An eclipse of the sun is a very accurately documented event.  And they don’t happen very often.  In the UK, significant solar eclipses have occurred in 1999, in August 2026, and the next one is in 2081.  Some people will have already started waiting for it.

For myself, I started waiting for the most recent eclipse at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon on Wednesday 12 August.  I knew the eclipse was due to start at 6.17PM and reach its peak at about 7.10PM.  And I didn’t want to miss it.  This period of a couple of hours’ waiting time got me thinking.  Wasn’t it a bit odd to be waiting for an eclipse?

Our ancient ancestors would never have waited for an eclipse; for them, it would have just occurred; taken them by surprise.  Filled them with… what?  Fear?  Awe?  And shouldn’t this be how we experience an eclipse, rather than patiently wait for it?  Waiting, already cognisant of the outcome.

Eclipses always make me think of Tintin in the story Prisoners of the Sun and Allan Quatermain in H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines, both using the surprise of an eclipse to fool a more primitive society into believing that they possess magical powers, which allow them to have control over the sun and the moon.

Counting down the minutes to the start of an eclipse seems rather mundane in comparison, particularly when I am also counting down the minutes to when it will end so that I can come in from the garden and start making supper.

Now, I must admit, I am not a big fan of any astronomical phenomena.  I always find the actual lived experience rather underwhelming compared to the snazzy CGI graphics used to announce the event on the TV, doesn’t matter what it is – passing comets, meteor showers, visible planets, whatever.

Hearing the numerous enthusiastic vox pops of onlookers describing their sensations upon witnessing the most recent eclipse, I wonder if they have been watching something different to me or, perhaps, the experience that they are actually finding so awesome is just standing in a large crowd, outdoors, in nature, in the dark; a simple alfresco spiritual companionship, which is seldom any longer experienced in modern life.

© Bradley Dunbar

Bradley Dunbar has his own spiritual moments.