Ah, the magic of a sunrise

I used to take pictures of pretty sunrises often.  I'm a morning person and I've seen some fantastic dawnings.  

Maybe as the result of how I see things since I began meditating, I've pretty much stopped with the picture-taking.  Why?  Because if you think about it, a photo is a very poor substitute for the real thing, and it cheapens what I consider a priceless experience.  You could say the same for pictures of beaches, mountains, and other natural beauties, but those aren't accessible to everybody, so it's nice that people share pictures.  

Anybody can see a sunrise or sunset if he so desires, as long as he has eyes that function.  

Yesterday when I opened my eyes after a forty-five minute meditation session, a lovely pink light was coming in my north window.  Now, I am always awake to greet the dawn, but there isn't usually that much color spreading around the sky to the north.  If there was that bright a rose/pink color due north, what must the rest of the sky look like?

There were storms around and clouds everywhere when I stepped outside.  Clouds make for lovely sunrises, and I could see there was such a sunrise in progress.  What was the most amazing, though, was the bright pink that covered so much of the sky.  It's a wonder I didn't bump into a tree on the way to the barn to feed the cats, because I could hardly take my eyes off the heavens.  Back in the yard, I found myself slowly walking around the house from front yard to back to see every possible angle of this miracle of loveliness in the skies.  I found myself grinning like an idiot, turning slowly around to take in every aspect of the panorama.   I was reminded of movies in which  they portray characters who, after consuming LSD, look around in a daze with hands extended, smiling and saying "Wow."  Because that's exactly what I was doing.  

Thoughts of picture-taking crossed my mind, but I let the impulse pass.  Lightning and thunder were going on during all this, and at one point I asked myself, "Should I really be standing outside?"

Then I shrugged and thought, "What better time to die than while looking at something like this?"

After about ten minutes, the beauty began to wane.  I decided to take a few pictures with my iPad after all; there was still quite a light show in the sky.  I shared my photos on Facebook.  So far there are 89 "likes" on the album and several comments. 

If only they could have seen what I saw a short fifteen minutes earlier.  If only you could.   But no photo could really portray what I saw, the vastness of it all, the subtle changes with every few seconds.

due north

looking east

partial rainbow over the grandson's house

looking east earlier

So there you have it, with my assurances that it was many times this gorgeous fifteen minutes before the pictures were taken, and at least 100 times prettier in person than in a photo.