Wow… I was a little fed up with the sandstorms and was bitching about them to my fellow workers while we stood in the wind, when I turned around and saw this…

The sun was setting just as a #sandstorm was making its way across the #mountains…

It almost looks like an #AtomicBomb has gone off in the distance, as the #sun perched itself atop all of the #BlowingSand, giving the impression of a #MushroomCloud type explosion, scattering debris in its wake…

Once again the camera doesn’t do this beautiful occurrence any justice… Even an expensive, top of the line camera would do it no good because the wind around you, the heat and the pressure ads to this phenomenal moment… I think the feel is more powerful than what we see and hear, when it comes to nature… The first sense we tend to dismiss when it comes to making decisions is the main feeling I rely on when I am out in nature… the wild animals’ most important sense… For what is #instinct yet the feelings that have been mapped out for you by your ancestors to help you circumvent the trials and tribulations that Nature flings at you daily… Without these feelings there would be no survival… especially in a place called #DeathValley…

The Ravens decided to join in… They couldn’t resist such a moment to dance in the warm #SettingSunlight as they let the #wind guide their next maneuver…

The wind was blowing hard but yet not hard enough to destroy the peace which was happening all around us… The #Ravens just floated effortlessly in the air, as they navigated the storm, letting the wind do the rest for them…

It’s hard to believe that it’s us who are revolving around this mighty ball of fire when it appears to be leaving us, making us wait till the next day to enjoy all of the many things it provides for us… For the human mind can’t grasp the fact that we are solely reliant on this ball of fire and it is not reliant on us… So we like to think the sun rises and sets for us when actually we circle it and are a slave to its existence…

And when you realize that we are not so important and we are totally reliant on this tiny part of a vast, vast, enormous universe full of infinite possibilities; You begin to feel respect for all of the other billions of organisms on this planet that share this strange, unexplainable existence with us… You realize how small and insignificant our mighty sun is to the rest of the universe… If our sun burned out tomorrow, the universe will still continue on… We would all cease to exist yet the Universe around us would continue on…

And when you think about how small and insignificant our sun is when it comes to the #Universe around it… You realize that we are not so important… We are just tiny, microscopic organisms when seen from a Universal point of view… I mean, really tiny!

So all of the money, the parties, the homes, the buildings, the mighty bombs…. Everything we have created means nothing… When you realize this and really let it sink in, you begin to have respect for everything else that exists around you, realizing that those other #organisms we see as less significant than us, really are not… They are just trying to survive in this unexplained existence just like us… We are all equals and are controlled by a piece of rock that revolves around a huge burning ball… #MotherNature and the platform she exists on is our #god… Everything around us is our god… For without it, we don’t exist… Yet, most choose to abuse this planet and the many creatures who share it with us…

Folks, it takes a special kind of stupidity and arrogance to dismiss such a blatant reality, just to prop up your own ego, which is only there because you can’t deal with the fact of death… We spend all of this time trying to explain our existence and what happens after… We fight, kill and destroy over this unexplainable existence when the  answer is right in front of us…

We revolve around a ball of fire on a rock with many other organisms that are all trying to achieve one thing and that’s #survival… Why do we choose to add to the problem and make survival even more difficult when we could all come together just by jointly respecting what has been provided for us? Imagine what we could accomplish as a #species if we stopped focusing on ourselves, our egos and put our focus on the reality we endure… It’s right in front of us and if you look at it for what it is and stop making up stories to justify the stupid things we do, we could actually learn more and more about this Universe and how it works… And who knows, we may just learn the reason for our existence and maybe achieve immortality in the process.. That sounds a lot better to me, actually trying to figure out why we are here instead of relying on grandiose stories told by men… And to think, we still rely on these ancient stories which pretty much evolved from man worshiping the sun… Somehow the sun became a god with a human image… But now considering we know in today’s world the sun is only a small part of a huge Universe, doesn’t that take it’s #deity privileges away? In turn, wouldn’t that make all #religion primitive and not pertain-able to our times?

Who knows folks, but I do know this… At the end of the day, we lose it all… All of the wealth, all of the friends and family, all of the properties and reputations… But yet this mighty #earth, the ball of fire it circles and the enormous, infinite universe it both sits in and engulfs, still remains… And will still continue its cycle of existence either with us or without us…

Because technically we can’t destroy the earth, the sun or the universe… All of us small, stupid creatures can really do is destroy the earth for ourselves… But when we ultimately destroy ourselves by destroying each other and the lovely nature we live amongst, the planet will all still exist and move on…

With god or without god… With man or without man… With the solar system or possibly without…

The Universe will continue on until it eventually retracts and sucks back into itself… Who knows when it will happen but I do know, if we focused on that reality, instead of our own egos and what we have built, we could make leaps and bounds to answer such questions…

I guess I can only wish for that in the future… I doubt if I will see it in my lifetime but who knows, maybe I will begin to open some eyes during my short stint on this planet… Doesn’t hurt to dream, even if this is probably the biggest delusion I have ever conjured up…

Even the #pigeons joined in on #Nature’sPlayground… The #sky was full of dancing feathered creatures… I felt this envy, wanting to join the dance up in the air myself…

When you looked behind us, it seemed like there was nothing happening…

The sky was clear… so clear you could even see the moon…

Tracey and I decided to go and experience this sunset without so many objects hindering our view…

Through the dust and sand, you could actually see the sun in it’s primitive form… without all of the glare and burning colors…

It looks like the moon, sitting there… So small looking and spherical… But distance is deceiving, especially in this crazy, huge, infinite Universe…

I took so many pictures, it took me awhile to pick the best ones… Almost every picture I took was a finalist for this blog…

Every second the sky was doing something different… Every difference brought some sort of beauty or new reality…

The explosion turned into a sinking ball behind a massive cloud, leaving a tail of fire behind it… It was like the explosive looking image was withering away, as it calmed down, appearing to retreat behind a massive, stable rock…

The mountains here get to end the sun’s day… a privilege that is given by the sun, for even the tiniest burst of flame could destroy the mountains’ existence…

As we got closer to the mountains, the images became even more intense…

You could see more of the sandstorm, blowing sand across the flat desert, which laid right before the sun setting behind the mountains…

The pano shot made the occurrence look even more like an explosion in the distance… If I was to see this image on the internet, I would think its a picture of some sort of an atomic explosion for sure… And if you do some research about our Universe and what we do know, the atomic explosions we create have a lot of similarities to the stars in our Universe…

For all a star and our sun is, is a huge contained explosion in our Universe which will eventually burn out over a long, long time… Only to leave a black hole which will suck everything up in its path, bringing an end to our mighty solar system…

Pretty scary to think the main object we rely on for survival and our planet’s survival is appearing to set behind the mountains as we cluelessly stand there believing its performing this task for our sole visual and spiritual benefit…

When in reality, the sun and everything around us is there for everyone and everything to enjoy… The only thing that destroys us is ourselves and the volatile planet we live on… As dangerous and destructive as the sun could be, it just rises and sets for us, providing us with its gentle warmth and the many possibilities it provides…

The sun is a gentle god with power we could never, ever truly understand… All I ask is for people to step out of life and their own existence and notice it… I’m not slamming anyone’s religion or beliefs… I’m just saying it doesn’t hurt to look at the true reality of our existence in it’s simplest form… Maybe if everyone would take the time to do this, we would have a better respect for this great planet we live on and the many things it provides… For it is much bigger than us yet so small in the grand scheme of things…