Midcoast resident Heather D. Martin wants to know what’s on your mind; email her at heather@heatherdmartin.com.

Well folks, I had intended to have a whole other conversation with you right now, but you are going to have to wait a week for my intended thoughts because: wow. The aurora borealis!

Did you see it? Was it amazing where you were?

I saw it, and it was breathtaking where I was.

I nearly missed it, but luck was on my side. I wound up grabbing my dinner, wrapping a blanket around myself and sitting out on the porch watching the night sky flood with color while Amelia, our barn cat, demanded scritches. It was magical. Absolutely magical.

First the sky was red. And this was no weak “barely there” red. It was full magenta, “flamenco dancer’s dress” red. Then from a different direction came the green, making the entire sky glow like a massive piece of watermelon tourmaline. Then came the blue. A deep purplish blue that was so exquisitely beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.

So, what actually is going on here? I’m so glad you asked.

Science has been studying them for a long time, and as Popular Mechanics puts it, when there are instabilities in the sun’s magnetic field, there is an eruption of particles and when those particles hit our magnetic field (Earth’s, I mean) they “collide with atoms of nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere, infusing those atoms with a surplus of energy that is then released in a burst of lights.” All of that is known and correct.

Despite all the science and the knowledge, there is still an element of mystery, a bit of “we don’t really know” to it all. That’s my favorite part.

I love that there are things we are still learning, things we are still exploring, answers that still elude us. I love how big and vast and mysterious and unfathomable the universe remains. I also love the science, the hunt for those answers.

Most of all, I love when science and magic decide to hold hands and say the same thing.

What I mean by that is, recently there has been a lot of science talk in quantum physics and astrophysics that aligns with Buddhist thought – and several other world religions. For example, as written in science magazine Nautilus, a shared belief in Buddhism is the impermanence of all life. Quantum physics is about a lot of impermanence. I think that’s neat.

Lately, as many of you know, I have been navigating my way through the death of my mom, not long after my mother-in-law. My dad died four years ago right about now. Trust me when I say four years can feel like the blink of an eye. So, it is safe to say death as a whole has been occupying a lot of my thoughts.

Both of my parents were ordained United Church of Christ ministers. Both had thoughts on death, though not the same thoughts. Neither thought they knew for sure or would ever tell someone else they were wrong. They held space for many beliefs.

As for myself, I lean science. I rely on the knowledge that human beings and stars are made of the same stuff, that everything in the known universe is connected. I suppose if I tried to define it, I think of life as dipping a test tube into a lake. The water inside the tube is suddenly separate, distinct and its own thing, but it is of the lake, and if you shatter the glass, back it goes. Returned. That’s my take on death.

I do not demand you agree with me. I respect whatever belief you hold on the matter.

But watching the aurora borealis flare out across the sky, I took comfort in my concept of it all. I miss my parents terribly. I like the idea that they, and all the friends and family and beloved pets I have lost in life, have simply returned to the great primordial lake, and that they were a part of that particular light show.