Week 20: Find a Dark Sky

In our month of getting closer to nature, we have turned up the bird song, bathed in the health-giving properties of forests, and empathised with the lives of some of our animal friends.
For our final week, we share a simple technique for helping to put ourselves in context with the whole of the creative world through the awe giving properties of the night sky.

Knowing our place

Our ancestors looking up in the dark likely had little awareness of the immense size of the universe that science reveals to us today. A creative project of over 13 billion years in the making so far. Containing billions upon billions of galaxies each containing hundreds of millions of stars like our sun.

The universe is not just a space where things happen; it is a process of evolution. The self-organising dynamics of the stars and galaxies are part of the same process that includes the evolution of life on Earth, out of which different life forms and then consciousness emerged.

This story places humans as part of the whole picture; shifting us away from a human-centred mindset and putting us back in the context of an evolving universe. We are the universe looking at itself, reflecting on itself, understanding - even celebrating itself.  Seen in this way the universe is the ‘larger self’ of each of us.

Infinity-like numbers of size or scale are something that our brains cannot well comprehend. However, in the right conditions, we can feel it. In fact the definition of awe is “the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.”

So our final action of the month is to seek out and visit a dark sky - a place sufficiently away from the urban lights to be able to see the stars. On a clear and moonless night over the summer, take warm clothes and a picnic so you are comfortable for at least an hour.

Maps of the UK’s wonderful Dark Sky locations.

https://gostargazing.co.uk/location-map/

https://www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk/dark-sky-discovery-sites/map.html

About Pentameter:

Pentameter revitalising businesses by aligning purpose, culture and identity to tackle our most pressing social and environmental challenges. As part of the Year of Action, Pentameter are inviting you to reconnect with nature during May 2023.

Find out more about their work at https://www.pentameter.co/