Chroma the Great- in stereo

One of my very favorite books as a child was the Phantom Tollbooth, a magical story about a very creative and very bored little boy named Milo, who goes on an incredible adventure fueled by his imagination.   

Along the way he meets a cast of amazing characters, each of which have something to teach us about the fragility and irrationality of what we consider reality.  One of the characters, Chroma the Great, is a conductor.   

This is a still image of a video they made from the book
The illustrations in the book are better.

 When Milo meets him he is leading an enormous open-air orchestra concert of over a thousand musicians. Chroma waves his arms and the musicians seem to be playing their instruments, although Milo doesn't hear anything and this is because Chroma isn’t creating sound, rather he is creating all the colors of the world when he conducts. 

I have never been much of a fan of sunsets.  Not that I had anything against them, but I never really understood why people loved them so much.  Ghost Ranch, where I am staying, is about 21,000 acres, but the lodging is located in one area that has an enormous central field that is completely empty of any structures.  Towards the east are some large rock formations and towards the west is nothing for miles.  So, since this is a meditative environment, I have been sitting in this large open space in the evenings from about 6:00 pm when it is still light until about 8:30 pm when it is completely dark, to slowly watch the sunset and now I am a sunset junkie.  

 To the east at about 7 pm, I see the last glimmers of sunlight illuminate the orange and reds of the rocks. 

 

When that light is gone, I turn toward the west and see how the setting sun sculpts the clouds and the sky, creating a vast array of blues, reds and golds.

 

It is magnificent, dramatic and somehow very loud.  I never thought of a sunset as being loud before, but it hasn’t been just a visual experience. The light and color start taking up auditory qualities and fill the vast expanse of the central space. 

I didn’t realize this until yesterday when the sun had completely gone down.  Standing below the dark sky  (and yes, I was standing for some reason.  I guess it was incredible enough that it seemed appropriate to stand), it was strangely silent like the sound had been sucked out of the air or some otherworldly musical performance had just been completed. 

 

It seems that Chroma the Great has been hard at work.  Having completed his conducting for the day he retired to bed, turning off the color and the associated sounds.  Tomorrow he will start again with a new sunrise symphony.