The Sunset Didn't Have to Be That Beautiful

Note: This post does not make an argument for or against evolution.  That question is between you, your pastor, your rabbi, your scientist, your monk, your guru, and anyone else who might be able to help you shine light on that riddle.  Fortunately Catholicism lets me off that hook by providing that: "Christian faith does not require the acceptance of any particular theory of evolution, nor does it forbid it, provided that the particular theory...does not deny...that God creates each human soul directly to share immortal life with him." U.S. Catechism, page 60.  That's good enough for me.

Near sunset on a Sunday night in late July of 2011

I drove home to Helena from Canyon Ferry Lake.  Fiona and Rowan were in their carseats in the back.  Our little Subaru Forester climbed up the Spokane Hills.  The pines stood green over the dry yellow grass.  I didn't have a direct view of the Sun, but the sky took on shades of orange and pink into its deep blue.

We drove through some construction, past the Glass Slipper bar, then by a little subdivision sprouting up in the farmland.  The radio rattled on.  The girls jabbered to each other.  My mind flipped back and forth between the road and trying to plot out my schedule for the upcoming week.

Then we crested the hill and the Helena valley opened up before us.  I didn't hear the radio.  I didn't care about next week's calendar.  Thankfully the road stayed where it was, because all I could focus on was the sunset erupting in front of us.

The ball of trembling golden light struck the mountains to the west and rippled its rays up through the clouds above.  The clouds surrounding that gold patch, were divided between shades of orange and pink.  The colors rippled, tore, and cascaded through each other.  A massive turqoise perimeter nipped at the edges of the orange and pink clouds.

It was amazing.  From the back seat, Fiona (3 1/2) said, "Ooh, pretty!"  Two seconds after her, Rowan (2) said the same.  Then the car was quiet.  We were all transfixed on the dance of light beyond the windshield.

Black tires rolled over black asphalt between the painted lines all the way into town, but I'm not sure that would have been the case if it wasn't mostly a straight shot.  Somewhere during that drive, I realized that the sunset didn't have to be that beautiful.

The spectacle was caused by the Earth turning in its rotation around the Sun.  Earth's act of rotating part of itself way from its primary light source had to cause a transition from day to night.  That transition required some changes in the coloring of the sky, but really it didn't need to be spectacular.  From light, to gray, to black would have worked.

Similarly, the human eye and mind had to take in that the sun was going down.  This evening, that knolwedge let me to flip a switch to turn on the car's lights.  Generations ago, I would have known it was time to either light a fire or call it a night.  That basic human knowledge could also have been accomplished by the ability to perceive a transition from full light, to gray, then black. 

That's probably overstating it, but evolutionarily-speaking me and my two daughters did not require the ability to take in and appreciate the immense beauty of that sunset.  A little less color sensitivity and natural beauty appreciation probably wouldn't have gotten our ancestors eaten by sabre tooth tigers, but just functional wasn't enough for the Divine Creator.

The Creator took what needed to merely function and made it indiscribably beautiful.  From the wildflowers poking up from the wet Spring dirt to the stars glittering in the night sky.  They didn't have to be that beautiful and we didn't require the senses to appreciate that beauty.

The beauty of the Universe is evidence that the Creator loves Creation.  Genesis 1:31 ("God looked at everything he had made, and he found it was very good.")  It's the same pride in workmanship that every great craftsman knows.  Functional is not enough.The details have been unfolded and reworked from the smallest particles to entire Galaxies.  The Creator has noticed even the smallest sparrow and counted the very hairs on our heads.  Luke 12:6-7.

We were given the ability to appreciate that beauty so we would know from the core of our being that something incredibly powerful loves us and has blessed us beyond measure as evidence of that love.  In dating terms, the Creator could have gotten us carnations.  That would have done the job, but the Creator went the extra mile and sprung for roses.  Most of us intrinsically know what that means, now we need to let ourselves believe it.