Keir Dullea’s character in the iconic movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” uttered those words as an alien artifact transported him through fiery, acid-etched dimensions far from ordinary Human ken. Despite the drug-induced “enhancement” of our senses in the 1960s when I first saw that movie, one need not engage in any kind of chemical vacation to experience a truly mind-altering experience.
It happened to me at night, on the decks of a ship, far out at sea.
As soon as you open the ship’s watertight doors and go out onto the darkened weather decks, a blast of humid air almost knocks you off your feet and your senses begin to scream at you. You are, they insist, standing on the edge of a precipice that drops a lifetime away in every direction.
You see, a warship always switches to red interior illumination and darkens its outer decks at night. The red interior battle lanterns cast a blood-red glow about everything and – theoretically, at least -- enable you to save some of your night vision when you step outside. Black rubber sealed light traps about all exterior doors trap that same red light, keeping enemies from seeing a sudden glow of light and thus giving away your ship’s position. (We are told that the sudden flare of lighting a cigarette on deck at night can be seen by a lookout five miles away.)
Net result: As soon as you step out onto the weather decks of a ship at sea, you can HEAR the water rushing along the ship’s hull … and it sounds as though it’s only a few inches away from your outstretched hands … but you are blind, despite the red lanterns’ attempts at granting you night vision.
All about you is warm, humid, black, black, black … and the rush of damp air from your ship’s passage makes it feel as though the night itself were breathing into your face. You continue reaching blindly for the ship’s railing, as your senses continue to insist there’s nothing in front of you and you’re about to fall overboard into water that’s miles deep.
Finally, step by cautious step, your hands feel their way to the taught steel lifelines stretched all the way around the weather decks, and you cling to them, sidling your body the rest of the way and leaning into their solidity.
Then the magic show begins, as your night vision returns.
The deeper parts of the oceans are inhabited by tiny, unicellular creatures whose primary purposes are to (a) provide food for the food chain, and (b) start to glow brightly when they’re disturbed. Thus, when our ship rushes past, these tiny creatures begin to glow furiously, until the whole of the ocean around our hull seems to be luminous with witchfire. Further away from our hull, the creatures sparkle on and off, winking in some sort of glowing semaphore language at each other.
But that’s only the Overture to this magnificent symphony.
Far out at sea, the nearest land is several miles straight down beneath your keel, and the only light is that which comes straight from the Almighty’s paint brush. No light pollution out here to spoil the view, and your wondering eyes begin to realize exactly how vast is Creation and how tiny are all Human endeavors.
Because that’s when the stars start to come out.
First one tentative point of light appears above, then another, and another, until the stars and galaxies cascade into view in a kind of cosmic rush. All at once the sky – empty to your night blinded senses only a few moments before -- is a vast streak of light as the Milky Way burns its way across the sky, brighter than you’ve ever seen anything before. Familiar constellations are obscured and fade into the fiery background as millions and millions of unfamiliar stars come out of hiding.
That’s when you first notice that the majesty of the star show above is mirrored in the black water all around you. Winking fiery points above are reflected in the endless sea all around you.
Then you notice that the glowing little sea creatures outlining your ship’s hull are adding their own glowing counterpoint to the glory above and all around you.
All at once, it’s as though you’ve been floated bodily off your ship and now are suspended in a vast, glowing bowl of jewels … like you’ve been whisked away without realizing it and are floating somewhere near the Face of God itself.
Timeless.
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