Stunning Dillard solar ratio
[ by Charles Cameron — mathematics and metaphor, a ratio of the irrational ]
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A total solar eclipse in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway, on March 20, 2015 — Jon Olav Nesvold
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From Annie Dillard’s Classic Essay: ‘Total Eclipse’:
Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him.
Annie Dillard is one of our great stylists, so it’s perhaps not surprising she came up with this jaw-dropping piece of mathematics, or should I call it logic? It’s a ratio, anyhow:
Seeing a partial eclipse : seeing a total eclipse :: kissing a man : marrying him
By common consent, ratios are usually applied to quantifiables — but there’s really no quantifying seeing, kissing, or marrying.
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I don’t think I’ll be able to make the eclipse, but if any of you can, please do. No less an authority than Annie Dillard — she wrote Pilgrim at Tinker’s Creek and Holy the Firm — strongly advises it.
