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Life is not all plain sailing. Even if you are not human, but a phenomenon of physics.
So: you set out in the morning, in the car to work, and someone’s broken down in the slow lane of the highway. There are tailbacks. Time is ticking by.
But all is not lost: sometimes, just sometimes, there is another way. You can pull over, grab the folding bike from the boot and scoot to victory.
So it is with light in mist, according to Brazilian physicist Herch Moyzes Nussenzweig. When a figure stands between the sun and a cloud of light-refracting mist, light waves can miss the bus, so to speak; they can fail to get their energy into droplets. But a concept called classical wave tunneling theorises that the light waves can get on their bikes: they can tunnel their energy into droplets, even without being inside them.
And then, we see the most extraordinary phenomenon.
A halo: a spectral rainbow around the figure. There is a name for it. Indeed, some say this is where the concept of the saintly halo came from.
High in the mountains the halo works hand in hand with spectres to astound.
Stand on a high mountain and ones shadow can become giant. Not only this, but it appears to stand far, far away, on a neighbouring mountain peak, surrounded by all the colours of the rainbow.
Brocken’s Spectre, they call it.The strangest sight: a shadow-man looking over the mists at you, apparently moving independently. It is caused by the shadow falling on water droplets as someone looks down from a ridge or peak. The figure can move as ethereally as the mist itself.
And here we stand, at the top of a year, looking down at something unclear, hazy: a future shrouded in mist.
The light of our past shines from behind, and what might be sits before us, a puzzle.
Yet down there, the ultimate metaphor is playing out. The very light itself is tunnelling to bring its energy into new spheres, confounding classical physicists and the science of centuries.
Small, identifiable miracles, rubber-stamped by physicists, weave their peculiar outlandish magic.
It’s just a perspective. Stand in another place, at another time, and we’re only human.
Life is lived forwards, said Søren Kierkegaard, but it can only be understood backwards.
So here’s a wish for you this year. May the light shine beyond you. May it burrow and tunnel in your future, and overcome incomprehensible barriers to bring energy to those parts of your life which need it most.
Happy New Year.
Kate Shrewsday 
Wonderful – the wonder of science and beauty together
It’s all one, Elspeth 🙂
a beautiful wish. Thank you.
Pleasure, Joss. Have a great year.
Thanks, Kate! Aah . . . yes . . . there’s YOUR halo. 😀
😀 I’m sure I can spot yours from here, Nancy!
What a beautiful and fascinating post. Happy new year Kate!
And a happy new year to you all, Julie. I hope there will be some great moments this year for you.
Very interesting, and informative as always.. Thanks.
Happy New Year
Helo, Paul 🙂 Hope you have had a lovely break – and a Happy New Year to you!
A new year’s wish that is an unique as you are, Kate. I saw this earlier on a grey day here on the Cutoff where a misty snow fluttered all day long, and I imagined Brocken’s spectre out there, just beyond the trees. Then a squirrel scampered by with a walnut in its jaw, ruining it. No matter, for you words gave me the energy I need right now. Thank you, Kate, for this stimulating post.
Nothing like a squirrel for photobombing Brocken’s Spectre, Penny ;-D They’ll do anything to get into the limelight! Pleasure – love to Tom.
I like the way you think Kate. I’m sharing this with one of my buds who had a monumentally dismal 2013. Happy New Year, pal.
And to you, Virginia. Hope it’s a great one.
What a lovely wish. May 2014 hold all that you need Kate 🙂
And the same wish to you, Tandy. Happy New Year!
Interesting! The Søren Kierkegård quote is one I commonly use when I facilitate groups in developing their Phronesis (or applied wisdom according to Aristotle) I find it very true, but difficult to achieve as we often are to eager to understand and less willing to live.
I am egoistic enough to wish you a year full of happy moments and profound thoughts and time to put it into writing as I love reading your texts, all the best for the new year Kate!
Thank you, Solveig: that time to put it all down would be a wish of mine, too! Thank you for such encouraging words at the gate of the year.
Thank you! It is an interesting phenomenon and as we only have eyes to detech, maybe we need other senses or help to find out more. Meanwhile we can glory in how beautiful a rainbow, especially a personal one, can be
They are truly stunning, these things, aren’t they, Sidey? The world is full of beautiful baubles to delight us, all year round.
Just beautiful
I’d love to see one myself, Jim…
Reblogged this on calmgrove and commented:
Wonders and wise asides from indefatiguable wordsmith Kate Shrewsday.
Chris, thanks so much for that reblog! Most kind. It is always lovely to watch words travel further than you think they will. Happy New Year to you.
You’re very welcome, Kate, it was a pleasure — it was very moving and appropriate for a new beginning, I thought. And very worth sharing.
And all the best for 2014 to you too.
Truly amazing science and a lovely whimsy..
Thanks, Col 🙂 It is amazing science: I wish I had more of a scientific mind so that I could get right down to the quantum level and understand what goes on there…
If you did, most of us probably wouldn’t understand a word of what you were on about.
I am not optimistic appearance halos 2014.
Let us wait and see, Carl. We will meet at this blog on the last day of 2014 and discuss our findings!
Love the thought and the phrasing, inspiring.
Thank you, Lou. It’s always lovely to hear from you. Hope you and yours have had a great break.
Happy New Year to you as well!
😀 Hope yours is a great one, Bronwyn!
Wishing you the best this New Year!
And you and your family, Belle x
Would that saintly halo/rainbow also be an aura? Thank you for your inspiring thoughts and things to ponder. Delightful as always.
On a personal note, Kate, you were listed as one of the most active commenters (2nd in the top 5) on my blog by WordPress in its 2013 annual review. I thank you for your support, thoughtful and funny comments, and wish you and your family all the best in 2014. Look forward to more of your intriguing posts this year.
I love your posts, Judy: they have that essential thing for a really great article, the element of surprise. Thank you for a lovely year of writing.
Shared this with my family over lunch. Very interesting and something we’d never heard of previously.
Nor I until a day or two ago, Tammy. I’d love to see one. Happy New Year to you and your family!
I’ve always heard that bodies, when dead, no longer exhibit this phenomena, and that it may be the living manifestation of the soul. A profound way to stare down a new year, Kate. Thank you.
Pleasure, Andra. I have a weakness for metaphors.
That’s a beautiful wish for the new year, Kate. I can’t think of a better future than to follow that light and see what is illuminated. I wish the same for you and yours.
Right back at you, Debra. Have a great year 🙂
Beautiful and sweet, Kate. Happy new year, and as always the same to you and yours.
Happy New Year, Cameron. I wonder what the year will bring?
A breath of fresh air. Thank you, Kate. Happy New Year!
Pleasure, BB 🙂 Happy New Year to you too!
Happy New Year, Kate! 🙂
This is one of the most interesting of the New Year posts I have read. Well done Kate and here’s wishing you and your family a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.