Sijui kama vijambo mwingi

I don't know about many things

I wish I could reveal to you all that I've learned in my Climatology class this semester. I always sit in the front row, sheer wonder in my note-taking, and smiling through the still-waking eyelids of my 8 AM gaze. Even after a semester of the complex climatological subject material nearly wringing my neck, I still attend that class in awe. But what amazes me more is that, even after a semester of Climatology, I will only have scratched the surface of the functions of this planet. Some of it is even beyond the people who have dedicated their lives to geographical studies. In our last lecture on storm formation, our professor told us that though the United States is the tornado capital of the world, tornadoes are still very poorly understood. Amazing. Nevertheless, though I don't (and won't) have the answers and explanations to all of Earth's processes, this class has opened my eyes to the intricacies of a world I've taken for granted. (and it's been more than a little bit mind-blowing).

But film is my major, not climatology.

In my Media Aesthetics class last semester, we talked about how music legitimately affects the image being shown. (If you've ever gone to the extras menu of James Cameron's Titanic and watched the sinking scene without music, you know exactly what I'm talking about). Music creates mood. (If you've ever been aware of how you act while driving- the person you are while Damien Rice is playing is worlds apart from Lil Jon... am I right?) And we use music to express, and to reinforce the emotions we feel, or to create the ones we want to.

I think in music and movement. I'm always very aware of myself and my surroundings while music is playing. I'm always looking for what is syncing up: what am I seeing or doing that "goes" with what I'm hearing? What juxtaposes it? Sometimes I'll even change the song so it better suits my environment. Does anyone else do that? Is there a facebook group for that yet?

Anyways.

Last Monday I was coming back home from my dance class, and as I pulled into my parking spot, the song Stokkseyri by Jonsi & Alex came on. (It's a 7 minute lyric-less song, and if you want to hear it, play the video at the bottom of this post). So Stokkseyri came on, and as I sighed in bewitchment of its sound, I stopped the car and looked up- and the scene before me was simply majestic. I literally sat for a moment with a dropped jaw. It was about 7:30 PM and the sun had just set. The sky was canary yellow and there we these big, bright, pink cumulous clouds just wafting valiantly along the lower atmosphere. If only my arm were just a bit longer, I think I might have touched them. And their boldness shone, highlighted in bright white and yellow- a mirror of the western horizon. The wind moved beneath their bodies, twisting their fragile edges, and carried them slowly before my eyes. And that same wind, it was bending the upper branches of the eucalyptus trees! I could see fluidity in the bark as it flexed in the zephyr; the leaves of their branches, shaking with delight. The music made it more emotive than I may have noticed otherwise- its repetitive tones, its strangeness and overlapping, it evoked the majesty of the scene set before me. It took this magnificent panorama and made it absolutely tangible. And I sat there watching, in astonishment and awe: because I knew how those clouds were formed! I knew about the adiabatic processes and convective uplift that likely created them! about the Coriolis Force and its affect on winds! about so much of the science of what I was seeing.. and yet nearly nothing at all.

Like a puzzle, the intricacies of this earth combine and materialize into beauty, into majesty. There's no way this planet just accidentally came into fruition. Look at it.

"Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable. For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain, which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly. Can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? Behold he scatters lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea. For by these he judges his peoples; he gives food in abundance. He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark. its crashing declares his presence; the cattle also declare that he rises." -Job 36:26-33

Sijui kama vijambo mwingi.
I do not know about many things, but I do know this:

God is.


take a listen: