St. Elmo’s Fire
Not so much a flame, in the proper sense, but probably a proper torch; or perhaps even a regurgitation, or reflux of the atmosphere during tenacious times would be the best way of thinking of St. Elmo’s fire, the phenomenon. Just like much of our attention is concentrated at a luminescent point (or area, rather – that is, whatever area your computer screen covers) so it is with electrical potential being concentrated at sharp, pointed objects – especially metals and other good conductors. The extraordinarily high potential energy around pointed objects enables the surrounding atmospheric molecules to ionize and emanate a luminescent, distinctive glow, usually in the blue to yellow spectrum. A few observations: one, if the delicate balance of the atmosphere were not primarily inert diatomic nitrogen, at the first episode of St. Elmo’s fire – or any fire, for that matter – the entire atmosphere on earth would have erupted into a blazing inferno on the planetary scale, which I am quite sure would have been a brilliant spectacle for the Transformers ® alien-robots to watch from the moon and Mars. Second, many things happen without our full knowledge of exactly how they happen, including the therapeutic mechanism of some drugs, oddly enough; and they happen without or input or control. In this sense, we can breathe deeply for a moment. The world revolved on its axis and orbited the sun long before we arrived, and will continue to do so after we are placed six feet within it. Third, some sailors and other superstitious (they would call themselves religious) men, often attributed the presence of St. Elmo’s fire atop their ships’ masts as a sign that their patron saint was guiding and protecting them. Unfortunately, this was more a sign that their cultural indoctrination was well onboard with them. I’m a complicit Protestant so I reject the presence of patron saints, though not necessarily of angels (Heb. 13:2), but not of the traditional, Hallmark, corpulent baby, guardian kind – more like ones that carry flaming swords and ride fiery chariots.
