of the anti-Jewish sentiment he has felt, and his brother’s new found commitment to Israel, he is in a Solar Eclipse of the Soul.
This was demonstrated to me when I called Ron up to talk about the solar eclipse glasses that I had just procured so my husband and I could view the phenomenon. Usually full of geeky facts and figures on such topics, he was strangely not interested in which agencies or institutions had or had not given my solar eclipse lenses their seal of approval. He didn’t even want to talk about solar eclipse studies that would be conducted during the astronomical event.
Instead, he asked me point blank, if we are in the end times. I was shocked but I shouldn’t have been. Signs and wonders have always got people’s attention throughout history. Jesus had to deal with that phenomena as he tried to teach a deeper spiritual lesson. Even a man of science can notice patterns and the scientific method will point towards trying to hypothesize, experiment and quantify. Sometimes, it all points to God.
Next Week: Solar Eclipse of the Soul- Part 2
* The names were changed to protect identities. They could be your doctors.
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