THE PRIME VERTICAL OF LIFE

BY: Capt. Alvils

Celestial Sphere, in astronomy, is an imaginary sphere of infinitely large radius, where the center is the Earth; enclosing the universe so that the sun, moon, stars, and all celestial objects appears to be projected.

Imagine yourself standing in the middle of a basketball court where the entire stadium

is enveloped inside a huge circular dome, or in much wider spectrum, stand on an open field and consider the vast sky that appears to meet with the horizon all around you as a gigantic dome covering the entire planet. This dome is the sphere that appears to rotate around the Earth carrying with it all the celestial bodies.

In this fictitious construction of the celestial sphere, at any one time, we see no more than half of this sphere, the other half being on the other side of Earth is invisible to the observer.

Inside this sphere are numerous vertical circles that composed the various system of celestial coordinates. Zenith (Z) is that point directly overhead the observer, while Nadir (Na), the point opposite to the Zenith, is directly below. To a celestial navigator, Zenith has more significance than Nadir because the former can be imagined to be visible to the observer's eyes; whereas the latter, being located on the other half of the earth's sphere, below the observer, is presumed to be obscured from view. But what makes Nadir unique is that without it the limit of circumference of the celestial sphere and the radius of different imaginary vertical circles cannot be formed.

Prime Vertical is one vertical circle that lies at right angles to the meridian, and passes through the East point, Zenith, West point and Nadir of any place.

On the other hand, Meridian, or the Primary Vertical circle, is another imaginary great circle that our sun, planets, stars, and other heavenly bodies follows as they travel on their path above and below us, ascending first from the East point of the horizon, climbing to its highest peak, before descending to the West point of the horizon, then repeating the same process on the other side of the globe to complete the daily cycle of Ante Meridiem (a.m.) and Post Meridiem (p.m.).

Among all the heavenly bodies in the universe, the sun, the lone star nearest to our planet and the center of our solar system, owing to its gigantic size and brilliance, is the best reference used for celestial navigation. It is when this colossal astronomical object is at its greatest altitude that a Meridian Transit (or Meridian Passage) occurs. This means the sun has reached the Zenith, cut across the prime vertical circle at right angle, suspend in its summit for a few seconds, before making its slow descend to westerly direction. For a celestial navigator, meridian transit is the most important event of the day. When the sky is overcast, and observation of meridian passage is not possible, the noon position is oftentimes lost. With the use of instruments, nautical publications and various methods of mathematical solutions, this astronomical episode can determine the vessel's coordinates (position) on the surface of the earth. To explain further how this is done will be too complicated for the simple reader.

So much of that lesson in celestial navigation and let us discuss the relevance of this article to our lives. I have always compared Prime Vertical to the cycle of life on earth. We too follow the same path similar to the passage of the sun and other celestial bodies above us. During the early morning twilight (period between darkness and sun light) our first sign of life occurs, analogous to the time of our conception. By the break of dawn, we are born and introduced into this world by our mothers. During our formative years, as we start to recognize and identify people, learn to walk, talk and ascertain new things, we appear and struggle to gain altitude from the easterly horizon. As we expand our knowledge, sharpen our skills and start building a career, our altitude increases further. If we focus, toil and concentrate enough along this path, we continue to travel upward until we reach the top, the summit of our career. Then, like the sun suspending on its zenith, along the vertex of the prime vertical circle, we sometimes remain at the top for an indefinite period of time. This is the point where we become a dominant figure in the industry we belong, enjoying the wealth, power and fame that our social and professional standing brings; receiving attractive, handsome job offers from different people and entities impressed by our achievements, the skills we displayed, particularly in our specific field of expertise. Everyone seems to want us. Ironically, instead of them reviewing our credentials, character and background, we are the one being too cautious to accept the offer. We examine their profile, the credibility of people behind their business, sincerity of their offer, lest we make the mistake of transferring from the frying pan to the fire. Unfortunately, we tend to disregard the negative aspects of things and just opt for the highest bidder.

As we savor and relish the plentiful harvest of our success, the envious "crabs", the pests of human society, emerged from all directions around us, determine to pull us down. Some see us as sweet, ripe fruit hanging from the top of a tree. Many will attempt to climb the tree to pick us. However, good men are not easy to put down. Armed with a solid foundation, integrity, vast experience and wisdom that we acquired over the years, we parry their traitor blows and frustrate our detractors. But, as what they all said, nothing last forever. In life, nothing is permanent except changes. We cannot always be on top. Like the sun traveling along the celestial sphere, once we reached the Zenith, the only way is down towards the Nadir; akin to life's vicious cycle of "ups" and "downs". Always be wary and ready to cushion the impact of the fall. The faster and higher we go up, the stronger and harder we fall. If we're unfortunate enough to lose our luxurious position and all of our worldly possession, the "crab" people that has relentless worked so hard to see us fall, close associates who pretend to be our friend, and most of our enemies will celebrate and rejoice with our misfortune. Our supposedly loyal friends, who once vowed to die for us, are nowhere in sight, and the only true people where we can draw strength are the members of our own family. They will never abandon us and will in fact provide us the support we need to overcome and survive the storm of our life.

Some of us are born with a silver spoon in the mouth. Meaning - their parents are rich. Others came into this world in rags, already living in extreme poverty, but became rich and famous out of sheer luck or hard work. Nonetheless, regardless of our standing and status in life, we all suffers failures and downfalls albeit in varying degrees. The most hurting experience of all are those "downfalls" not related to material things. This is God's painful way of teaching us the lessons and true essence of life; a strong signal to mankind that we cannot have everything we want in life.

As our sun completes its meridian passage and starts its slow descend westward, we start to age and become less marketable. By late afternoon, our altitude continues to diminish further. There are fewer options, lesser opportunities and job offers and if there is, compensation is usually according to age. Then, as we draw closer to the westerly horizon, we retire from all kinds of physical activities and join the ranks of "septuagenarians". This is the time when your entire joints aches, when everything hurts and what doesn't hurt doesn't work. This is also the time for reflection, reminiscing the happy moments and sweet memories of the past, looking at the memorabilia of our life's achievements and enjoying the fruits of our toils, if there's any.

At sundown, as we dip below the horizon, we're nearing our end. We watch in silence as the history of our life flash before our very eyes. Death, for the first time, became a reality. We realize we cannot live forever but start to wonder whether we created and done something that will.

As darkness sets in, right after the evening twilight (period between sunset and darkness), we gasped for our last breath, closed down the blinds and make our grand exit in life. If, in our passing away people finds relief instead of grief, their memories will be short and we would soon be forgotten. The epitaph on top of the earth mount from where we lay will gather mosses and weeds thick enough to erase any sign that we ever existed on earth. But, if we gained enough friends than enemies and made a great number of people, including our own family, happy during our lifetime, we will be considered a great loss to mankind and forever be revered by them. Green grass and fragrant flowers will blossom on the prairie where they laid our marbled tombstone. There would even be mixed opinion on what scriptures to write on our epitaph that could best describe how well we live our life on earth. Equally rewarding is the fact that what we've done and the legacy that we left behind will long be remembered.

In one article that I read, the author wrote about the following secrets for living and dying well:

1) Be true to yourself 2) Leave no regrets 3) Love and be loved 4) Learn to forgive 5) Live the moments 6) Give more than you take 7) Do one good deed a day.

Unfortunately, the author admitted that it was easier said than done.

So, what really matters is not how we died but how we live. Life has always been temporary and transitory. We only live once and no matter what we do, we cannot get out of life alive. Once we face our creator on judgement day, the first thing he would ask is how we spend the life that we borrowed from him. Whether we carried our cross well or let others carried it for us. Whether we felt the pains and sufferings or cause others to pain and suffer. We should be ready to provide a positive answer by then. Otherwise, we end up roasting in an eternity of burning sulphur.

Here's a wise quotation from a well known "quaker":

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being, let me do it now. Let me not deter nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again". - Stephen Grellet-

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