Took this pic last week and every time I look at it, my eye is drawn to Joan's red footwear. The thought at the time, however, was much more a contemplative one. It was, in fact, a rather pensive moment. I remember thinking that every time we have been at a place where the vast ocean meets the exposed land, we experience a profound sense of the "transfer" of energy. It's more than tangible. You can feel the energy, and you can do no other than draw it in, revel in it, be immersed in it. I remember thinking that there must be a reason for that.
Although my life took a very different direction, in part because I am quite hopeless in any practical applications, I was always fascinated by lessons learned in high school physics classes. (Ah, but just a minute, I do need to say that, both Joan and I managed to study for and pass the tests for amateur radio licenses...and at a time when they were more rigid than they are now.) My father, of course, heartily encouraged this interest in physics as this branch of the natural sciences was very much part of his profession as an engineer and a subject he dearly loved.
So, one thing I've always remembered, and found intriguing, is "the law of the conservation of energy". This law states that, in a closed system, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be changed or transferred from one form to another. Standing on the sea shore, watching, listening to, and "experiencing" ocean waves roll onto the beach provides a very real example of this.
Just think for a moment about the origin of those waves...it was the sun. It is the energy of the sun, after all, that heats the atmosphere and the ocean surface and the earth. Since this heating is uneven, there is a movement of air, which we know as wind. The sun's energy, therefore, has been transferred, in part, to the movement of air. The energy in the moving air in turn touches the surface of the ocean and the friction causes waves to be formed. The energy, in the waves, moves through the water until it comes into contact with the shore, where it is transformed yet again.
The energy in the waves is changed to heat, and sound, and the kinetic force that swirls the sand and erodes the rocks. Of course, it is far more complicated than that but I will only get into trouble with more learned folk if I go any further with this very simple illustration.
The point I wanted to make was simply that some of the extraordinary amount of energy that is released by the ocean waves can be experienced and enjoyed by our bodies, minds, and spirits. Is that not why we are so often drawn to places such as the seaside, where ocean waves meet terra firma and exchange and offer their energy to all matter and life that would receive it. Is that not why we feel so invigorated listening to the crashing of waves and feeling the sand move between our toes? And is that not why some of life's most difficult questions find resolution in such special places? Is the sea shore, perhaps, one of those wild landscapes, those "thin" places of Celtic tradition, where we feel, not only the transformed energy of the sun, but also a sense of something far greater than ourselves. Yes, I rather think so.
I know there are such very special places where you feel similarly energized.
I must say though, I do like Joan's red footwear in the pic. Smile!
Duncan.
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