Saturday night I took advantage of being in the country and stepped outside with a blanket to head off a ways and stretch out under the stars. Even here there's too much light pollution to see the Milky Way but there were more stars visible than can be seen from home.

It struck me, whilst I lay on my back and soaked up the stately dance of the stars, that I used to be able to identify many of the constellations and knew stories about them. But it has been many years since I have had the opportunity to lie beneath the majesty of a night sky and let my thoughts just roam.

And it was an invigorating time, watching the darting fireflies mimicking meteors as the flitted between my eyes and the stars, listening to the various night creatures provide the soundtrack to the stately dance, and watching in awe as meteors burned across the sky. It was invigorating and restorative, a balm for a weary and tech overloaded soul. And it got me thinking, probably because I have been reading Joseph Campbell, about Man's seeming obsession with patterns. Few people with computer access have so clear a view of the celestial grandeur to be able to see it with the clarity of our ancestors who named the patterns we call constellations.

I would hazard a guess that most of the people who live a the "21st century" life style, plugged into the 'net with ear buds implanted in their ears, forget to look to the world around themselves, much less the heavens. That saddens me, for there is so much wonder lost by ignoring nature.

Or perhaps I am just an old curmudgeon. But last night's soak in starlight did leave me feeling more refreshed and at peace than I have felt on a level that I didn't even realize wasn't at peace.