The solstice starts far in the past. We’re about to take a journey there.
Let’s start small. Who were you yesterday? What were you doing?
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Now, a larger step. Think of who you were a year ago? What have you learned? How have you changed? Are you the same person now as you were then?
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Further back now. Think of your earliest memories, as far back as you can remember when you were somehow identifiably you - the personality core that would carry forward to the present day.
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Think of your parents, teachers, or guides. Who were they? Where did they come from? Did they lead you by example, or were they a cautionary tale about what not to become? What made them who they were, such that they led you to become you?
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Now lets begin to drift farther back. Think of the cultures that shaped your parents or mentors or peer groups. Did they have religion? Did they have an intellectual community? Did they come from a culture or country with a strong set of traditions? What do you know of the cultures that shaped the people who shaped you?
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Now, think of the earliest stories that shaped those cultures. As far back as you know. What is the earliest clear memetic seed you can find, that would one day become the culture that shaped the people who shaped you in turn?
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And now, think of the earliest stories you know of, period. Far and far and far away back, the first inklings of a dream that humans breathed into words that echoed across history.
Think of the first human explorers who discovered winter.
Imagine surprise or delight the first time a human being saw snowflakes. Imagine that surprise turn to worry, as the snowfalls kept coming.
Think of what it would have been like,
to see the darkness descending,
and to not know why.
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