About “Gravity”

“Could a stone resist the law of gravity? Impossible. Impossible that evil should form an alliance with good. I have stated this before.” — Comte de Lautréamont, The Songs of Maldoror

Gravity has been an obsession of mine since childhood. I think it started when I heard the legend of Newton; I subsequently kept my head up whenever within the drip line of apple trees. I spent a lot of time in high school and the first year of college studying physics and hoped to one day learn more about this invisible attraction. What is it? How does it work? Is it a form a magnetism (ah, the metaphors: gravity is love!) or the curved paths of space-time? Is it a transmission of undetectable particles or waves?

We still don’t know. How is it possible that something that affects nearly everything about us — our movements, our shape, the fundamental design of our bodies, our earth, our galaxy, even the sports we play — is still such an unknown entity here in the 21st century? It is both maddening and a somber reminder of how, despite our progress, even the most basic knowledge evades us. We know so little. This little poem is just another take on this mystical force and what it might mean if we ever decipher it.

Andy’s photo felt like a nice complement from the very beginning of the project. Here are his notes on its capture:

A few months after getting married in 2009, my wife and I decided to spend a week vacationing in Maui. One evening we took a walk down Kaanapali beach and stopped for dinner at the fantastic Hula Grill. We were very excited to eat fish tacos while watching the sun retreat into the horizon. Unfortunately, a cloud system rolled in and foiled our plans but just as we were finishing up, a hole opened in the clouds and shot a ray of light towards the heavens. I yanked out my camera gear and captured one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever witnessed.