Clara: When I was 11, I had diphtheria. I was quarantined for three months, so my father bought me this telescope and put it next to my bed so I could see everything out my window.
It is interesting that during my 2020 lockdown, I discover that my sync “bible”, the Back to the Future series, contains a reference to quarantine. In BTTF Part 3, Clara asks Doc Brown to fix her damaged telescope, and thus blossoms their love affair. The telescope as a symbol of sight, vision, insight and knowledge, as well as Clara’s name, which is latin for “bright and clear”.
So maybe, the quarantine can give us a BTTF “telescope” as well, a vision of our future, both personal and collective. I know it has caused a great deal of introspection for myself as well as with my neighbors.
In BTTF Part 3, the telescope scene begins with:
"Clara: That one's called Copernicus. She laughs. Listen to me, I feel like I'm teaching school!
Doc: Oh, please, continue your lesson. He laughs. I never found lunar geography so fascinating. You're quite knowledgeable.
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer, who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at the center of the universe. You know… like a crown.
Copernicus was: “a polyglot and polymath, he obtained a doctorate in canon law and was also a mathematician, astronomer, physician, classics scholar, translator, governor, diplomat, and economist. In 1517 he derived a quantity theory of money—a key concept in economics—and in 1519 he formulated an economic principle that later came to be called Gresham's law.”
Gresham’s law is basically all about currency devaluation of fiat law, and how “bad money drives out good”. Which is a weird sync considering how the US petro dollar took its huge swan dive during the week of the first US death from the coronavirus in Kirkland and the simultaneous contraction of oil futures.
On a certain level I think the sun replacing the earth as the center of the universe is akin to the ego realizing that no, it is not the center of the universe. It’s a tough lesson for we who are made in the image of God to realize, but most of us manage it by the time we are two, or “the terrible twos” as I’ve heard it explained. The rest become sociopaths, revolutionaries, or artists.
As of today, 5/5/20 the pathogen appears to be lifting. Or at least, the oppression. Businesses are beginning to re-open, somewhat flower-like in the spring. People are going back to work. I’ve gotten invitations to social gatherings (with distance). The danger of the virus is receding like a bad dream wave upon the shore.
However, things will never be the same. I just had a conversation with my boss today that I’d never had in all the years that I’ve known him. We covered a million miles of history in one hour! We were frank, and we were very… clear.
My hope is that this virus causes a lense wipe phenom. A mental telescope. Clarity. Clara.
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