Tomorrow there will be millions of people looking up to the heavens for an astronomical event so rare and unusual it won’t happen again in the contiguous United States until August of 2044.  The planets literally have to align in just the right way.  The shadow of the moon will move along a path across Mexico, the United States, and Canada.  For those lucky enough to be in the path of totality, where the moon completely blocks the sun, they will experience moments of darkness during daytime.  As this happens a collective sense of awe will also follow along this path, bringing a unique experience that some will describe as life changing.

While we feel confident that our science has fully explained the phenomena of a solar eclipse, we are now also studying the effect that this experience has on the people who witness it.  Kate Russo, a psychologist who herself has witnessed 13 eclipses, has interviewed eclipse viewers from around the world.  She notes a similar emotional response in most all of the people.  They begin with a sense of wrongness and primal fear as totality approaches when their surroundings change so rapidly.  Then as it starts, people describe a powerful awe and connection to the world around them.  A sense of euphoria develops as they continue watching, ending with a strong desire to seek out the next eclipse to feel it all over again.

Sean Goldy, at John Hopkins University, posits that an eclipse makes us think outside our normal sense of self, attuning to what’s around us.  This not only includes a connection to the physical universe, but also to the people around us.  A total solar eclipse seems to create connection, unity, and caring among the people watching.  Goldy and his fellow researchers analyzed Twitter data from nearly 2.9 million people during the 2017 total solar eclipse.  They found that people within the path of totality were more likely to use not only language that expressed awe but also language that expressed being unified and affiliated with others.  This included using more “we” words (instead of me) and more “humble” words, such as “maybe” instead of “always.”  Goldy notes the stronger the sense of awe expressed, the more likely they were to use a “we” word.  He notes, “During an eclipse, people have a broader, more collective focus.”

The scale of our “big picture” often changes during an eclipse experience.  When you zoom out – really zoom out – it shrinks away our differences.   Goldy writes, “when you sit in the shadow of a celestial rock blocking the light of a star 400 times its size that burns at 10,000 degrees on its surface, suddenly that argument with your partner or bill on the counter or even the differences among people’s beliefs, origins, or politics feel insignificant.”  Anthony Aven, author of In the Shadow of the Moon, has studied this same reaction throughout human history.  When the sun becomes a black hole in the sky, any differences with our fellow humans can feel trivial.  We are all so tiny compared to the vast occurrence happening around us.  

There is something magical about a shared experience.  Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist, referred to this as “collective effervescence” more than 100 years ago.  Author Adam Grant describes it as the feeling of energy and harmony, a Joi de Vivre, felt when people are engaging in something with one another.  As emotions are contagious, we amplify one another’s sense of awe and inspiration when we witness an eclipse together.

I think we’ve all been robbed during Covid of so many opportunities for collective effervescence.  We were forced to isolate and view one another as potential sources of disease rather than as a collected group with shared experiences.  Perhaps that’s why we’re more divided and quicker to judge and criticize?  Perhaps we need a day of Awe and Collective Attunement.  I propose a National Holiday to join together to witness the eclipse.  Free travel and hotel rooms, stadiums for viewing, and bands to dance to all together.  No Left vs Right, Dem vs Rep, Donkey vs Elephant.  Tomorrow we all are just tiny little beings sitting on a rock flying through the solar system together.  (But don’t forget your solar eclipse glasses, please…). Fingers and toes crossed for clear skies!!